Chapter 26

Dashiell’s eyes darted around, his mind a frantic storm. Bringing Selene to the yacht was out of the question. The last time she’d encountered Elodie, it had been a messy affair, with Dashiell caught in flagrante, the flames of betrayal licking at his carefully constructed world. If Selene saw Elodie now, questions would explode like fireworks. The inevitable whispers would reach Miriam, and then… chaos. He couldn’t let that happen. Dashiell pressed the phone to his ear, Selene’s perky voice a grating melody against the yacht’s sultry rhythm. ‘Dash, it’s almost nine! Still at meetings? You work way too hard, babe.’ The word ‘babe’ used to melt him. Now, it tasted like sand in his teeth. The image of Selene, all sunshine and smiles, waiting for him in a hotel room, felt as suffocating as a cashmere turtleneck in summer. He’d fled to Los Montical for a breath of freedom, a respite from his too-sweet fiancee and the daily calls from his mother, demanding he go look for her ‘Sweet El.’ Wel