Broken Love (Broken #4)(60)

“She practically attacked me when I pulled up. She said she was innocently standing outside when you walked up to her and threatened to punch her if she ever talked to me again.”

My mouth dropped open. If he took her side I was taking this diamond and chucking it in his face.

“I can’t believe this. You’re actually going to sit there and tell me you believe I would ever do something like that?”

Ryder stood up and smiled. “No, I don’t believe her, but I do believe she got you so mad you probably did threaten her.”

“I did, but she started it. When she found out we were getting married, she said she couldn’t believe you would settle for someone like me.”

He pinched his eyebrows. “Damn, baby, please don’t let anything she says get to you. She doesn’t matter and what comes out of her mouth really doesn’t matter either.”

Grinning, I glanced down at the paper. “What were you reading?”

He quickly picked up the paper and folded it. “Nothing.”

Lifting my eyebrows, I lowered my head and looked at him. “Really? Cause you were very focused on that piece of paper when I walked in.”

The cutest damn smile spread over his face. Pulling me to him, he kissed me softly and then whispered, “They’re my vows.”

Plunk. That was my heart dropping. Just like that, I was swept off my feet. “Your vows?”

“Yeah, I wrote them last night when I couldn’t sleep. I need to polish it up a bit. Actually a lot. I can’t make heads or tails of the whole second half. I must have been dozing off.”

I melted right there on the spot. “If I didn’t want to search this house so badly, I’d totally push you down and rip your clothes off.”

His face lit up. “I like the sound of that.”

I slapped him on the chest. “Later! Let’s go exploring.”





THIRTY MINUTES LATER we were standing in the middle of the master bedroom looking around. “Okay, so we checked all the drawers in the dressers. The closet is empty, and the desk doesn’t have any secret doors. Now what?” Ryder asked.

“I guess we could ask Jackson if he knows if Kate left anything in the house.” I sat down on the bed and looked around. I had this overwhelming feeling there was something in this room and Kate wanted us to find it.

Shaking my head, I closed my eyes. Show me, Kate. You have to show me.

Opening my eyes again, I got up and started walking around the room. I walked over to a painting and stopped in front of it.

“Who painted this?” I asked leaning in and seeing the initials LM.

“Lizzy, I believe. She painted a lot of the pictures in the house.”

My breath caught. “Can we take it down?”

Ryder walked over and grabbed it. “Sure.”

He took it down and turned just enough for me to see the manila envelope taped to the back. My hands came up to my mouth.

“Ryder,” I whispered.

He turned the painting and saw it. “Holy shit.”

Carefully, Ryder set the picture down on the bed. We stood there and stared at the envelope. I knew the writing the moment I saw it. It was Kate’s.

My chest rose and fell with each labored breath. I had no idea what we would find in that envelope. Ryder reached for my hand and whispered, “It’s Kate’s handwriting.” He turned and looked at me. I could see the fear in his eyes, but something told me this was nothing to fear. At least I prayed like hell it wasn’t.

I smiled and squeezed his hand.

“I can’t do it, Ava. You have to see what’s in there.”

I nodded as my pulse raced. My voice was caught in my throat. “O-okay.”

With shaking hands, I gently pulled the envelope off the back of the painting. Ryder took the painting and hung it back up. Sitting down in the chair, I pulled in a deep breath while Ryder walked across the room and stared out the window.

I reached in and pulled out a stack of papers. It was legal papers … a contract.

Oh my God. Smiling, I covered my mouth with my hand as it hit me what I was looking at. It was a contract between Amour Des Lettres and Kate. My heart was pounding so loudly I was surprised Ryder couldn’t hear it.

Scanning the contract, I felt the tears building in my eyes. I had never even met Kate, but it was as if she was my own sister. The pride I was feeling was beyond anything I’d ever felt before. My goodness. She was only seventeen.

Amour Des Lettres was a design company in France. They were the one design company everyone dreamed of being in with. Even me. I interviewed for a position with them when I was in France. It was there I ran into Maurice and ended up working for him.

They wanted four of Kate’s designs. What must she had felt when she got this contract in her hands and at such a young age.

I looked up and felt the tears falling down my face. “Ryder. It’s not bad at all. It’s the most amazing thing ever.”

He spun around and his face fell when he saw me crying. “Why are you crying? And smiling?”

Pressing my lips together, I tried to contain the sobs I wanted to let out. My heart was happy and so sad at the same time. Kate had the brightest future in front of her, and in one moment it was taken from her.

Once I felt like I could talk, I handed him the contract. He took it and looked at it with a confused expression.