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I swipe on Luca’s number. “Are you with our Omega?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Answer the question.”

“I’m in the garden. She’s in the kitchen being fed the mac and cheese I made. It’s burned.”

Despite everything, my lips tug into a smile.

Burned mac and cheese is about what I would expect Luca to have cooked.

“I’ll bring back some stuff from the cookout,” I promise. “But Devlin turned up like we reckoned he would. The plan worked to get him talking, and I found out…” This is hard to say. “He’s been blackmailing Paige into becoming his Omega. Her inn is in foreclosure. It’s going to auction tomorrow. The prick will only buy it if she bonds with him.”

Silence.

I wince.

“You bring his dead body. I’ll bring the shovel. I know the best place to bury him in the forest.”

I’m not sure that Luca is joking.

“Good idea. But first, we need to work out how to buy the inn for her.” I lean in the archway, squinting against the setting sun. “We need to give her the freedom to start a new life for herself. We’ve got the inn fixed up. You’ve been gardening. We could work hard on finishing it up for the next month and give her the grand opening so that she’s earning and independent like she dreamed.”

“But how much would it cost to buy the inn as a courting gift?”

“Probably four hundred thousand. And it wouldn’t be a courting gift. We’re not doing this like Devlin. We’d be helping her out as friends.”

Luca’s voice brightens. “She is my friend.”

“No strings attached. Simply because I love her.”

It feels amazing and liberating to say it out loud and not because I intend to bond her.

Simply because it’s the truth.

“Good, Chief,” Luca replies, firmly, “because I love her too. And Angel may just bite you if you don’t because he loves her so damn much. It’s been breaking him not to admit it out loud. But there’s a problem. I have precisely three hundred and eight dollars in cash. Angel probably has a crumpled twenty-dollar bill. What do you have down the back of the couch? Because we can’t sell Cole House in time.”

I straighten, my expression souring at the thought of selling my parents’ house…the founders’ house.

It’s sacrilegious.

But I would do it.

Luca’s logical assessment is right.

We don’t have hundreds of thousands lying around in cash, which is what you need to buy properties at auction. The money that I have in my accounts, I have mainly drained in support of different voluntary organizations.

My portfolio is tied up.

I have heavily invested in small local businesses.

Then a thought strikes me, which makes me feel lighter and heavier at the same time.

“My antiques and heirlooms.” I close my eyes. “I could sell Mom’s jewelry. Certain private buyers have been asking after different pieces for years. I’ll contact them with a one-night-only chance to make an offer, cash only. They’re wealthy enough to manage it.”

“Chief.” Luca’s voice is unusually soft. “I don’t have anything from my family. One of my foster parents took away the blanket Mom left with me. I’d give anything for a single piece of jewelry from Mom. What you’re talking about giving up are your memories. I know how carefully you keep them. How angry you were with Angel when he played ball inside and broke that vase, which had been your dad’s favorite. Are you sure you won’t regret selling your memories?”

“My memories for Paige’s. It’s a fair exchange. Wouldn’t you do the same?”