Sheriff Parker's mouth opens and closes wordlessly. Ridge and Jax shift uncomfortably behind me. Sylvie doesn't look surprised, which makes me wonder how much Savannah has shared with her.
"We thought it would be simple," she continues. "Six months married, then divorce. I get my inheritance, Colt gets a better reputation in town. A business deal."
"But then we..." She falters, glancing at me, vulnerability naked in her eyes. "Things got complicated. And I realized I can't go through with it. Not like this. Not under false pretenses."
She turns back to me, and the pain in her expression guts me. "I'm sorry, Colt. You deserve better than a fake wife who can't even be honest about why she's really running away."
Before I can respond, she gathers her skirt and rushes from the courtroom, leaving stunned silence in her wake.
"What the hell just happened?" Sheriff Parker demands, advancing on me with fury in his eyes.
"Sheriff." Sylvie catches his arm. "Not now. Go after your daughter."
He hesitates, clearly torn between confronting me and following Savannah. Fatherly concern wins out, and he strides from the room, leaving me to face the remaining witnesses.
"Well," the judge says dryly. "I believe that concludes today's proceedings."
He bangs his gavel once and exits through a side door, apparently deciding this drama is above his pay grade.
"Colt." Jax's hand lands on my shoulder. "You okay?"
I'm not okay. I'm nowhere near okay. The room spins slightly as I try to process what just happened.
"She left." The words feel hollow, inadequate. "She just...left."
"Come on." Ridge takes my other arm. "Let's get out of here."
They guide me back to the antechamber, Sylvie following with a sympathetic expression that makes me want to punch something.
"I'll go find Savannah," she says, hovering in the doorway. "Make sure she's alright."
"Tell her..." I start, but what can I possibly say? "Just make sure she's okay."
Sylvie nods and disappears, leaving me alone with my brothers.
"Did you know?" Jax asks after a moment. "That she was planning this?"
"No." I sink into a chair, loosening the tie that suddenly feels like it's choking me. "I knew something was wrong, but not this."
Ridge passes me a flask pulled from inside his suit jacket. I take a long swallow, the whiskey burning a path down my throat.
"You're in love with her." It's not a question. Ridge has always been too observant for his own good.
I don't bother denying it. "Yeah."
"Does she know?" Jax asks.
The question stops me cold. In all our time together, all the nights wrapped in each other's arms, all the mornings making breakfast in companionable silence, all the moments I felt myself falling deeper. I never told her.
"No." The realization hits like a thunderbolt. "I never said it."
"Well, that explains it." Ridge takes the flask back, taking a sip himself. "Woman's probably half in love with you too, scared to death you're still seeing this as just business."
"She said things got complicated," Jax reminds me. "That's not the statement of someone who doesn't care."
Hope flares briefly, then gutters out. "She still ran."
"So go after her." Ridge says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Unless you're planning to just let her go."
