The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max) novel Chapter 70

She stood with her parents and Fallon next to the gurney in the quiet room as the attendant pulled back the white sheet and stifled a sob.

Her mom’s hand rested on Lark’s shoulder as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her father looked terrible, his eyes a crimson shade of red, swollen, and puffy. How was this real?

Grady stepped closer and pressed his lips to his mother’s forehead, “I’m so sorry, Mom. I should have been there to protect you. I should have gone for the walk with you and Lark. I should have protected my girls, and I didn’t. I failed you, Mom. I’m sorry.”

Lark looked away as her throat clogged, “it wasn’t your fault.”

“Grady,” Everly cleared her throat. “You couldn’t have stopped what happened. Her heart.”

“He did it,” Grady took a shaking breath. “He f*****g did it but I should have been there to stop him from even getting close to you.”

“Dad, no.”

Lark watched as he closed his eyes after cupping his mother’s cheek one last time and then his shoulders shook as the attendant pulled the blanket back up. The way he broke down falling to his knees reaching for her hand under the blanket caused Lark’s heart to shatter. Everly moved to him and wrapped her arms around him as he turned in her arms, his head against her belly as he sobbed.

Her father was the strongest man she knew and to see him like this was killing her. Fallon was not doing any better than Lark and they held each other as they watched their parents hold each other while all their hearts broke.

After a time, Grady got off his knees, accepting the tissues the attendant passed to him and then moved to hug Lark and Fallon.

“We need to go see how Gracie is making out in surgery,” Everly whispered softly.

“And Sawyer,” Grady cleared his throat and holding the girls close to his chest led them out of the quiet room, casting one last glance behind him. “f**k this is hard.”

Lark couldn’t agree more. As they exited the room, she saw Max waiting for her, and she noted his eyes were as red as hers. His fingers twitched at his sides as if he was struggling not to pull her away from her father and her bottom lip trembled as her own fingers itched to get tangled with his. Her breath caught in her throat, before she pulled away from her father and flung herself into his arms.

The scent of him was immediately soothing as he wrapped his arms around her tight, a mix of English and French words pouring in her ear as he hugged her to his chest.

“I’m so sorry, chère,” his voice was muffled in her hair. He looked over her head, “Grady, I’m sorry.”

Grady squeezed his shoulder, “we need to get back upstairs. The surgeons promised an update as soon as they could.” Max kept Lark tucked tight to his side as Everly and Fallon clung to Grady.

They made their way to the waiting room outside the surgical suite and Lark was surprised to see it packed to the gills with people. Ollie jumped over a row of chairs to grab her and flung her arms around her neck.

“Lark.”

“Ollie,” she whimpered as the tears started to fall again.

“Mrs. Hoffman,” a man in a suit approached and spoke to Everly. “My name is Detective Perez. I’m sorry for the loss of your grandmother. I hate to bother you all here, but we need to get your statement. I thought I’d come to you,” he waved the trio, “instead of asking you to come down to the precinct.”

“Are we in trouble?” Fallon asked. “We didn’t do anything.”

“No, no,” the man shook his head. “Not in the least. We simply want to confirm what happened and who pulled the trigger. It’s a formality. Nothing more. The hotel has incredible CCTV, and it will give us everything we need but we have to get your version of events.”

Lark gave an exhausted shake of her head, “Me, mom and Nana,” she gasped at the ache of it, “were coming back from a walk. Fallon and Gracie, my sisters,” her voice cracked, “and Mori were coming back from their manicures and saw us and were waiting for us to reach them. Sawyer got there at the same time as the girls. We were laughing at his shoes,” she sniffed as she wiped a tear. “He wore these god awful bright red Converse runners. Doug showed up out of nowhere. He said he saw,” she looked over her shoulder at Max, “a news clip last night where Oona was exposed for trying to extort you. The paparazzi took photos of Ollie, Gracie and me in the hotel lounge and he recognized Gracie.”

“f**k,” Max whispered quietly.

“Doug saw me with Gracie on the television and immediately thought Sawyer was collaborating with us against him.” “Why?” the detective frowned.

“Doug is my ex-boyfriend. He cheated on me with his admin assistant in the workplace and I exposed them rather dramatically,” Lark pushed her hair off her cheek. “I left him, and he wasn’t letting go easily. He showed up at my house weeks ago and came at me in the yard. Max,” she didn’t want to say it.