Better Than My Ex novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Ring in Her Hand

Levi's POV

I had promised her I wouldn't say a word, and I kept it while the whole hangar turned to look at me.

Mara did not turn.

She looked at Bryson, and she said it in a normal voice, the one she uses to tell a customer the muffins are gone.

"I know. He told me on Tuesday."

Bryson's mouth opened.

"Sit down, Captain," she said. "You're embarrassing yourself."

I had never loved her more, and I had never been so sure I would lose her.

The president of Pacific Meridian looked at me, and I gave him the smallest nod.

"Captain Baxter," he said. "You are relieved of duty, effective now, pending a board review."

"On what grounds?"

"On the grounds that I heard you."

He held out his hand for the wings.

Bryson didn't give them, and the president kept his hand out.

Two security officers appeared at the edge of the crowd, and Bryson took the pin off his own lapel and set it in the president's palm.

It was a very quiet sound.

I didn't touch any of it. I stood where she had put me.

Mrs. Hartnett took Mara's arm on the way out, and Mara let her.

At the doors the older woman stopped and looked up at me.

"You said nothing, Mr. Shaw."

"I was asked to."

"Good," she said. "Keep to it. It suits you."

The rain had stopped, and the runway lights were laid out in rows behind the fence.

I drove, and Mara sat in the passenger seat with the pendant in one fist and nothing in her other hand, and neither of us spoke until the Bay Bridge lights came up.

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