“You didn’t know.”
“I’m still a bitch.” Vanessa hugged Ginger. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Ginger hugged her back, oddly comforted by the touch. But that wasn’t enough to stop the tears flowing down her cheeks. Or her heart from breaking all over again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“You absolutely have to stop moping.”
Shane glared at Vanessa. “And you have to stop nagging.”
“You were discharged a week ago, and you’ve been stuck in this penthouse ever since. It’s ridiculous, even for an artiste type like you.”
“They had to cut a section of my hair for the stitches,” he said. “I’m not going out looking like Frankenstein.”
“It’s grown back.”
“Not enough. It still shows.”
“Then shave your head!” Vanessa threw her hands in the air, pacing back and forth across his living room in her impractical high heels. “You can’t just stay holed up here anymore. I won’t allow it. I insist you go and do something about the situation with Ginger.”
“Why the fuck would I want to do that?” he said, feeling the weight of the engagement ring in his pocket.
She covered her belly with her hands. “You can’t use the f-word! My baby can hear it.” Then she suddenly stilled. “Oh my god.” She paled. “I’m sorry.”
“No. Stop. Don’t change because of me. I want you to be absolutely thrilled with your baby and show it.”
“Shane…”
“You owe me that much for being a pain in the ass while we were growing up.” He was happy for Vanessa and excited about his nephew. He wasn’t going to let the news of Ginger’s miscarriage diminish his sister’s joy. It was his to bear. “I’ll stop cursing if you’ll stop nagging.”
Vanessa sat next to him on the couch and took his hand. “Shane. Don’t you want to find out who sent you the pictures?”
“Ginger already tried. She said they came back to me.”
“That’s the weird thing. You didn’t send them, right?”
“Of course not.”
“That’s what I thought. So who did? Whoever’s behind this did it on purpose to put a wedge between you and Ginger. They need to pay.” She tightened her mouth. “If you won’t investigate, then I will. I’m going to unleash everything I got.”
“You mean Barron Sterling? You’re going to ask him for a baby christening gift, and it’s going to be to seek out and destroy whoever sent the photos?”
“Maybe.” She flushed. “Hey, he’s family too. Besides, nobody knows revenge like Barron.”
“Yeah, because that old man’s a psycho. You’re marrying into a psycho family.”
Vanessa made a face. “He’s not a psycho. He’s actually kind of nice.”
“Of course, he is. He does everything you want him to so long as you pat your belly while you ask.”
She gave him a withering look. “Back to the photos. Don’t let them get away with it.”
Shane squeezed her hand and looked at the picture of Ginger he’d placed on the mantel. She was smiling in that sunny way of hers. Seeing it never failed to brighten his day, no matter how foul a mood he was in. Now he’d never see it again.
He hadn’t done anything about the photos, and felt a vague lack of energy about them at this point. Nothing would change even if he found out who was responsible. Punishment would have been icing on the cake, but what was the point if there was no cake? If he couldn’t turn back the clock…
On the other hand, Vanessa was right. It wasn’t good for him to turn into a hermit, and he wanted to know who’d wrecked his and Ginger’s life together. And the baby…