"But … " This didn't make sense. It was him. It had to be.
Frozen in place, she watched them leave.
Once the door closed, Bryan came back to stand in front of her but didn't say anything. His placating expression said enough.
"We had him," she said. "It was him. It had to be." It couldn't be anyone else. They were out of time.
"Sometimes that's the way it goes."
That's it? That's all he had to say?
Oh, shucks. Too bad. That's the way the cookie crumbles.
Of course, because he'd never had anything ripped away from him.
"Do you even care that Clint slipped through our fingers?"
His cool gaze assessed her. "He didn't slip anywhere. As far as we're concerned, he's innocent."
"So that's it? We're just going to let him go?"
"That's how this works, Kenna. He's not our guy."
Then who was?
Maybe she'd missed something. Maybe Michael wasn't the decent guy she'd thought. Maybe there was a sinister part of him, or no, a desperate part that needed those items, for whatever reason. And Joseph Landry, just because he was Bryan's boss didn't mean he was a good guy. Corruption lurked everywhere, didn't it?
Both men were worth a second look.
"If you don't want to keep going," she said, "then don't. But I can't sit back and wait for Michael or Joseph to strike again."
Bryan's sharp laugh made her shoulders tense. "Now all of a sudden Tucker and Landry are back on your list?"
"We never officially ruled them out," she said with a lift of her chin.
His ice-blue eyes narrowed. "You never ruled them out. I know for damn sure Landry isn't involved. Michael, either. I'd stake my life on it."
"That ring is my life," she said through clenched teeth.
They stared each other down, neither one giving an inch.
"I'm going to restart with the two people that I know have motive."
He snorted, cold and sarcastic. "Motive? Because they vaguely look like the man you might or might not have seen walking near your room?"
Her jaw dropped. Asshole. He'd seen the video. There had been a man in her room. There was no doubt.
"We need to look at this objectively," he said, bearing his gaze down on her, pinning her in place in the middle of the room. "Let's look back at what we know and regroup."
"There isn't enough time to regroup! We've been through the list of men who fit the description. There's no one left. It's Michael or Joseph," she said.
"Oh, yeah? What makes you so sure?"
"Because they had to!" she yelled. "They have to be guilty!" Her mother's ring was gone, and her aunt's brooch was stolen. The thought that the items might never be returned, mixed with her jumbled feelings about Bear, was sending her over the edge. "It has to be one of them, okay? We don't have time for it to be someone else. It has to be them."
Oh God, her stomach was in so many knots she might be sick. They weren't going to find it.
"And if it's not?"
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" she said.
"What?" His voice was dangerously calm.
"You'd like that," she repeated. "If we don't find my mom's ring. You'd be satisfied to leave this island without it. No more thoughts of weddings or happiness for anyone. You can go back to your life-wherever that is-continuing to ignore the torment you caused me. Was that all this was? A pity party? Some way for you to appease me for the week? Act like you'd find the ring, when really you weren't even trying?"
"You're entering dangerous territory, Kenna," he said. "You might want to think before you take things in this direction."
She laughed in his face, hard and sardonic. "What are you going to do about it?" She shoved him in his chest. "Nothing. Like usual. You'll just walk away. It's what you do."
He went from barely contained anger to full-on raging bull in a split second. His face was inflamed. His chest puffed in large amounts of air. His hands fisted at his sides. "I know you're upset, so I'm going to let that comment slide. But you need to choose your next words very carefully."
"You know what? No. I'm done talking. I knew I shouldn't have trusted you to find my ring. I'll do it myself." She took two steps, ready to go out and find the items on her own, but his firm hand clutched her arm. She whipped her head toward the contact, then up at his face. "Let. Me. Go."
"You're not walking out like that," he said. "Not on a rampage. You're gonna sit your ass right here until you calm down."
She tugged against his hold, but he didn't relent. "Let go."
He tightened his grip. Not enough to hurt her but enough to send a clear message.
Kenna narrowed her eyes, and if she could've done it, she would've shot daggers out of them.
With a simple flip of his arm, he tossed her onto the bed, her butt landing hard.
"You can't just throw me around whenever you feel like it, you beast."
"Pretty sure I just did."
She tried to stand, but he shot her such a menacing look that it knocked her feet out from under her.
"You wanna go out there and go hunting, fine," he said. "But you're gonna calm down, and you're gonna hear me out before you charge out of this room pissed about something you don't understand. We're going to finish the conversation we started before the cops came in."
"I don't give a shit what you say," she said, her voice starting to climb once more. She couldn't control it. He'd promised her he'd find the ring. I always keep my promises, he'd said. Obviously not. "Nothing will change my opinion of you now. You're heartless, uncaring, and you don't deserve me!"
He'd bent in a flash, and his face was inches from hers. "I know I don't!"
They were so close she could see the blood vessels straining in the whites of his eyes. His teeth bared like a rabid animal stalking its prey. His heavy breaths gusting across her lips like a squall across the ocean.
"I don't," he said more calmly, backing away. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I wish I did deserve you, Kenna. But I don't." The look that came next completely annihilated her. It was so meaningful. So decisive. So heartbreaking.
"I'm sorry for what I did all those years ago," he said. "The way I left you hanging with no reason for why I didn't come back. I just couldn't … I just couldn't bear how badly I'd failed you. So I used this week as a way to try to make it up to you. I thought if I could find your ring, then you'd be less pissed at me, and I could apologize. Even if we can't be together, you at least deserved that."
Even if we can't be together.
"Why can't we be together?" she asked. "I thought-I thought you were trying to find the items so we could be together."
His sympathetic gaze tore her in two. "It was never about that. It was only ever about apologizing to you. I told you. We can never be like we were. This week was it."
"But … " Her throat clogged with overwhelming emotion. Her eyes stung. "But you love me."
"More than anything," he said softly. "But I'm not what you need. I'll never be."
Oh God. The realization was too much. This was her biggest fear. He was walking away again. This time for good. There would be no hope of him returning. It was over.
She stood, gripping his shirt, pulling him to her. "But you are. You've always been exactly what I need. What I'll always need."
He tried to turn his head away, but she yanked him back to her.
She'd finally attempted to trust Bryan again. She'd finally let herself imagine a future with him. She finally had hope.
He watched her, his eyes filling with tears of his own. It nearly brought her to her knees. He was bared to her. Completely. "I have to. I can't give you what you want."
"You don't know what I want!" she cried.
"I do," he said it so softly, it scared the living shit out of her. Bear wasn't soft or timid about anything.
"You're what I want!" She tried to pull his mouth to hers, but he lifted his chin out of her reach.
"Kenna, stop," he said.
She tugged at him again.
"Stop!" he shouted. "Jesus Christ, it's not gonna work, okay? I can't give you kids. It's never gonna work. I can't do it."
She froze, her grip on him immediately releasing. "Kids? What do you- But that would mean … "
"I'm shooting blanks, Kenna."
"But … "
He shook his head. "You'll never be happy with me. Don't you understand? One day you'll resent me for not being able to give you what you want." His eyes were clear and direct as he stared at her. "Don't you see? I did the work for you. I didn't come back so you'd never have to feel bad about leaving me later on."
She tried to form words, but they wouldn't come. This was the last thing she expected. He'd found another woman. He'd gotten tired of Kenna. He didn't love her anymore. Those were what she'd replayed in her mind for years.