New Beginnings Read Free Page A

the country music industry. It was never enough. No matter how many awards he’d won, records he’d sold, or millions he’d made, it had never been enough. He had worked longer and harder every day in his quest for supremacy until he finally wound up alone.
    He propped his elbows on the desk, dropping his head in his hands. “Maybe it was an accident. I don’t know. What I do know is that my stupidity, my recklessness, caused Sierra to go into labour ten weeks early. If I hadn’t been arguing with her, I wouldn’t have been distracted. I would have been able to stop in time.” He swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the grief blocking his airway.
    “We lost our daughter because of me, Marisa.”
    She reached out to him, but he pushed her away. He didn’t want her sympathy, didn’t deserve it.
    “Sierra has forgiven you, Trey. I think it’s time for you to forgive yourself.”
    “Never,” he whispered.
    To forgive himself would dishonor Callie’s memory. He had come to terms with who he was: a self-indulgent, power-hungry, control freak, and because of his failings, his angel had died before she had a chance at life. He wasn’t worthy of forgiveness.
    She leaned back in her chair, staring at him like she was looking at a stranger. “Is that why you haven’t been able to get past this accident? Because it reminded you of what happened back then?”
    He got up and crossed the room, feeling trapped, like a caged animal desperate to escape the confines of a life behind bars. Only he was trapped by gaping wounds that time and booze couldn’t heal and mistakes that he couldn’t make up for, no matter how much he wished he could.
    “I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Marisa. Please, just go.”
    She hesitated and he knew she wanted to object.
    “Fine,” she said softly. “I’ll leave, but only if you promise to come to Jimmy’s tonight.”
    He just wanted to be alone, alone with his misery and memories. “I’ll be there. Just go now, please.”
     
    ***
     
    “Sierra, please tell me you’ll talk to him.”
    Sierra Brooks turned her back on her former sister-in-law. She couldn’t allow herself to get drawn in to her ex-husband’s world again, not when she had spent the past five years fighting to rebuild the life he had worked so hard to destroy. She loved Marisa, loved her parents, but her love for Trey had cost her everything. She couldn’t go back, not when she’d worked so hard to move forward.
    “I can’t. Please try to understand.”
    Marisa grabbed her hand, spinning her around until they were eye to eye. Trey and his sister were alike, yet different in so many ways. They definitely shared the same genes: olive complexion, startling blue eyes, ink-black hair, and both were athletic and competitive to a fault.
    But that’s where the similarities ended. Marisa was warm and compassionate, open and communicative, while Trey was often cold and reserved, valuing his privacy more than relationships. Marisa was modest, while Trey wore his accomplishments like a badge of honor. Perhaps that’s why her relationship with Marisa had withstood the test of time, and her marriage had failed.
    “I’m afraid for him, Sierra. I haven’t seen him like this since before you left him. He’s out of control. He’s drinking again, every day.”
    That damned bottle had been his best friend and her archenemy during the final months of their marriage. Together, they could have gotten past the accident, shared their grief over the loss of their baby, and rebuilt their shattered marriage, but instead he chose to drown his grief in his career and the bottle, effectively shutting her out of his life until she got the news that finally sealed their fate.
    “I’ve moved on with my life. Your brother is not my problem anymore.”
    “You still love him.”
    The truth of those simple words felt like a weight on her chest that had never lifted. Her love for him would never die, no matter how hard she had tried to