Hunter. Damn it. His momentary disappointment gave way to relief when he read the text. Edie is here, with Gretchen. She has her cats with her and will be our guest for a few days as she settles in.

Thank god. Magnus tilted his head back with relief, eyes closed. As long as she was safe and with friends, that was all that mattered. He immediately dialed Hunter. “She’s there? She’s safe?” he asked the moment the phone picked up on the other end.

“Yes and yes,” Hunter said.

“Thank you,” Magnus breathed. “Thank you for being there for her.” He felt so fucking guilty that he was part of this nonsense. That he’d allowed himself to get swept up in Levi’s stupid games. Edie was right; it was an awful thing to do. He just hadn’t given any thought to how Edie would feel about being manipulated because he hadn’t cared as long as he’d gotten what he wanted out of things.

And the moment that had changed, he was trapped. He could have left things as they were, gone on with his new life with Edie, had her move in with him, and hope she never found out the truth. But then wouldn’t he have been just as bad as Bianca? He suspected that the secrecy hurt much worse than the betrayal.

And that was why he’d had to tell her the truth, even if the timing was shit. Because everything needed to be out on the table.

“I’m afraid you can’t see her,” Hunter said.

“What?”

“Gretchen won’t allow it. Not while Edie’s this emotional. She needs time to adjust to everything she’s been told recently.”

“Fuck that—”

“I just wanted to let you know as a friend.” Hunter’s voice was completely emotionless, as if they were discussing business. “My security staff has been apprised of the situation and both you and Levi are forbidden from the grounds until further notice.”

“Some friend—”

“I am your friend,” Hunter stated. “That hasn’t changed. But Edie is Gretchen’s friend and she is in greater need of a friend and a stable environment at the moment, would you not agree?”

His jaw set. “She’d want to see me.”

“I’ll let her decide that for herself.”

“She won’t answer my calls.”

“Gretchen told me she has gone to bed for the night.”

Magnus wanted to bite out that Gretchen could fucking go wake her up, but he knew the fastest way to get Hunter pissed was to disparage his fiancée. And he understood that. Hunter was utterly protective of Gretchen like Magnus was of Edie. Except they weren’t letting him protect his woman. He couldn’t get to her.

He gritted his teeth, frustrated. “I’ll be there in the morning. Tell Edie.”

***

Edie picked at her oatmeal, her appetite non-existent. It wasn’t that the food was awful—Gretchen was a terrific cook and this was one of the recipes from the cookbook she was putting together. It was that her stomach felt as unhappy and depressed as the rest of her. It was torture trying to get anything down, even though she knew she should eat. It was just . . . difficult. Eating felt like one of those functions you did when life moved at its regular pace, and for Edie, life had pretty much ground to an abrupt halt.

So she sipped her coffee and moved her spoon through her oatmeal, and tried to feign interest in the conversation Hunter and Gretchen were having over breakfast. Even though the huge manor had a dozen dining rooms, the happy couple liked to eat breakfast in their favorite kitchen. There was a cozy wood-block table directly across from a wall of windows, and the three of them sat and ate breakfast as a heavy rain pattered on the window. It seemed that Hunter had recently acquired a castle in the UK that had been put up for sale, and Gretchen wanted to keep it and restore it, whereas Hunter wanted to flip it and sell it to a friend who’d been looking at unique residences. They laughingly bickered over prices and contractors and Edie stared at her plate, wishing she could retreat to her room without upsetting her hosts. Instead, she glanced out the window in the tiny kitchen at the miserable weather.

Gretchen looked over at Edie. “Something wrong?”

She fixed a smile to her face. “No, I was just looking at the weather. It’s one of those curl-up-in-bed days today, isn’t it?” And man, she sure wanted to curl up in bed. Hopefully with the covers over her head and hiding from the world.

“It is pretty damn nasty outside, isn’t it?” Gretchen’s tone sounded mysteriously gleeful. “All that rain and cold, and if we’re lucky, we’ll even get hail.”

“Gretchen,” Hunter murmured.

“Oh, fine.” Gretchen gave a mock pout to her fiancé. “Can I help it if I’m having a good gloat that he’s standing out there in the rain?”

Edie turned to them, a puzzled look on her face. “Who is standing out in the rain?”

Gretchen picked up her cup of coffee and gave it a loud slurp, her expression overly innocent. Hunter just shook his head.

“Who?” Edie asked.

“Magnus,” Hunter said after a moment, and earned himself a playful slap on the arm from Gretchen. “My gate guards have orders not to let him in, so he’s sitting on the hood of his car in the rain and waiting for you to come out and talk to him.”

Edie’s jaw dropped. “He’s here?” She got up and went to the window, peering out into the rain. The gardens were a foggy blur, but in the distance, was that the gate? Was that dark form a familiar Maserati with a man on the hood? Or was it all in her imagination? “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Hunter and Gretchen exchanged a look. Gretchen squirmed awkwardly in her seat, and then shrugged at Edie. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to know. I mean, sitting out in the rain like a sad panda doesn’t take away the fact that you were a douche, you know?”

“It doesn’t,” Edie agreed. “But we can let him in. I’m not a child. I’m an adult, and I can have an adult conversation with him.”

“I guess,” Gretchen said. “I was just trying to help.”

“I know,” Edie said, a hint of a smile on her face. “I’m glad that at least someone has my back. But really, I can handle this. I’m a big girl.”

“Let’s finish breakfast at least,” Gretchen said.

Hunter got up out of his chair and kissed the top of Gretchen’s head. “You ladies finish breakfast. I’m going to go and phone down to the gate so they’ll let the man in.”

“Party pooper,” Gretchen told him affectionately, and squeezed his ass as he walked past.

Edie choked down a few more bites of oatmeal, then excused herself. She ran to the bathroom to fix her hair and makeup. Oh damn, she looked like a hot mess. Her hair was wild and she had dark circles under her puffy eyes. She washed her face again and toweled it dry, then used her damp fingers to smooth her hair as best she could. She bit her lips to make them plump a bit, then squared her shoulders to go out and face things.

Truth was, she shouldn’t have cared how she looked to Magnus, but she found that she did care. She didn’t want him to see her and think she looked like hell. Why, she had no idea, but it was important to her.

Gretchen was hovering outside the bathroom door as Edie emerged, and she produced a tube of concealer, some mascara and a pot of lip gloss. “If you’re going to meet the ass, at least look your best,” she grumped.

Edie hugged her. “You’re the best friend a girl could have.”

“I know,” Gretchen sighed.

Five minutes later, a freshly mascaraed, lip-glossed, no-undereye-circles Edie emerged from the bathroom again, slipped into the sweater Gretchen handed her, and went into the Blue Library, her heart thumping wildly in her chest.

There, seated on one of the ridiculous, tiny settees, sat Magnus, his big shoulders squared. His bristly, short hair gleamed with dampness, and he had a towel over his shoulders. Sitting across from him in one of the Louis XIV chairs was a sullen Levi, his lip swollen and split.

At the sight of Edie, Magnus jumped to his feet. He started to approach her, and she raised a hand, stopping him.