Shoving from the bed, I walked into my bathroom to splash water on my face. The reflection staring back at me was almost unrecognizable. My skin was pale. Dark circles shadowed beneath my eyes, muting their icy blue color and making them appear dull. Stress carved every crease and line of my skin even deeper, making it look like I’d aged years overnight.

The shrill sound of my phone ringing from my bedroom brought me out of my stupor and I ran to where it lay on the nightstand, hope causing my heart to thunder in my chest.

“Navie?” I asked, not bothering to look at the screen.

“That would be a no,” the voice on the other end spoke.

My entire body slumped in defeat as I sat on the bed, rubbing my forehead with my free hand. “Lauren.” The disappointment in my voice was evident.

“Well, good morning to you, too, sunshine.”

I didn’t have the energy for our usual back and forth. I needed to shower and get dressed on the off-chance Navie came in to work. If not, I needed to prepare for hours of stalking. I had a full day ahead of me.

“Look, Lauren, I’m not in the mood right now. I need to—”

“What you need to do is shut up and listen to me, Rowan.” Her tone left no room for argument. “I have no idea what the hell happened between you and Navie, and if I’m being honest, I don’t want to know. What I want is for you to have your ass here bright and early tomorrow morning at nine a.m. so we can interview new assistants. And I know asking for sunshine and rainbows to blow out of your ass is asking for the end of world hunger, but can you at least try to come off somewhat pleasant?”

I didn’t hear a damn word she had to say after interview new assistants. Icy dread filled my veins as black began clouding the edges of my vision. “What the hell are you talking about, Lauren? I don’t need a new assistant. I already have one.”

“Seeing as Navie called me yesterday and resigned from that position, I’d say you don’t.”

“She did what?”

“Rowan, I’m just the messenger here. Navie called requesting to be moved somewhere else within the company. Considering she’s one of the best workers I’ve seen in years, I didn’t want to run the risk of losing her, so I found her another position.”

Rage and anguish coursed through my body, the toxic combination threatening to destroy me as I tried to wrap my mind around what I’d just been told.

“Where is she?” I gritted.

“Now, Rowan, you need to calm down—”

“Fuck calm! Tell me where she is!”

Silence trickled through the line for several seconds before she finally responded softly. “She’s not here, Row. We worked out the details of her new position, but she requested some time off. She refused to tell me what happened between the two of you, just said she needed to get away for a while. I gave her two weeks’ vacation.”

I couldn’t breathe. I was suffocating. “Lauren, I have to go.”

“But… tomorrow—”

“I have to go,” I cut her off. “Don’t worry about a fucking personal assistant right now. I’ll discuss it with you when I get back.”

“Wait. What? Where are you going?”

“Don’t know yet,” I answered as I pulled a suitcase from my closet. “Wherever the hell she went. I just need to find out where that is.”

A resigned sigh came through the phone. “All right. I’m not going to try and talk you out of this, but please, promise me you won’t turn this into a PR nightmare. We’re just starting to get your image cleaned up.”

“I’ll do my best,” I offered unreassuringly.

“Oh, sweet Lord. Why me?”

“You can’t be mad at me! The man practically slept out on our stoop for three nights! What did you want me to do?”

“I don’t know, Harlow,” I replied sarcastically. “Maybe call security, or the cops? Or how about not tell the asshole who broke my heart exactly where I was when I left to get away from him?” I knew I was being unfair. I wasn’t mad at Harlow, but trying to get a handle on the emotions that had been flowing through me for the past four days was proving to be a harder task than I would have thought.

“Okay, first of all, I’m going to excuse the bitchy attitude because I love you and I know you’re under stress. Secondly, you called security on the guy the first night he refused to leave and it obviously didn’t do shit. I didn’t know what else to do.”

I let out a huff of air and fell back onto the bed. Since arriving at Willow Ranch three days before, I’d been holed up in one of the guest rooms in the main house, barely coming out to eat, let alone spend time with my family. It was clear that Carson and Cassidy were both worried about me, but so far, they’d given me space. I had a feeling that wasn’t going to last too much longer.

Silence leaked through the line for one uncomfortable minute before she spoke again. “Are you done being mad at me now?” That was yet another reason I loved my best friend so much. Harlow and I rarely fought, but like most women, when we did, we could have a tendency to be a little bit nasty. But once the dust had settled and our anger cooled, we didn’t hold grudges. We apologized and moved on, refusing to let it ruin our friendship.

“I’m sorry,” I said in a quiet voice. “I was never mad at you. I’m just confused and… sad.”

“I know, honey,” she soothed. “I’m going to say something right now that might piss you off, but you’re going to listen because you know I’m wise beyond my years and always right.”

That earned her a small laugh. “All right. Hit me with it.”

“I think you need to talk to him.” She didn’t pause to let what she said sink in, or give me an opportunity to object. “I know what you told me about his history with that bitch, but a man doesn’t sleep on the stoop of a woman’s building if he still has feelings for someone else.”

“I know what I saw, Harlow! He was kissing her!”

“Is that really what you saw?” she asked cautiously. “Can you honestly tell me that you’re a hundred percent positive there isn’t a reasonable explanation for what you saw?”

“You think there’s a reasonable explanation for why his mouth was on hers and they were pressed together so tightly not even sunlight could get through?”

“I don’t know,” she insisted. “That’s what I’m trying to get you to understand. You ran out of there without listening to anything he had to say. Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to find out the truth? You deserve to be happy, babe. And I’ve never seen you happier than when you were with Rowan. I just don’t want you to regret not hearing him out.”

“So, you’re on his side?” I asked unreasonably.

“I’m on your side and you know that. But I’m not going to stand by and watch you ruin your chances at something great because you’re scared. You had a raw deal growing up, babe. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been. One person should never have to handle that much disappointment. But you’re out of your mind if you think I’m just going to sit back and let you rebuild those damned walls you’ve lived behind all your life. You’ve worked too hard to become the person you are today to cower away and hide when shit gets rough. I love you too much to let you do that, even if I run the risk of you hating me for it.”

“I could never hate you,” I whispered.

“Then please promise me you won’t let go of the woman you’ve become. Do whatever it is you need to in order to be happy. You have people in your corner now. I can’t promise that everything with Rowan will work out, but what I can promise is that, no matter what, there are too many hands holding on to you to let the fall be as painful as it’s been in the past.”