Barbara untied the apron around her waist, then walked over and handed it to me. “I’ve decided I am done here. I realize I’m right and the beautiful soul you destroyed won’t ever come back here. She’s gone. And I don’t think I can bear to stay here and watch your life spiral out of control. Because it will. You’ve lost your light.”

Barbara turned and left. I stood there and listened as she spoke to the employees, and then I heard her giving her keys to someone. I didn’t move. I wasn’t sure I could. Because what she said made sense.

What the f**k was I missing?

When I finally moved, I didn’t go to the kitchen. My appetite was gone. I went to the office instead. And sure enough, there was Sadie’s new iPhone. The newest version had just come out last week, and I’d had it waiting for her when she woke up that day. She had said she’d just figured out the last one and wasn’t ready for the new one, but she had laughed at me.

Then we had spent an hour in the shower together.

Without her my life meant nothing. This emptiness wasn’t ever going away. What had Sadie wanted to tell me? Had she gotten a job? I wasn’t sure what else would be important enough for her to make plans for a big night to surprise me.

Unless . . .

Holy hell . . . no.

She would have told me. She wouldn’t have left.

“You broke her. She won’t trust you again. . . .” Barbara’s words came back to me.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Jessica’s number. It rang three times before Sadie’s mother answered. “You have five seconds” was her greeting.

“Is she there?” I asked.

“Where else do you think she’d be?” she snapped back.

“Is she . . . is she . . . pregnant?” I asked, feeling a mixture of hope and fear battling in my chest.

Jessica let out a hard laugh. “Sorry, f**ker. Your five seconds are up. Figure this shit out on your own.”

Then she hung up on me.

I stared down at the phone in my hand and thought about calling back. But what good would that do? Jessica wasn’t going to answer my question. Which made me think I was right.

I walked to the back of the house, where I knew I’d find someone who knew. My staff knew something. Jean-Claude, the butler, gave me an annoyed glance. Even he was mad at me.

“Is she pregnant?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “What’s it matter to you? Could be anyone’s, anyway. Right?” he snarled, as if the idea disgusted him and he was disappointed in me for thinking badly of Sadie.

Then he walked away. I slammed through the kitchen doors and no one was there. I wondered if Barbara had fired everyone before she left. I wouldn’t be surprised at this point.

Sadie

I woke up to the smell of coffee and my mother sitting on the edge of the bed. “I have coffee. You can’t sleep all day. I’ll even consider making pancakes if you’ll eat them.”

I stretched and covered my eyes from the light streaming in through the windows. “Morning, now go away,” I mumbled, then closed my eyes again.

She pulled the covers back to let the chill in the room hit me. “Nope. We have shit to deal with, and I need you up and alert so we can face it and be prepared for the onslaught. Because, baby, it’s coming.”

That didn’t sound good. I sat up and reached for the coffee cup in her hand. “The media knows,” I said, before taking a sip and letting the heat of the coffee warm me up.

“Actually, they don’t know shit. That’s the problem. They think something happened, which I am trying to figure out myself. However, it does explain why Jax lost his mind.”

Jessica reached behind her and pulled out the morning paper. “It’s already in the local news. Entertainment section, first page. Prepare yourself,” she said, handing me the paper and taking the cup away from me.

I snatched the paper out of her hands, and in the center of the full-colored page was a photo of Nave Anikin, Jax’s drummer and longtime friend, kissing me. That night Nave had been high as a kite and had taken me by surprise. He’d slammed his slimy mouth to mine, and I had been shocked frozen for a moment until it hit me what was happening and I kicked him in the balls. He had fallen backward and moaned in pain.

More than once I had almost told Jax about it, but I had hated to end their friendship. I was positive that Nave didn’t remember it. He never acted weird around me or anything. I let it go and kept my distance from all the band members at parties. They got trashed and did stupid stuff.

When I felt guilty for not telling Jax, I remembered how guilty I would feel when Nave was without a job and Jax had lost his friend. I didn’t think the outcome was worth telling anyone about this. It was two years ago. After all that time, I’d forgotten about it.

But someone had seen it and had waited until now to share the photo.

“Gonna tell me why the world thinks ‘Jax Stone’s fiancée is playing the band now’?” Jessica asked, repeating the headline of the article.

I dropped the paper and looked out the window. Jax had seen this before it hit the media. He had seen it, and instead of asking me about it, he had attacked me.

“You didn’t read it,” Jessica said.

“Don’t want to. It’s all lies,” I said, hating the realization that Jax hadn’t trusted me.

“Not all of it. The fact that Nave Anikin is in the hospital with his jaw wired shut and several broken body parts is a fact. It is believed Jax Stone beat him within an inch of his life, but he isn’t talking. He refuses to press charges.”

I dropped my head into my hands and sighed. “What did you do, Jax?” I muttered to myself.

“You gonna call him and explain this?” Jessica asked me.

No, I wasn’t. I should have been given that option before Jax beat Nave to a bloody pulp and tossed me out. Now it was too late.

I shook my head. “If he wants to believe the media, then let him. He doesn’t want me to explain. If he did, he’d have let me before he ended things.”

Jessica handed me the cup of coffee. “You’re right, of course, but you love him, Sadie, and you’re pregnant with his baby.”

I would have to tell him eventually. But I needed my space first.

“I’ll probably always love him. Doesn’t mean I can ever trust him again. That doesn’t make a relationship.”

Jessica’s shoulders fell. “Yeah. I guess that’s true. But it still sucks.”

“I need some alone time. I’ll be out in a little bit. Let me know if we get media outside. I don’t know how I’ll handle it without Jax’s help, but we will figure something out.”

She nodded and stood up. “I’ll go kick their asses. I don’t need no stinking Jax Stone to keep my girl safe,” she said, before walking out of the room and closing my door behind her.

By the time I had finished my coffee, I heard the first car doors. Peeking out my window, I saw a representative from every news channel in Alabama and the surrounding states, and national ones too. They knocked on the door and rang the doorbell. I was thankful Sam was already at school. This madness would have to end, though. Even if I had to go get a hotel room to move the focus off my mom’s house.

I changed into some jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, then brushed my hair and pulled it into a ponytail before opening my bedroom door. Mom was in the kitchen, looking out the window with the phone to her ear. “Yes, she’s here. Get your asses here and get them off my property before I have them all thrown in jail for trespassing. Y’all don’t have enough room in your jail for all this shit. Do something about this now.”

She was talking to the police. That would help some and for a while. But this would be an ongoing battle. I wasn’t sure how to defuse the situation.

Mom hung up and turned to look at me. “It’s started,” she said, with an apologetic frown.

“Yeah, it has,” I replied, sinking into the kitchen chair and wondering how my life had gone so wrong.

Jax

When my jet landed at the Sea Breeze private airport, there was security everywhere. I stepped out of the plane and was immediately surrounded by large guards. “Evening, sir. Most of the media is camped out at Miss White’s mother’s house, but we do have some hanging out like scum around the property line here. We wanted to get you to the car and out of the vicinity safely,” one of the men waiting for me explained.

Shit. They were already after Sadie. She didn’t have me there to help.

“Get them away from Jessica White’s house. Now,” I demanded, stalking toward the waiting black SUV.

“Yes, sir,” the man replied.

“Where’s my usual driver?” I asked when a man I didn’t recognize opened the door for me.

“He, uh, quit, sir,” the guy replied.

“What?”

“He quit, sir. This morning,” he repeated.

I didn’t have to ask why. It was because of Sadie. Even though there was a photo of her kissing my f**king drummer all over the news, they still took her side. The fear that I was the only idiot who hadn’t trusted her and believed in her was growing worse. Why hadn’t I given her a chance to explain? Because the image of Nave’s hands on her and his lips on hers had made me so crazy I lost my mind. I couldn’t think straight from the anger and pain pumping through my veins.

I got into the SUV and glared straight ahead. “Take me to Sadie.”

He had music playing, and one of the songs I had written for Sadie came on the radio. “Turn off the radio,” I barked.

He quickly shut it off, and I leaned back in my seat, trying to figure out how I would handle it if she had an explanation for this. If I had been wrong and jumped to conclusions. Even if she didn’t have an explanation . . . what if she was pregnant? With my baby? What the hell would I do then? I wasn’t going to leave her and let her figure it out. As much as I hated that picture, I loved her. God, I’d always f**king love her.

The driver pulled us into the driveway of the house I’d bought for Jessica and Sam. Jessica’s Honda was parked outside, and so were several police cruisers. My army of protection pulled in around us, and I didn’t wait for them to secure things before I slung open the door and stalked to the house.

I didn’t even knock before Jessica opened the door and her eyes shot hot daggers of hate at me. “What the hell are you doing here? You don’t think you’ve done enough? You tossed her out like trash, and she’s done with you. So go back to your fancy house and fancy life, and leave my baby girl the f**k alone!”

Never had Jessica ever spoken to me this way. I was shocked, but her reaction only made my fear that I’d completely messed up more real. But with that fear was a hope that my Sadie was still the same girl I had thought she was until I’d seen that picture.

“I need to talk to her,” I said, ready to push past Jessica if I had to in order to get into the house.

“It’s Jax,” Sam’s little voice said excitedly as he came running around Jessica’s legs. “Sadie said he wasn’t coming back and he wasn’t her friend anymore. But he changed his mind!” Sam cheered and clapped his hands. “Want to come play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with me and Sadie?” he asked, staring up at me.

She was in there. She was playing with her little brother. Fuck. That didn’t sound like the woman I had accused her of becoming. God, what had I done?

“Go back to your sister. I’m sending Jax away. He makes Sadie sad,” Jessica told him, and Sam’s smile fell. “Is he why she keeps crying?”

His question was my last straw. “I need to see her now,” I said. I moved Jessica out of my way, then patted Sam on the head as I walked through the house looking for Sadie.