“I know, honey.” Her voice is low, soothing, her embrace steady. “You need to talk to him. Tell him.”
“I know.” My voice cracks. “Why didn’t I say it when he did? I felt it—I knew I did.”
She rubs my back in slow circles, grounding me as I cry. “It’s okay. You’ll fix this. He loves you, Liv. He’s probably just hurt. Give him time—but not too much. If he doesn’t come to you, you go to him.”
I sent text messages to Sam after he left, hoping they would be enough, but with each minute that passes in silence, my hope thins to nothing.
Wiping my cheeks, I pull back. “And what’s too long?”
Her smile is small but sure. She tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear and kisses my forehead. “You’ll know.”
Before I can reply, my phone rings on the counter. I frown at the unfamiliar number but answer anyway.
“Hello?” The voice on the other end is tight, urgent.
As the words sink in, my world stops. The room blurs, my pulse spikes, my body turns cold.
Paige.
Car accident.
Everything else fades away.
36
SAM
The chilly November wind cuts through us like a blade slicing through butter.Fuck, it’s cold.Alec rests a steady hand on my shoulder and gives a small squeeze—his quiet way of telling me to move, to take the next step.
I knock on Olivia’s door and wait.
It’s only been just shy of two days since I last saw her, but they’ve been the longest, heaviest days of my life. When I texted her—Can we talk?—I waited for a reply that never came.
At first, I thought the worst. I told myself she’d made her choice, and maybe she’d realized I wasn’t worth the chaos. I even tried convincing myself I was fine with that.
I wasn’t.
Every hour that passed without a word from her gutted me a little more. I kept checking my phone like a fool, rereading old messages, wondering what I’d missed, what line I’d crossed that made her shut me out completely.
Then Jonah called.
I’d been mid-prep at the restaurant, numb from the ache of missing her, when I saw his name flash across my screen. Hetold me about the accident—Paige, the hospital, the concussion, the bruised ribs—and suddenly nothing else mattered. Every ounce of anger, of pride, of hurt I’d been clinging to evaporated in an instant.
When he hung up, to my surprise, my phone was ringing with a call from an unknown number. Paige.
Hearing her small, trembling voice on the phone—God, it ripped through me. That kid’s tougher than most adults I know, but the fear in her tone was unmistakable. That’s when I realized Olivia’s silence had nothing to do with me, withus.She wasn’t ignoring me. She was surviving something far worse.
That was all it took. I packed a bag, called Alec, and we drove through the night. Now here I am, standing on her porch again, the same one where I walked away like an idiot not long ago, praying she’ll open the damn door.
When she does, my chest tightens, every muscle tenses.
She’s pale, drawn, her eyes shadowed with fatigue. Her hair’s in a messy knot, and she looks heartbreakingly fragile—but she’s still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
Pushing past the lump in my throat, I whisper, “Mon trésor.”
At first, her expression is impassive, her mouth flattened into a straight line. Then her lips tremble, her teeth worrying the soft flesh of her bottom lip as tears pool in her eyes. And then she breaks. Big, silent sobs shuddering through her body as tears spill freely down her cheeks.
“I’ve got you.” I rush to her, gathering her into my arms, cradling her as I lead us inside.
