Knowing her grandmother, it would look pretty, but it would be deadly.
Twenty-One
Seventeen Years Earlier
Corbin was the only person Bronwyn had been able to talk to about boarding school. She could trust him not to say anything, and he understood her frustration with her family the way very few people did. Over the past year, their emails had become more and more frequent. She’d never tell him this, but in many ways, he’d become the big brother she’d never had but always wanted.
But never in a million years had she expected him to show up at The Haven in person so she wouldn’t be alone. Now, Bronwyn stared at the man sitting on the porch swing across from her. “You’re serious?” she asked.
“Of course I am.”
“You’d take me with you? Why?”
He cut his eyes to her. “Bronwyn, I’m not an altruistic person. I’m a businessman. And you, my dear, would be excellent for my business. We could help each other out. I need an assistant who isn’t an idiot. I’ve fired the last three for incompetence. You don’t have an incompetent bone in your body. And you’re loyal. You’re loyal to your family even though they treat you like gum on thebottom of their shoes. I don’t have to worry about you jumping ship and running to another boss as soon as I get you trained up.”
“I would never.”
“And in return, I would teach you about the industry. Introduce you to the big players.”
“Why would you do this for me?” Bronwyn was desperate for a way out, but as Corbin said, she wasn’t an idiot.
He winked at her. “Look, I got my big break at twenty-two. A producer took a chance on me. It worked out great for both of us. He got an assistant who wanted to learn. I got a mentor who smoothed the way for me. We still have lunch three or four times a year. In this business, it’s all about who you know. And now that I’m in a position to give back, I want to leave a legacy.” He reached over and tugged a strand of her hair. “You caught my eye several years ago. You’re a diamond in the rough. And as much as I love this place”—he waved a hand to encompass the mountains around them—“I’ve come to realize that your family is rotten. You need to get out of here, and you need to do it on your own terms.”
He shrugged. “It’s up to you. I want to help. And there’s no pressure. The door’s always open. But I have to tell you, I’m afraid if you don’t take it now, you’ll be stuck forever under the thumb of your controlling family. I’m offering you the chance to make something of yourself without them. Then you can come back here as a guest and rub it in their faces.”
Bronwyn didn’t want to rub anything in anyone’s face. Not really. But what could she do when she had only bad options? She could agree to their wishes and go to finishing school.
She would hate it. And when she told Mo she was miserable, he’d come help her escape and then run away with her. But if he did that, the future he wanted for himself would be over. He wasn’t like Cal. He didn’t want to work in construction. He wanted computersto be his life, and that meant that he’d be leaving Gossamer Falls, probably for good.
Or she could go with Corbin. Mo would lose his mind when he found out. But by the time he got back to Gossamer Falls, she’d have an apartment and a job. She’d be working. She’d let him know not to worry. She’d be in control of what she did, where she went, who her friends were, and how she spent her time.
Mo would forgive her. He’d understand. She’d make him understand. A long-distance relationship was better than no relationship. And it wouldn’t be forever.
Two months later, Bronwyn sat on the edge of a thin mattress in a seedy part of town. A girl she’d met on the street last night slept on the other mattress in the corner of the room. A needle lay beside her.
Mo would be getting home today. He would come looking for her. But he wouldn’t find her. He might never find her again.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, had gone the way she thought it would. There’d been no apartment. No job. No introductions to people in the industry. There was no money. No future.
Corbin had lied. Every conversation, every email, every compliment, every wink—all lies. What he’d seen in her had never been “producer” potential. She’d landed in California, and the man had turned into nothing he’d ever been before. It wasn’t an assistant that he’d really wanted.
She’d thought her options were bad before she left Gossamer Falls, but they became monumentally worse within hours of leaving home.
Corbin had liedtoher, but later he’d liedabouther. Manipulated photos. Curated messages she’d never seen or sent. Noneof it was real—not that anyone would believe her. He thought he could force her to do things she didn’t want to do.
So she ran. And kept running.
She was on her own now.
If Mo did find her ... she stopped herself from following that train of thought.
She couldn’t go home. Not now. She’d refused to stay with Corbin. Refused to return to parents who didn’t understand her. But survival on her own terms hadn’t turned out the way she’d hoped.
She wasn’t the girl Mo had left in the forest two months ago. She’d never be that girl again.
If there was one thing she could be sure of, it was this—Mo could never know.
Mo stared at the waterfall, but he’d stopped seeing it hours ago. He’d said all he had to say. He’d screamed. He’d yelled. He’d used vocabulary his parents would be shocked he knew.
