The room was silent after Brock read the email. I knew what I needed to do, and certain people at the table would not be happy. Sam came before everything else in my life; he was not safe. I didn’t care what happened to me.

“Sam, you and your people need to leave. I will hire Asher and Antonio to take over my case and be my bodyguards. We need to—” I burst into tears. I didn’t want to go through this without Sam, but I needed to do what was best for him.

“No,” Sam replied angrily.

Brock was shifting in his seat. I could tell what he wanted to say was bad, and Sam would probably lose his shit. “Hold on, boss, let’s think about this. Do you want the club and your ties to it getting to the—”

“If you finish that statement, I will take a page from Alex’s book and fire your ass.”

“Well, that was rude,” Alex replied while bouncing Alonzo on his lap.

“I’m not leaving Patty. We are not pretending to break up,” Sam shouted at everyone around the table while tightening his arms around me.

“I’m going to get snacks for the table. You guys come up with a better idea. If you don’t, I will go off the grid and make it look like we split. Nobody will find me, so you better come up with an idea.” I got up and headed to the kitchen. Jessica and Bridget both followed me.

“How are you doing?” Bridget asked while I rummaged through the pantry.

“Like shit. I don’t want to leave Sam. I was outed by the media for stealing from you, and the employees of Black Hat know who the owner is. I will have to work there, and I will never see you again. I want this Reese’s, but for some reason I have started to gain weight, so I’m trying to cut back.”

“Sex burns three hundred and sixty calories per hour. It seems that’s all you and Sam do. So I think you can have that piece of chocolate.”

Leave it to my sister to pull out the facts on the food situation.

Ignoring Jessica’s remark about sex, I said, “Bridget, what do you want me to do? I’m so sorry for bringing you into this.”

“Don’t worry about it. We will figure it all out. I think you should go work at your company, but you remember you are friends with me, CJ, and Sophie. Just because we don’t work together doesn’t mean we won’t be friends. You are like family to all of us, and we will always be here for you.” Bridget walked over and gave me a hug.

After grabbing chips and sodas, we headed back to the dining room table. Once I dropped them off, I noticed Lemon was by the door and needed to go outside. The men were in a deep conversation. Not wanting to disturb them, I grabbed Lemon’s leash and headed for the elevator that would take me to the courtyard.

* * *

When I looked up and noticed Patty was not at the table and Jessica and Bridget had returned, I had a sick feeling in my gut. “Where’s Patty?”

Jessica pointed toward the door. “I think she took…”

I didn’t need for Jessica to finish to know she’d taken Lemon downstairs. What the fuck is she thinking? The media’s out there, and I bet money they’re in the courtyard. I heard footsteps behind me when I took off. I knew Brock was thinking the same thing I was.

The elevator ride down felt like it took hours. The door had barely opened before I took off at a dead run for the courtyard. When I came into view of the double glass doors that led outside, my worst nightmare was confirmed. There had to be around ten reporters in the courtyard. It looked like they were all trying to ask her questions at the same time. The flashes from the camera bulbs were blinding. Patty had one hand up, trying to shield her face from the cameras. Her other hand held Lemon’s leash. She was trying to push her way back to the door, but the reporters were not moving out of her way.

I flung open the doors and pushed my way through the reporters, not caring if I hurt them. My only thoughts were on Patty and getting her back inside. I grabbed her around the waist and flipped her up into a fireman’s hold. Right when I was about to turn around, Brock was at my side. He swooped down and picked up Lemon.

John had cleared a path for me and Brock to get back into the building. The reporters continued to ask questions:

“Why are you hiding who you are?”

Another reporter with a high-pitched voice asked, “Have you heard from Bridget Ross?”

They kept hurling questions at us as I ducked into the building. Brock was right on my heels.

When we entered the building and were away from the reporters, I flipped Patty from my shoulders so I had her cradled in front of me. When I looked down at Patty in my arms, she had tears running down her face.

“I… just…” Patty was crying so hard she couldn’t get her sentence out.

“It’s okay.” I kissed the top of Patty’s forehead and headed toward the elevator.

“Lemon still needs to go potty. I wanted to breathe for a second and take Lemon outside. Why are they here?”

“I will take her for a walk so she can use the bathroom,” Brock replied before I could even ask him.

I walked over and messed with Lemon’s ears, and Patty leaned over to give her a kiss on the head. When Patty was done giving her kisses, I headed for the elevator to take her back upstairs.

I could still feel Patty crying. “I’m sorry I caused an issue,” she whispered.

“It’s okay, pixie. We have to be more careful when it comes to the media. They are on a witch hunt at the moment and would do anything to get this story. They will settle down in a few weeks. We need to come up with a new strategy.”

When the elevator door opened, I strode into the dining area, where everyone was still working on a game plan. Neal was the first to jump and run to Patty to see what was going on. I might have growled at him, which caused Patty to chuckle under her breath.

“I’m fine. I got a little scared when the media attacked me in the courtyard. Let’s come up with a plan to nail this fucker and call it a day.”

“I think we might have an idea. John and I are going to go with you to Black Hat tomorrow. You will work from my office until we get one ready for you. Once you’re settled in at the office, I will head over to Sam’s office to work on finding this fucker. He gave us a timeline, and we need to figure it out before we hit that date. John will also stay with you at the office. Brock needs to help me with a few things.” Neal’s plan didn’t sound too bad.

“I would come over and help you settle in tomorrow, but the media might have a heyday with me walking into Black Hat Security, with the claims of espionage and everything. I could send CJ or Sophie over to spend the day with you. Wait—I have a better idea. Alex, let Jessica work remotely for the next week, so she can be with Patty,” Bridget said, giving Alex a pointed look.

We all decided that Patty would go in with Neal, and when she was ready, Neal would head over to my office. I planned on picking Patty up earlier in the day. I didn’t know how I would get any work done when all I was going to do was worry about her.

Once we had the game plan set, everyone left. Patty looked exhausted. “What do you want me to order for lunch? I think we can have something delivered and then set out on the patio to get fresh air.”

“I want this all to be over and my life back so we can move on with ours. I’m not hungry.” Patty shrugged.

We ended up spending the remainder of the evening sitting on the patio, watching the sun set over the ocean.