Watching Harper tearfully leave her store for what she says is the last time completely guts me. Only last night I swore to make her the happiest woman on the planet and that I would do anything for her. Here I am on the first day of her being mine, and I’m failing miserably. I wasn’t here when she was served with bullshit papers for a charge that isn’t true.

Rafael has city officials all over the capital in his pocket. I still told her we could fight back and make sure she stays here. She said no, he’ll still own and control it. Fuck. She’s right. This is a losing situation.

Watching her brokenhearted face look back at her store one last time fills me with rage. “We’ll get your car later, Sugar. Going to follow us, James?”

“Yeah,” he says, laying a hand on Harper’s shoulder as he walks to his SUV.

I guide Harper to the passenger side of the minivan, helping her in. She hasn’t brought up her dad yet, but I know it’s causing her even more pain than losing the store.

When I hop in behind the wheel, she throws her arms in the air, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh, God, how am I going to empty the store in three days? Where am I going to put it all? I’m basically fucking homeless.”

I drag her body over the console, putting her in my lap, hugging her to my chest. “Don’t worry about cleaning the store and handling the storage. I’ll handle that. I promise, I’ll get it done for you, Sugar.”

She cries into my chest, shaking with each sob she releases. My chest constricts, feeling every ounce of pain she is feeling. I want to take it all and hold her burdens.

“You’re not homeless,” I say softly. “You still have your apartment.”

“I only packed two pairs of underwear. I don’t even feel safe enough going back there for underwear. Safe to say, I won’t live there anymore. So yeah, I’m homeless.”

“We’ll find a new place. An apartment, house, loft, whatever you want.”

She cries harder, fisting her hand in my shirt. “He’s taking everything from me. Why? Is––is it because of my dad? God. Is it true?”

I close my eyes. I haven’t looked in the envelope yet, but Rafael doesn’t seem the type to give evidence where he has none. This was a knife to her gut, just as I knew it would be. “I don’t know. Kiernan is on his way to the house, so is James. We’re going to figure this out.”

She nods, her tears slowing down. Harper climbs off me, moving into the passenger seat. “Let’s go,” she says dejectedly, staring straight forward with slow tears falling down her perfect cheeks.

Kiernan scrubs a hand over his face listening to James speak with his arms crossed over his chest. Their heads turn toward us when I pull in front of the entryway. The heavy door creaks open as Harper slips out straight into Kiernan’s waiting arms. His worried eyes meet mine over her head, his jaw tight. James catches the keys I toss his way, opening the door for us, allowing a murmuring Kiernan and Harper to walk through.

I watch her walk straight to the bedroom and shut the door. “Meet me in the office,” I say to James and Kiernan, leaving them to go to Harper.

She’s curled on the bed, facing the window. I sit next to her, rubbing my hand along her side. “I’ll be in the office with them. We’re going to get everything taken care of.”

She nods but doesn’t respond or look at me.

“I’m sorry I already failed you, baby. So sorry.”

She looks at me with new tears filling her eyes. “This isn’t your fault. It’s his.”

I don’t know if she means Rafael, Santiago, or her father, and I don’t ask her to elaborate. “I love you, Harper.”

“I love you, too,” she whispers.

“I’ll be back soon. I’m in the office if you need anything.”

I stand in the doorway for a few moments, watching her. I will tear Rafael apart for making her shed even one tear. He won’t get away with hurting her this way. And, if I could, I’d call her father and demand he pay for hurting her. Fuck. Her father was her fucking hero. I hope this doesn’t destroy her.

James and Kiernan are silent when I walk into the room, settling down on the brown leather sofa. I reach over to the side table and pour myself a shot of whiskey. After I sling it back, I pour another—and one for each of the men in front of me.

“How is she?” Kiernan asks.

“Not good,” I respond, pulling another gulp in my mouth, relishing the burn at the back of my throat. “I’ll be out of touch the rest of the day. I’m going to hire movers and find a storage facility for her store.”

“Does she have a website?” Kiernan asks.

“Yeah, but I don’t think she sells off it.”

“I’ll get it hooked up for a shop, turn it into an online store for now.”

“Thanks,” I say appreciating that my best friend has taken on Harper as part of his family.

“Have you looked in the envelope?” James asks.

I pull the envelope from my back pocket, throwing it on the coffee table. “Not yet.”

“This is fucked up, man,” Kiernan voices.

“Kier, I need you to find her father’s and Santiago’s old accounts. The money she got in the will doesn’t add up. Rafael’s asking for something of his. He never says money but I wonder if this is about money. Find where their fortunes went.”

Kiernan nods. “Anything else?”

I shake my head. “I don’t think so. This takes precedence over the rat today.”

“Agreed,” Kiernan says.

“James, find his location.”

“Consider it done.”

I nod, all of us falling back into silence, staring at the envelope on the table. James picks up the envelope, opening it to pull out several sheets of paper.

“Looks like copies of her father’s books and bank statements for businesses. These are probably their fronts for the cartel, where they launder their money. Fuck,” he breathes looking up at me.

“What?” I ask.

“Just glancing at this page, he scraped at least a million.”

“Dammit,” I seethe.

“If Rafael took over for his father,” Kiernan says, rubbing his jawline. “Wouldn’t he be bringing in this same type of cash? Even more because no one is scraping from the top? Would he really be going through this trouble and harassing Harper for something that happened ten years ago?”

“Rafael passed the debt to Harper,” James states.

“Fuck this,” I yell, throwing my glass against the wall. “It’s about more than that. We’re fucking missing something. We need to find it. The debt is ten years old. Rafael probably would have been a teenager or early twenties, why the fuck would he care about it? Harper’s entire family was gunned down for this. Their lives paid the debt.”

“My guy said Rafael showed up shortly before his old man died,” James says. “That was after Harper’s family, right?”

“Yeah,” I answer. “Almost two years. So again, why would Rafael care if he wasn’t even here for it?”

“Why now?” Kiernan asks. “Why bring you up in the note? What do you have to do with this?”

“Harper and I were together back then, I was close with her family and Santiago. Maybe he thinks I know something.”

“I’ll keep digging,” James states.

“We’re missing something, we need find out what it is before he hurts my girl even more. Find him, James. I’m going to fucking end him.”