Alec

I head to the office, my 8:00 a.m. confirmed. I sigh in relief. I need this deal and the money.

Dinner tonight would give me even more opportunity to make up some of the money I had lost in unsavory investments. Real estate is a gamble, and some payouts are higher than others, but if Eric had been doing his part in our business, this wouldn’t have happened. The deal was closing this afternoon, and the commission would be a chunk of money I desperately needed.

I turn up the classic rock station and blast some AC/DC. My window comes down, and I’m tapping my fingers on the steering wheel. This could turn out to be one of the best days in recent memory.

Or one of the worst.

My thoughts drift to Levin—her weird behavior today—the missing luggage.

I think back to our last couple of months.

Sure, we’ve had a couple of bumps in the road, but who doesn’t?

I remember how I felt after she accepted my marriage proposal—the weight off my shoulders.

She said yes. I breathed a sigh of relief as we headed back to our hotel room.

She said yes. I breathed a sigh of relief as we flew back to San Diego.

She said yes. I breathed a sigh of relief as we got settled into my house, and I promised her we could start looking at a shared home. She hadn’t wanted to live together until marriage, but I was persuasive, and she finally gave in.

She always did. Not because she was a pushover, but because she needed stability in her life. Her childhood was chaotic, but she had gone to college and excelled at everything she did.

Others might be envious of her beauty, but I knew it went deeper which made her a rare commodity. Levin believed in enrichment, and she was the one always interested in charitable events and volunteering her time.

Before I’d requested she stop working, she had been a successful graphic designer.

But now it seemed she was leaving me. And I wasn’t happy about it. Because now I wanted her—all of her. She was the total package, and I knew it.

Her personality is warm and inviting. My clients took to her like a moth to a flame. She could hold their attention and better yet, involve herself in their discussions without sounding like an airhead. Levin had the personality when I met her, but I gave her the finesse. The je ne sais quoi.

I had been careless with her feelings and her heart at times, a selfishness that profoundly disappointed me as I thought about what I had put her through. She deserved better, but she got me instead. I did my best to make up for it by giving her a life that most could only dream about.

I fell hard for her. I tried to resist by chasing other women, more deals, money, and by shutting her out.

Levin went, but not without a fight. She had staying power. She was worth it. She knew it.

I did not want a repeat of the other girl I thought I loved in college.

I came crawling back to Levin—defeated—but with a sense of purpose because I had more information to make an educated decision. Eric had been the final straw.

Eric McGrath had been my business partner. Keyword—had been.

If only Eric hadn’t been so hell-bent on running the business himself, on pushing me out.

I had blown through millions of our money, yes, but I prefer the word ‘invested.’

He didn’t understand building a business from the ground up, and the development that comes with it. He had been the financial backer with daddy’s money. I had been the mover and shaker of the business, and he had been the silver-spooned brains. I wish he had seen it before it was too late.

I knew the guilt of his actions had led him to kill himself—at least that’s what I told myself and others.

Levin had grown up with me. I had known about her as he constantly mentioned her. Every childhood memory he brought up seemed to have her in it.

My first impression had been that they were in a relationship at one time, now friendly exes. That was, however, until I realized he had a hard-on for men.

The first time I had caught him, he had been in the backseat of his SUV with a real estate investor of ours. Who knew that scouting office space would result in me finding the perfect location and him finding a love connection?

After that encounter, which I never mentioned and pretended I didn’t see, I made it my mission to watch Eric like a hawk.

Personally, I could care less about Eric’s sexual identity. I did have an issue when business mixed with pleasure and resulted in catastrophic outcomes.

That client had made it his mission in life to try to use his sexual relationship with Eric as his security blanket when it came to representation. He had expected favors and cut commissions because he had been in Eric’s mouth. This made for some perilous expectations.

I was relieved that Eric and Levin hadn’t had a relationship beyond the platonic. It made it easier for me to whittle my way into her life after the funeral. Honing my way into her life had been relatively simple. I had been the one to check on her, comfort her, share stories and commonalities about Eric. The relationship happened naturally and over time.

After I had seen his will, and after I knew what he was worth and what his worth meant, Levin was his priceless commodity it seemed.

And yes, in the mix, as hard as it is to admit, I fell in love with her—an unexpected, complicated little wrench in my plan.

I keep replaying this morning—her flicking gaze, her trembling hands, the missing luggage…

The urge to flip a U-turn and head home is rampant, but I call her on my Bluetooth.

It goes straight to voicemail.