I was sitting alone at the bar, thinking.

Thinking seemed to be all I’d done since that weekend in Vermont. I hadn’t been able to work for ages.

I couldn’t get Elsie out of my mind.

The truth was that I’d done everything for her. For starters, I left Madison Green for her, because her parents were right.

That night, I tried to be honest with them. They’d caught me by surprise; I wasn’t expecting them to ask me such a personal question. However, I could understand their concern. I planned on telling Elsie soon. I hoped that once I confessed my feelings to her, maybe we could have a future together.

So, when Mr. and Mrs. Carr cornered me in their living room, asking me all those questions—I told them the truth. I made a whole speech about Elsie. How she’d changed my life and how there was nobody more important to me than her. I promised her parents that I would do anything I could to make her happy.

If she wanted me.

I still wasn’t sure how she felt about me.

Her parents had stared at each other in horror at the end of that speech. Their biggest nightmare was confirmed. The boy they hated most in town was about to ask their daughter out.

Mrs. Carr sat down beside me then, looking at me pleadingly.

“If you really want what is best for Elsie, then Jared, you need to leave her alone. Let her live her life without you,” she’d said.

I tried to argue, to put up a fight, but Elsie’s parents were firm about it. They weren’t going to change their minds. I did not have their approval.

I left their house in a hurry that night. I could see Elsie was happy. She was pleased with the evening, and that I’d finally had dinner with her folks. That was the memory I wanted to leave her with.

Mr. and Mrs. Carr were right. I would never be able to make Elsie happy.

I was a high-school dropout, working at a garage. I caused trouble in town, had close to no friends, and my parents were a complete mess. Where was I supposed to go from there? What kind of future would Elsie have in store for her if we got together?

It was the right thing to do. If I left town without telling her how I felt, I would save her the heartache. Chances were that she would forget about me soon enough. Then she would have a bright future ahead of her. The one she deserved.

The truth was that I wouldn’t be where I was today. I wouldn’t have achieved all this, made all this money…if it wasn’t for Elsie. I was on a personal mission my whole life, to prove myself to Mr. and Mrs. Carr. I wanted them to see that I was capable of making something of myself.

Now, ten years later, I’d left her again because I wanted her to stay happy.

I wasn’t the man she wanted. I wasn’t the man she needed.

I may have all the money and the success now, but I was still a selfish bastard. I still couldn’t love her the way she deserved to be loved.

“Jared Morin…” a voice interrupted my thoughts. All this while I’d been sitting at the bar—I’d forgotten where I was.

I looked up with a jerk to see a blond standing in front of me. She looked familiar and then I suddenly realized where I knew her from. She was Priscilla Nugent. I tried to interview her the day before.

“Ms. Nugent!” I exclaimed in surprise.

“Please, call me Priscilla. We’re not in your office anymore,” she replied with a smile. Then pulled out a chair and sat down at my table. She was wearing a sexy red dress tonight. Was she following me?

“What are you still doing here? Don’t you have a job to go back to in New York?” I asked, emptying the remaining whisky down my throat.

Priscilla fluttered her eyelashes and leaned towards me across the table.

“You’ve paid for my trip, remember? I decided to stay here a few more days and enjoy what LA has to offer me,” she replied.

It didn’t take me long to figure out what she wanted. Why she was here. I wanted to be alone!

“Great, I hope you enjoy the city,” I said and raised my empty glass in a mock-toast.

“I was thinking that, maybe now, since we’re definitely not working together…it leaves us both available to do other things.” Her voice was low and husky as she spoke to me. She was smiling seductively and there was no denying that she was hot! I would be a fool to refuse her right now.

Elsie was out of my life. Why was I still hanging on to her memory?

I clenched my jaw and stood up from my chair.

“I need another drink,” I told her, and Priscilla smiled at me.

“Good, I’ll wait,” she replied. I shook my head. She thought I was going to stay here.

“That would be a waste of your time, because I’m going home,” I said. Priscilla arched her eyebrows and then laughed.

“Wow, you get straight to the point, don’t you!” she exclaimed and stood up from her chair. “Lead the way, Jared.” Her voice sizzled.

“I’m going home alone, Priscilla. You shouldn’t have followed me here,” I told her firmly, narrowing my eyes at her.

She seemed shocked and ashamed to hear it, but I had no sympathy for her. I didn’t ask her to come looking for me here.

“I thought…” she began to say, and I pushed my hands into my pockets.

“Go back to New York, Priscilla. Or stay. I don’t care what you do. Just fucking leave me alone!” I growled.

I didn’t wait for a response. I turned and walked out of the bar into the warm LA night. I left my car parked outside the bar and walked back to my penthouse. I needed some fresh air.

At the office the next day, I sat behind my desk, still lost in thought. I attended an important meeting that morning with some potential clients, but I didn’t care what the outcome of the meeting might be.

So, when my secretary, Laura, knocked on my door and said that Mona Bentham was here to see me, I didn’t really pay attention.

“Is she on my calendar?” I asked Laura, who shook her head nervously. Everyone at the office had noticed I was on edge lately. They were all afraid that I might lose my temper at them any moment.

“Why are you here, then? You know I won’t meet anyone without an appointment!” I growled at Laura.

“Sir, she insists that it’s an emergency. She says she knows you from Madison Green,” Laura said. When I heard the name of my old town, my brows crossed.

“What did you say her name is?” I asked her.

“Mrs. Mona Bentham,” Laura replied.

Mona Bentham…Mona Carr? I remembered Elsie saying that her sister was married now. What was Mona doing in my office? We barely even knew each other.

“Send her in right away!” I barked at Laura.

Mona appeared at the door a few moments later and I stood up from my chair. I hadn’t seen her in ten years, and just like Elsie…she looked pretty much the same. That whole family had excellent genes!

“Mona, what are you doing here? Is Elsie okay?” I asked, and she stepped into my office and shut the door behind her.

Mona breathed in deeply and nodded her head.

“Yes, she’s fine. Nothing to worry about. Sorry for barging in like this, but I really wanted to speak with you,” she said.

“Come in, sit down.” I pointed at the chair across from me. Mona sat down, crossed her legs, and looked up at me with a soft smile.

“Congratulations, Jared. You’ve done very well for yourself,” she told me, looking around my office. I had my brows crossed. This wasn’t the time for small talk. I needed to know why Elsie’s sister was in my office right now.

“I thought you live in Chicago. What are you doing here in LA?” I asked.

Mona’s cheeks flushed and she looked away from me embarrassedly.

“I came to speak with you. Took the first flight this morning. I have a four-year-old…I know you’ve met her. Emma is spending the day with her aunt at work today,” she replied.

“So, Elsie knows you’re here?” I asked, and Mona shook her head.

“She doesn’t know where I am. All she knows is I’m busy today.”

I sighed, squaring my shoulders and sat back in my chair.

“Do you want to tell me what this is about? What is going on?” I asked, fixing my gaze on her now. Mona licked her lips nervously and looked down at her lap.

“Jared, I know what happened that night at our home in Madison Green. I know what my parents said to you, what they forced you to do,” she revealed.

I stared at her. What was she getting at?

“Elsie never knew, of course. My parents never told her, and I didn’t either. I thought I was protecting her,” Mona continued. I had nothing to say to her. It was in the past. I’d moved on from it a long time ago.

“Jared, I know it was wrong. My parents never should have done that, never should have taken Elsie’s life in their own hands. They destroyed her. You, disappearing from her life, destroyed her!” Mona was crying now.

I was angry with everything, with everyone. Most of all, I was angry with Mona. She had no right to come here and stir up the past.

“If you’ve come to apologize on your parents’ behalf, you don’t have to. I don’t think about that anymore, Mona. It’s over,” I spoke firmly to her. Mona looked up at me, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Jared, I’ve always known you loved her, and she loves you too. I’m just so…so sad that the two of you could never be together,” Mona continued crying. I shook my head and looked away from her. I was breathing heavily, trying to control my frustration.

“Elsie is in a good place right now. I will never be good enough for her. Your parents never wanted us to be together, and they were right. Our lives would look very different right now if she’d been with me. If I never left Madison Green,” I said.

“Jared, she’s pregnant. Elsie is pregnant with your child!” Mona thundered.

I snapped my head around to stare at her.

“What did you say?” I growled.

Mona covered her face with her hand. She was blubbering, could barely speak through her tears.

“Elsie is going to have a baby in eight months. It’s yours. She told me so herself, but she doesn’t want you to know,” Mona cried.

I jumped out of my chair and rushed to her side.

“Are you serious about this? She’s having my baby?” I crouched down on the floor. Mona wiped the tears from her cheeks and nodded her head.

“Yes. It’s really happening, Jared. You’re going to be a father. I can’t stand it anymore…I can’t let her keep this secret from you,” Mona replied. I stood up from the floor in a daze. Nothing was making sense.

“I know she’ll hate me for telling you. She might never forgive me. But I can’t watch my sister live in misery for the rest of her life. Her child deserves to have a father. You deserve to know!” Mona continued through her tears.

I walked to the window and looked out. I could see my own reflection in the glass. Clenched jaw, clenched fists, and heaving shoulders. Elsie was having my baby!