It had been the day from Hell.

When we got to the mansion, there were reporters and photographers camped around outside the gate, just waiting for a chance at a picture of my little girl or me.

They were relentless, even going so far as beating on the car windows as we passed. That just set Liddy off once again. It took a while, but I eventually got her calmed down, and with some seriously black-ops-type planning on Ian’s part, and an amazing best friend, we managed to get her out of the house and over to Corrine’s apartment where it was photographer-free. I stayed behind, but only so I could pack our stuff and get the hell out of there before anything else could go wrong.

But, as my life had proven time and time again, luck was not on my side, because Garrett arrived home before I could make my escape.

“Gwen?” His shout was followed by a quick slam of the front door. “Gwen, baby, where are you?”

I ignored his voice and the way the deep baritone made me shiver and continued throwing clothes into suitcases. The sound of his thick-soled boots hitting the ground grew closer as he rushed up the stairs and down the hall.

“Christ, baby,” he sighed when he reached the threshold of the bedroom door. “Are you okay? I’m so goddamn sorry.” I jerked away from his touch when his hand landed on my shoulder and kept packing. “Gwen, will you fuckin’ look at me? What are you doing?”

“What’s it look like?” I bit out, rage still roiling in my blood from everything that had happened.

“Why’re you packing? Where the fuck are you going?”

“To Corrie’s,” I answered shortly, still refusing to meet his eyes.

“God damn it!” he barked, grabbing me by the shoulders and spinning me around. “Will you fuckin’ stop? Talk to me, baby. What’s going on?”

I was too lost in my own anger to notice the stark fear shining in his eyes. “What’s going on is that your little fuck toy decided to get her revenge by smearing my name all over the fucking Internet!” I shouted. “What’s going on is that I’ve got people threatening me, accusing me of being a terrible mother, and saying I should lose my daughter! I’ve had to turn off my phone because those assholes somehow got my number and won’t stop calling, asking how much money I received for your illegitimate child. The paparazzi are brutal, and the die-hard Civil Corruption fans want my head on a goddamn stake!”

“I can fix this,” he insisted. He reached for my hand, but I pulled away. “I’ve already got my team working on it, and we’ll find out who—”

“Oh cut the shit!” I spat. The thin tether holding my fury in check snapped in two. “Don’t pretend you don’t know who leaked that joke of a story.” I let out a humorless laugh. “You know who it was. This has Kimber’s name written all over it.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Have you lost your fucking mind? Of course I know that! Who else could it have been, huh? Those pictures of Liddy came from my bedroom. This is the exact same woman who kept the fact that your daughter was having surgery from you. But I shouldn’t be surprised you’d defend her,” I hissed, acid dripping from my words. “I mean, even after I told you how I sat in that waiting room alone and scared to death, even after you knew the fucking truth, you still didn’t fire her. I mean, she’s probably the only woman besides me that you’ve gone back for seconds with, so it’s no wonder you’d try and make excuses for her. Guess her pussy was just too good, huh? Makes up for the fact that she’s a lying, scheming bitch. Good to know.”

“Stop it,” he growled, taking me by the arms and giving me a small shake. “Fucking stop. I understand you’re angry. I get it, and you have every right. But don’t say shit you don’t mean.”

I laughed sarcastically. “Oh, you think I don’t mean it? Did you see what they’re saying about me?”

“They’re just fuckin’ tabloids, Gwen! As soon as some new gossip comes along, they’ll forget all about this. If you’d just give me a chance to ex—”

“There’s nothing to explain, Garrett! If you hadn’t gone around sticking your dick into every willing participant that crossed your path, none of this would have happened! You treat women like they’re expendable, and you’re surprised when one of them wants revenge? Come on, you’re smarter than that.”

His entire frame locked tight and his eyes grew as dark as storm clouds. “Are you really blaming me for this?”

“You’re the one who decided it was a good idea to fuck the help, and I’m the one dealing with the consequences of your actions. They were at Liddy’s daycare today. Her daycare! I had to walk through your screaming fans and those goddamn rabid photographers while our daughter shook in my arms. They said the most disgusting things, and she heard all of it. She was terrified, couldn’t understand why people were being so mean to her mommy. And. That’s. On. You.” I punctuated each word with a jab of my index finger in his chest. “If you’d have just kept it in your pants—”

“That’s fuckin’ bullshit and you know it! You’re not pissed that I fucked Kimber. You’re pissed that your small, sheltered world got turned on its head, and you’re looking for someone to point fingers at because you’re scared. You’re using the past as an excuse, holding every wrong I ever did over my fuckin’ head because I was getting too close and that freaked you out. You know I can fix this. You know I’ll be able to take care of you and Liddy, but you’re too much of a coward to let me! The first sign of trouble ahead and you’re running.”

My mouth dried up at his accusations. A knot the size of a golf ball formed in my throat, making it impossible to breathe. Because he was right. In the back of my mind, where logic and reason still ruled, I knew he was right. But like he said, I was too much of a coward to admit it. “That’s not true,” I whispered. The words were ragged, like they’d been torn from my chest.

“Yes it is. You’ve been running this whole fuckin’ time, looking for any reason to make me the bad guy once again. Tell me I’m wrong.”

I couldn’t tell him that. My mouth refused to speak that lie, so instead I turned and continued packing.

“Don’t do this,” he pleaded on a haggard whisper. “Please, baby. Don’t do this.”

Tears filled my eyes and spilled over my lashes. A voice inside my head screamed at me to stop, but my pride and fear wouldn’t let me.

He kept going, moving so close I could feel his heat on my back. “We can work this out, Gwen. I know we can. I love you. Don’t walk away.”

“There’s nothing to work out. It’s done.”

I zipped the suitcase closed, pulled it off the bed, and started for the door. My eyes stayed on my feet with each step. If I looked at him, I’d lose it.

“You walk out now and that’s it. It’s done. I can’t keep chasing you, Gwen. It hurts too fuckin’ much.”

“Then stop chasing me,” I said in a weak voice. My heart cracked in two before crumbling to dust as I slowly made my way out of the house.

The saddest part was, deep down, I knew I had no one to blame for my broken heart but myself.

* * *

It had been a week since I walked out on Garrett, and each day was steadily worse than the last. I hated the photographers and reporters who still hounded me when I showed up at Bernie’s for my shift. I hated the Civil Corruption superfans who came into the café asking invasive questions or making threats because they were delusional and thought I stole their man. I hated waking up on Corrine’s couch because I was an idiot. But mostly I hated myself for walking away from Garrett and hurting us both.

“Hey, how you holding up?” I looked up from my desk to see Gina standing in the doorway of my office in the back of the café.

“I’ve been better. Just catching up on paperwork to avoid the assholes who have been coming in nonstop.”

“I don’t blame you. I just kicked one girl out. She wanted to know if any of the band members would be stopping in. Chick barely looked sixteen. What she thinks she can do with men like that is beyond me.”

I faked a grin I didn’t feel. “You break it to her that the guys probably don’t want anything to do with me and wouldn’t be caught dead stepping foot in here?”

She shrugged, a smirk playing on her lips. “Well, I would have… if this dude hadn’t walked in and threatened to make a liar out of me.”

My gaze darted over her shoulder while my heartbeat kicked up rapidly. Hope swelled in my chest at the thought of Garrett being in Bernie’s. But that hope shriveled just as quickly as it appeared when Declan stepped in behind Gina.

“I’ll just give you two some privacy,” she mumbled, exiting the small office and leaving me alone with the famous singer and one of Garrett’s best friends.

“Wh-what are you doing here?”

He plopped down in one of the chairs across from me, dragging a hand through his dark hair and let out a long breath. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Dark circles smudged under his eyes and he seemed paler than normal. “Are you okay?”

“No. I’m not okay. I’m far from fuckin’ okay. All of us are.”

My skin prickled and I sat a little straighter in my seat. “What’s going on?”

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he stared straight ahead at me. “We lost someone close to us.”

I sucked in a sharp breath and stood, moving to the chair next to Deck. “Oh God. Who was it?

“Name was Will. Don’t know if Garrett told you about him.”

My stomach dropped as I nodded. “He did. He told me how close all of you were.”

Declan’s face twisted in agony as he said, “He was a brother to all of us. Shit’s been fucked up since we got the news. We’re flying to San Francisco in a few hours, but I couldn’t leave without talking to you first.”

“What can I do?” I asked, desperate to do anything I could to possibly help Garrett, to help any of them. I thought I’d left my heart behind when I left, but I knew right then that I still had a tiny piece, because it shattered for Garrett and what he must have been going through.

“Nothing to do,” Declan answered, leaving me deflated. “I just had to….” He paused and let out a curse. “Fuck, I don’t know… I just know Garrett was already suffering. Now this… it was a huge fuckin’ blow.”

“Is he…?” I swallowed past the dryness in my throat. “Is he okay?”

Declan met my gaze and replied, “Hasn’t been okay since you walked out on him. Never seen him like that, Gwen. Destroyed his drum kit.”

I put my hand over my mouth to hide the tremble in my lips, but it was pointless. The tears streaming down my face gave me away.

“He canned Chris,” Deck continued, throwing me off balance.

“What?”

“He had Ian find out what happened with that goddamn article, who leaked that bullshit. Wouldn’t rest until he had answers. He found out Chris worked with Kimber, got her copies of the photos and everything, so he fired his ass. But not before he beat the shit out of the asshole. Once that was done, he reached out to every contact he had. Chris and Kimber have been blackballed. They’re fucked. There’s no chance of them working with anyone in the industry again.”

“I didn’t—” I had to clear my throat in order to continue. “I had no idea.”

Declan stood, shoving his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans. “Yeah, well, I just thought you should know. Do what you want with the information.”

I shot to my feet when he turned and started for the door. “Declan, wait….” I had no clue what I was going to say, why I’d stopped him. When I remained quiet, he took it upon himself to fill the silence.

“I’m not gonna pretend to know the first thing about relationships. God knows I’ve fucked up in my past, but I do know this: you’re never gonna find another guy who’ll be better for you than him.”

And with that parting shot, he left.