I blink a few times.

My whole fucking body hurts.

I focus my eyes and remember where I am.

Piper’s apartment.

No, make that Piper’s empty apartment.

She’s no longer here, even though I spent the entire night wishing she’d come back. I even spent the whole night on the floor.

I prop myself up and stretch. Damn, I have to act my age sometimes. I’m not ancient, but this is no longer the age for me to be sleeping on the floor.

It hasn’t even accomplished anything.

Piper’s still not here, even though I’ve inhaled whatever scent she left behind to my satisfaction.

It’s sad, but I can’t even promise myself that I wouldn’t do this anymore, not even for the sake of my creaky almost-thirty body.

But at least I have a plan now.

Okay, “plan” may be an overstatement. It’s more like…a lead. I know what my next step is, but I have no idea if it will take me closer to Piper. It could turn out to be a dead end.

I get up and look down at my clothes.

I’m still wearing the same suit as yesterday, of course. Luckily, nobody at the office ever pays attention to whether men change their clothes every single day. That’s one of the many advantages of having to wear a business suit at work. I usually hate it, but today I couldn’t care less.

All I care about is finding Piper, and getting her to forgive me. Somehow.

* * *

I know my dad is in a meeting, so there’s no one in his office right now. This is my chance.

It would be safer for me to wait until tonight, when the whole office will be empty. But I can’t wait anymore. My blood rushes through my veins, urging me to do something, anything.

I’ve been restless all day. Hell, I’ve been restless since I found Piper’s empty apartment. Wait—actually, I haven’t been able to rest easy since the fight. Or the revelation that she met up with her ex-boyfriend.

Oh, fuck it. Admit it. Things have not been going well for a while.

The door opens without any noise, thanks to the army of people cleaning and maintaining the office. To Dad, every little thing sends a message to our clients, and he always puts his best foot forward.

Except for his desk. His desk is a disaster zone. I don’t know how I’m going to find the black folder there. It must’ve taken at least one entire tree’s worth of pulp to make all the paper on that desk.

Still, I have to try.

I close the door and approach the desk. I look at the documents on it, but I can’t find it just by sight. I check the tall stacks of paper, trying to move them as little as possible so Dad won’t even know I’m ever here.

And…bingo! There it is.

I’ve never been happier to see a folder before. It reminds me of the feeling I got when I was little and I found a painted egg behind the bushes on Easter.

I carefully lift the documents on top of the black folder and place them on an empty patch on the crowded desk.

I rest the folder on my left palm and flip it open, not even bothering to sit down. I’m too tense and nervous to take a seat. Dad could come in at any time, and I don’t know what I’m about to find in this folder.

I know Piper hates being spied on, and she loathes the fact that this PI report even exists. But it’s not like I’m conducting additional spying on her. I’m just checking the results of what has already been done.

I skip the photos this time and go straight to the actual written report.

Piper’s name, date of birth, place of birth…and blood type? Wow, this guy is thorough. He must’ve gone through her medical records as well.

Wait a second. The town where she grew up—Rockvale—that’s where the fraudulent credit cards were sent. So it could be someone she knows.

I have to check the whole address and compare it to the address from the credit card statements. Maybe I’ll find something interesting. I pull out my phone and snap a picture of the address.

The next section deals with her parents. Her mom is deceased…from breast cancer.

Shit.

I think I know what I did now.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Dad’s standing at the doorframe, watching me. Damn that quiet door; I didn’t even hear anything. He doesn’t look angry, but I know from the way he’s staring that he’s not happy either.

I shrug. “You showed me this folder the other day and I barely took a look at it. I thought I’d see what all the fuss is about.”

“You have to resort to reading a PI report to learn more about your own fiancée?”

“I’m always curious about her. That’s a good thing, right?”

Dad lets out a big sigh and steps inside, shutting the door behind him.

“Step aside,” he says as he takes his seat and pulls the chair up to the desk.

I walk around the desk and sit on one of the guest chairs, with the folder in my hand.

“You really think I wouldn’t be able to tell that you touched my stuff?”

“Well, maybe I wasn’t trying to hide from you, Dad. Why do you have to assume the worst of me?”

“Okay, since I have you here, we should probably talk.” He points at me and makes a little circle with his index finger. “This attitude, it’s not going to fly.”

“I don’t know wh—”

“I’m not done yet,” Dad says, cutting me off. “You think you’re slick. You think you can get out of any problem just by saying anything that comes to your mind. Well, I’m going to do you a favor and tell you it’s not working.”

I stay quiet, knowing he’d just interrupt me again if I said anything.

I glance at the open folder in my hand—at least now I can take it with me, I guess.

“You know why it’s not working?” Dad asks in a way that tells me he’s not actually expecting any answer. “Because eventually people learn that you’re just spouting off nonsense and they stop believing anything you say. At that point, you’ve lost everything.”

“Have you been talking to Diana?” I ask.

“You know I talk to her every day. But no, I haven’t discussed this with her. So if she brought up the same thing, maybe it means you need to start listening, instead of coming up with the next witty thing to say.”

I bite my tongue. I was about to say something smart, but I don’t think Dad’s a receptive audience for my jokes right now.

“Listen, I know you’ve been hoping to get your old position back. To be honest, nothing would make me happier. Diana’s dealing with a completely different department, and Miranda’s just…” Dad makes a face, but he tries to stay diplomatic. He says, “She’s not very good at it.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“I suppose. She makes mistakes too often, but they’re small mistakes that we can easily fix.” He pauses to inhale deeply, like he’s about to really unload. “You, though, you can really do some serious damage.”

“How? The clients love working with me.”

“Yeah, but many of our biggest clients are too conservative to deal with your…indiscretions.”

“What are you referring to, exactly? My criminal history? I told you, it was a long time ago, I already paid for it, and it wasn’t even my fault. I can’t believe you’re still punishing me for it.”

“That’s not the only thing. You live this hedonistic life full of women and drugs, and it’s just… It doesn’t reflect well on the company.”

“I haven’t even done drugs since I got out,” I protest.

“I’m just not convinced that you’re ready.”

“You know what? I’ve been working really hard, but it’s still not enough for you. I give up.” I get up and head toward the door, the black folder in my hand.

“Rafe,” Dad says as I grab the door handle. “You were too young to remember it, but when I had the affair… We almost lost the bank. I just don’t want you to have to go through that.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dad.” I say before I walk out of his office.

It’s not that I don’t think he has a point. And it’s not that I’m not aware that I’m being unfair toward him. But I’ll just have to make it up to him some other time.

Right now, I can’t even think about work. I don’t have any space in my brain for anything other than Piper.

It surprises me, but I don’t care about getting my old position back, even though that has been my big goal ever since I got out of prison.

Right now, that doesn’t matter.

I don’t know when, but at some point, that stopped being my priority.

My priority is getting Piper back right now. It’s not that work is not important anymore. But now that things with Piper aren’t right, nothing can be right. So that’s where I have to spend my energy.

I have to get her back.