I can’t speak. I try, but no words come out. And if they did, I sure as hell know they wouldn’t make up for anything that happened years ago. I stare at the anger and shock on the faces of people I’d thought of as my own family years before, knowing full well that I deserve this type of reception.

Did I really think I was going to show up here and have a warm, fuzzy reunion with the people I’d pretty much closed the chapter on, after promising the world to their daughter?

My eyes narrow in Tessa’s direction and hers widen in response.

I’d only pulled away because of her.

And she obviously didn’t even have the decency to open her mouth. Couldn’t stop those gums from flapping years ago, but now, the girl is mute while I get the verbal lashing of a lifetime from the man I’d hoped to one day call Dad.

“You have some nerve showing up here, Hartley. I listened to Cam cry herself to sleep for weeks after you cut her off. For no reason! After she’d given up on her dreams to be close to you!” Mr. Ellis puffs out his chest, his belly much rounder than it was last time I’d seen him. Cam had always been his favorite. The baby. The one who was always going to do great things with her life. The one who’d never been afraid to take a risk.

I ruined that for her.

At least, that’s what he thinks.

Tessa reaches for her father’s arm. “Dad, please,” she whispers. She looks at me and Ian, a pleading look in her eyes. “Can you guys please give us a minute?”

Ian nudges me out the door. “Take all the time you need.”

Cam is still staring at me as if I’m the Ghost of Christmas Past that has come back to haunt her. With a quivering lip and eyes filled with tears, she turns and flees, back in the direction from which she’d come. My throat tightens, and I want so badly to run after her, to pull her close, to stroke the back of her glossy hair.

Until I remember…

Yeah, screw that. Why am I the one who’s head is on the chopping block right now? She might have been upset for a while when I left, but it didn’t stop her from cozying up to my ex-best friend Drew. She may have lost a few night’s sleep once I left, but it shouldn’t have come as such a shock when I pulled away, especially since she had other arms to fling herself into.

I let Ian push me out the door and into the hallway, bracing myself for the tirade to follow.

He pushes back his hair and lets out a dry laugh. “Days before Christmas, we show up in your fucking hometown to meet with the owners of a rising star company we absolutely need to add to our portfolio and you just coincidentally happen to have jilted the daughter of said owners.”

“Can’t make this shit up,” I grumble, my fists twitching at my sides. God, I’d love to get my hands on Drew Prentice. Did he even realize what he had with Cam? Does he know what he yanked away from me?

A sharp pain shoots down my arm. Christ, they might still be together. A flash of green floods my vision, and I now not only want to get my hands on Prentice, I want to choke the fucking guy for even thinking about laying his hands on her.

But, as cliché as it is to say, it takes two.

She made the decision to walk away from what we had.

So why the hell am I the bad guy in this scenario?

“You couldn’t have read the fucking papers, right? Couldn’t have saved us a fucking trip out to Bumblefuck, Pennsylvania, because your dick found greener pastures?”

“You don’t know anything about it.” I walk toward him. “You have no fucking clue what you’re talking about, Ian.”

“Oh, yeah? So why don’t you humor me, then? Tell me how we’re gonna explain this to the home office, how we’re going to tell them that our big fish is fucking fried now because you had to go and dip your wick where it didn’t belong.”

“This has nothing to do with my fucking wick, asshole.”

“Really? Because testing the waters sure seems to be your MO.” He inches closer, his mouth twisted into a grimace. “And I don’t give a shit where you stick it, unless it fucks with my goddamn livelihood. Which, judging from the reception we got in there, it most definitely does. So explain to me, Jacko. How the hell are you gonna salvage this investment so we can keep our fucking jobs?”

I rub my temples, leaning my head back against the wall. My eyes drift closed, and my mind is barraged with a flood of memories.

The sparkle of the promise ring I’d slid onto Camryn’s finger after our last high school homecoming dance together.

The loud crash of an empty Jack Daniel’s bottle shattering against a wall and my father’s sinister laugh mixed with the piercing scream from my mother’s mouth.

A tight hug from Ellen, Camryn’s mom, the night before I left for England. “See you soon, son.”

Cam’s teary smile, the last I saw before I stepped inside of that plane and left her, left our life.

My own mother’s vacant and emotionless stare as she reclined in the rocker on our front porch, seeing everything but nothing at the same time. She never saw me, but I never forgot seeing her like that, an image that haunts me to this day.

I should have stayed in the hotel room. I should have made up some bullshit excuse about why I couldn’t attend the meeting. I should have done a lot of things I didn’t do.

“I need to get out of here.” I pull on my coat and turn toward the elevator, stabbing the down button.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ian stomps toward me and grabs my shoulder, forcing me to look in his direction. His mouth is stretched into a thin line, his eyes narrowed into a death glare. “Don’t you even think about leaving this building. Maybe you don’t give two shits about your own life, but mine is pretty fucking good, Jack. And now it’s hanging in the balance because of you, so goddammit, you’d better fix it or I will fuck your shit up!”

I raise my tired eyes. “Don’t you think it’s already been fucked up enough, Ian? Do you really think I can salvage any of this? You heard what Brian Ellis said. It’s over. We need to find another company for the portfolio. Let’s just cut our losses, get to the airport, and I’ll do some research while we fly back to California. We’ll find another company, one that’s a hell of a lot closer to home.”

“I don’t want another fucking company! I want Feedn Time!”

“Well, we don’t always get what we want in life. You’re gonna have to come up with a Plan B.”

“Not so fast.”

I look up, in the direction of the voice. Tessa’s voice. It’s low and her eyes dart left and right as she speaks. “Don’t leave yet, guys.”

I clench my fists. “Why? So I can come back inside to be raked over the coals again for something I—”

“There’s something you don’t know, Jack.” She grabs my arm and flashes a quick smile at Ian. “I’m going to borrow him for a few minutes, okay?”

“Great. Let’s see how much more fucked up we can make this whole thing,” Ian grumbles.

The elevator doors open, and Tessa pushes me inside. I shrug out of her grip. “What the hell do you want, Tessa? I think the last words we shared were probably the last ones I ever needed to hear from you.”

She lets out a deep sigh and smooths down her curly blonde hair before pulling a knit cap onto her head. “I needed to get you out of there so we could talk this through like adults.”

“Maybe you should have this conversation with my partner since I have absolutely no interest in what you have to say.”

The elevator reaches the ground floor, and I fold my arms when the doors open, not making any effort to take this party off the elevator.

She rolls her eyes and grabs my arm, pulling me toward the building exit. She shoves the door open, and in seconds, we’re consumed by the blistering cold. I shake off her hand and wrap my scarf around my neck. “Can you please stop manhandling me, for Christ’s sake?”

“Listen, the reason I needed to talk to you is—"

I hold up a hand. “Save it, Tessa. I did what you asked. I don’t think we have much else to say to each other.”

“You don’t understand. I wanted you to know that—”

“That what? That you didn’t mean to unload on me all those years ago? That you’re happy you destroyed me?”

“Will you please stop interrupting me, you dumbass? I’m trying to apologize!”

“No need. I’m just fine.”

“No, you’re not.” Her eyes fall to her gloved hands, which she’s wringing like crazy. “And neither is Cam.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Neither of you is fine. How could you be? I thought I was just…I didn’t ever want to hurt her…or you, but things, they were too hard, she was too devastated…”

“You’re not making any sense, Tessa. I’m not sure what the hell you’re even trying to apologize for at this point.”

“I made it all up!” She throws her hands into the air. “Okay? It was all bullshit! And I’ve felt guilty about it all this time, but I thought I was doing the right thing for my sister!”

“Wait.” I push back my hair. “So you called me to tell me Cam and Drew…and that I needed to let her go so she could get on with her life…and you made it up, knowing I’d never want to see her upset. That if she wanted Prentice, I’d never stand in the way…” Am I really hearing this?

“I knew you’d be angry if she cheated on you, and I never wanted to hurt you, but you have to understand something, Jack. She was ready to give up her entire life to wait around for you. And if things worked out for you in London, if you really stayed away and she missed her chance to go to Stanford…” Her eyes clouded over. “My parents and I were sick over it. She was devastated when you left, and then your calls were fewer and farther between. She cried every day, every night, and we couldn’t watch her throw her life away, risking it all for someone who may or may not reappear.”

“I was working…” My voice trails off.

“Yeah, exactly. How much longer would it have been before your precious job took over your entire life, leaving my poor sister withering away back here?”

I still can’t believe this conversation is even happening. I fist my hair, walking a few feet away so I can process this information.

I tried so hard not to hurt Camryn, and it’s exactly what ended up happening. I thought if I’d just made something of myself, we’d have a real shot.

But I fucked it up. And I haven’t been able to fix myself since.

“I loved your sister, Tessa. I wanted to give her the world.”

“She had the world, Jack. At least, she believed she did. With you. That’s all she ever needed.”

I slap the cold concrete wall. “She deserved so much more than I could give her while I was here. You don’t understand. I had to get away from here. It was the only way…”

“Hey, I know it was really hard for you to be here after your mom died,” Tessa’s voice softens and her hand grazes my arm. “But my parents loved you like a son. And they treated you that way. And Cam…she was crazy about you. When you left, you didn’t just leave her.”

I let out a dry laugh. “There’s so much you don’t know, Tessa. You think you have the full story, but you don’t. You never did.”

“I’m sorry.” She averts her eyes. “I understand if you just want to forget this whole thing with Feedn Time. Maybe it’s too premature for us, anyway. Maybe we’re just not quite ready for the big time.” She lets out a defeated laugh. “Maybe this is a good time for my parents and I to regroup and figure out a game plan for the next few years. If we keep growing, I’m sure there will be others looking to invest. I, um, I appreciate you making the trip out here. Merry Christmas, Jack.”

I lean my head back against the wall and watch her slowly turn toward the revolving door. Ian is going to skin me alive before I have a chance to schedule an Uber back to the airport. A sharp pain slices away at my chest, right in the vacancy once occupied by my heart. Now what remains is in shreds and slivers. It’s been that way since I got the call from Tessa years ago.

I may have one chance to piece it back together.

But the window is closing fast.

I don’t know how much time I have before it slams shut. It happened once before, and I just watched.

I can’t let that happen again. And it means tearing open a lot of painful wounds, something that I should have done a long time ago.

“Wait.” I push off the wall, and Tessa spins toward me, hope alive in her eyes. “I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past, but I don’t want to make another one. I need to make things right with Cam. With your folks, too. It may not mean anything to them at this point, but it’ll mean a lot to me. And I did review your company’s documentation…it was at the eleventh hour, but it’s solid, Tessa. Ian and I can get you the resources you need to rocket Feedn Time to the next level. It’s what we do, and this is our industry.”

Her mouth drops open and she flashes a bright smile. “Really? Oh my God, are you serious?”

I nod. I may have been sleep-deprived and jetlagged as hell when I read through the brief, but I could tell their potential for growth is massive. “I am. You’ve done a tremendous job, and we want in.”

She lets out a little shriek, and I can’t help the smile lifting my lips. But as excited as she is to move forward, there are a few pretty big obstacles standing in our way…namely Brian and Cam.

And I don’t know if either of them is willing to listen to my pitch.

Now the stakes are higher, and I not only want a stake in their company. No, I want much more than that.

But will they agree to my terms…my non-negotiable terms?

“There’s one catch, Tessa. I need to be the one to convince your family that they can trust me…and it’s going to be with more than just their company this time.”