The smooth, velvety texture of the latte that would bolster her spirits wasn’t working its usual magic as she and Tessa sat in the large but homey kitchen at the Montenegros’ farmhouse nearly an hour after she’d run away from everything she’d come to love.

If anything, the extra dose of caffeine was making her more jittery and anxious as she remembered the last moments at the Van Hollinses’, the looks of anger, outrage, and even disappointment.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Tessa said. “Anyone who knows you would know you weren’t capable of that kind of deceit.”

Rowan Montenegro, the youngest of Tessa’s five brothers, waltzed into the kitchen. “You need us to go knock a few heads together, Anna?” he asked, clearly overhearing the tail end of Tessa’s comment. He headed to the fridge and pulled out a couple of beers. He was only one year younger than Anna, and she couldn’t help but find it endearing his protective nature extended toward her.

“No, but thanks for the offer. Besides, I don’t care what they think of me. I know the truth and, like Tessa said, the people who know me know the truth. That’s all that matters.”

Big words. If only she could force herself to believe them.

It was the kind of posturing she usually took growing up, when she tried to convince herself that she didn’t care about the father who had abandoned her or the family that never took the time to get to know her. She didn’t need them.

Only, these past few days, having been accepted and welcomed by those same people, she was seeing how different things could be. How it felt to be a part of something. Feeling the love and affection that had come from Janie and Lenore, both of whom had accepted her wholeheartedly just because they were blood, had been…nice.

“All right. But say the words and Finn and I can go there right now and set the record straight,” Rowan said and flashed her his heartbreaker grin before moseying back out.

Good thing the guy was a totally unapologetic player or Anna might have been in trouble, with all the Montenegro brothers. Dark-haired gods thanks to their Irish mother, and perfect sun-kissed complexion thanks to their Portuguese father, they were stunning, every one of them. Tessa’s own complexion was more Irish cream, and with her chin-length raven-black hair, she was like a real-life Snow White. All she needed was a blue bird singing on her shoulder for the image to be complete.

Anna met Tessa’s gaze again, noting her friend didn’t look any more convinced than Anna by her words. She didn’t say anything immediately, instead getting up and grabbing the teakettle from the stove and refilling her mug with hot water and another tea bag. Tessa had always been the more sensitive of Anna’s two roommates, the peacemaker who hated conflict, probably in part due to the fact she’d grown up the only girl with five older brothers. Brooking peace agreements had been a matter of survival. It was probably why she’d gone to law school, like their other roommate, Quinn. But whereas Quinn was no-nonsense, practical to a fault, Tessa was the empath, her emotions often getting the better of her.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Anna said and laughed. “I’m going to be fine. I promise. Charlie has the story that she needed and that has, at least temporarily, gotten me off the hook and kept my job safe. As I see it, I’m no worse off than when this all started.”

“If you say so.” Tessa looked at her phone. “That’s Quinn calling now.”

“You didn’t tell her about this, did you?” Anna asked in alarm. This was supposed to be a romantic weekend away for her friend. The last thing she needed was to be caught up in Anna’s grief.

Instead of answering right away, Tessa walked to the back door and opened it. She turned around, smiling unapologetically as Quinn stood at the threshold. “Of course I did.”

“Quinn. You didn’t have to come.”

“Of course I had to come,” she said and swept in, all long legs and graceful motions, her long chestnut hair smooth and silky as it cascaded down her back, her light brown eyes scanning Anna from head to foot as if she were using some x-ray powers to find scars—visible and otherwise. “What good it is having a millionaire boyfriend with his own private plane if you can’t take advantage of those perks once in a while?”

It was then that she saw it. With the sun pouring into the kitchen from the open door, causing the facets of the diamond to sparkle, it was hard to miss the ring on her best friend’s finger.

Tessa seemed to see it at the same time as she gasped and ran forward, holding the hand up to see the gem better in the light. “You mean he already proposed?” she asked.

“Hmm. From the looks on both of your faces, I’m guessing this isn’t coming as a surprise.” There was no anger in her words, only pure happiness that seemed to radiate from within. “He surprised me out on the lake this morning. It was…perfect.”

As part of the big surprise, James had flown them up to Quinn’s hometown in Eureka, Idaho, where he’d hoped to ask her dad’s permission before springing the ring on her.

“And you just left all of that? To come and help me?” Anna asked, her throat seeming to close in on her.

“You’re darn right, I did. Don’t worry, though, James understands. In fact, I think he was relieved to escape from my parents’ barrage of wedding-related questions and get back to the city, where we have more privacy. He’s outside visiting with Declan and Dillon right now.”

Though she’d kept the tears at bay for most of the day, seeing the love and concern in her friends’ faces, feeling their affection, and knowing that no matter how inconvenient it might have been for them to be there for her caused her to burst into tears again.

In a moment, she was wrapped up in both of their arms.

* * *

Nearly an hour had passed since Anna’s momentary breakdown, and despite the passing of time and the comfort of her friends, she couldn’t quite say she was feeling any better. To give Quinn the reassurance she needed before she and James left to finish up their weekend back in the city, she lied and said she did.

As much as her friend wanted to be there for her, some things needed time.

They were outside, walking around the small pond that graced the west end of the Montenegros’ property, the warm sun welcome on her swollen eyelids and cheeks. The hummingbirds that dived toward the honeysuckle to her right were another welcome diversion and she watched them battle for one particular succulent bloom.

“She’ll be fine,” Tessa said, reassuring Quinn as if Anna wasn’t right there. “Between my brothers all monkeying for her attention and my excellent nurturing skills, we’ll keep her properly distracted until Monday.”

Quinn said something else, but Anna didn’t hear it, distracted by the buzz of her phone, signaling an incoming text.

Nick.

Her stomach dived, and despite the warmth of the day, she felt cold. Why was he reaching out to her? Did he regret his decision? Or was he going to slay her with more accusations? Taking a breath, she read the message.

Janie is AWOL. Have you heard from her?

Whatever she’d expected to hear, a status update on Janie wasn’t it.

“Is everything okay?” Quinn asked, and Anna realized both women were staring at her.

“I…I don’t know. It’s Nick. Janie’s missing.”

She hesitated, her fingers over her phone as she decided whether to answer.

Janie was missing. Why should she even care? Janie and everyone else had made it clear that she was persona non grata. They’d professed to like her, maybe even cared about her, but when push came to shove, none of them had her back. None of them had believed in her.

And yet…

There was a lump in her throat as she thought about Janie out there, devastated and alone. Okay, so maybe she cared a little more about her sister than she’d let on. Even to herself.

Trying to ignore the name of the person on the other end of the text, she typed:

No, I haven’t. When did anyone last see her?

She waited.

Half hour ago. Dax shows the GPS of her phone has her heading north on Route 12, but battery low. Will lose her soon.

“Do you think she’d do anything to hurt herself?” Quinn asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“Well, it’s got to be tough on the girl,” Tessa said, her voice oozing with sympathy. “To find out that your fiancé had been sleeping with your best friend, and that they’d been lying about it for years. Not to mention that—right or wrong—she thinks her newly found sister was pretending to like her and then sold her out to further said sister’s career.”

Anna’s moral outrage and crushing disappointment that had fueled her for most of the morning slipped a little. For the first time, she saw things from someone else’s perspective.

Yes, Janie had believed the worst in her, but in light of the overwhelming flow of bad news she’d been bombarded with, could she blame her for doubting Anna? Especially considering she hadn’t been completely up-front with her from the start.

Instead of being there for Janie during her lowest moment, wanted or not, she’d run, just like Lenore had said. She hadn’t found the courage to stay and fight.

Janie deserved better, and whatever might happen in the next few hours or days or months, even if Janie never forgave her, Anna would never forgive herself if she didn’t do something more to help Janie find her happily ever after.

Nick shot out another text. Any idea where she’s going?

She gritted her teeth at his curt question. If she was going to be mad at anyone, she could save all her energy on this guy, the one who’d made the deal to begin with. He’d made her think that maybe he wasn’t a total self-righteous prig but someone with depth and character. He had also convinced her that he was ready to put the past in the past and move on to something that might have been damn spectacular. It had been pretty spectacular, even if it was short-lived. But he’d been willing to believe the worst things about her.

No, Nick St. Claire deserved her wrath and so much more.

Quietly seething, she typed.

I left my crystal ball at home. If I find it, I’ll let you know.

She slipped the phone back in her pocket and began walking briskly toward the house, Tessa and Quinn following. “I have to find her.”

“Of course, and we’ll help. Do you have any ideas where she might have gone?”

How the heck would she know? She barely knew Janie. There was a lot she still had to learn, and Anna knew that she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She’d show Janie through her actions and her perseverance that she was going to be there, as a part of Janie’s life, from now on.

Back in the kitchen, she pulled out her phone again and went to the map app. North on Route 12? Where could she be going? What did she know about her sister?

She’d been an art history major. She liked the color pink and touch football. Though she’d lived with Malcolm here and in his big penthouse in the city as she grew up, she didn’t seem to have much of a relationship with him. Her mother liked to take frequent mental health breaks to various spas around the globe, and the only person that she seemed to feel any real affection for was Lenore, who used to take her to lunch in Seattle, visits to the beach, and…

What was it she’d said? About the carousel ride. She’d never felt safer and happier than that day. It had been in Santa Rosa, which…was probably nearly an hour’s drive from the estate. North on Route 12.

“What? Do you have some idea where she could be?” Tessa asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” She relayed her conversation with Janie to them.

“That’s only about half an hour drive from here,” said Quinn,

“Assuming she’s even there,” Anna said, biting a fingernail as she considered the options. “With the wedding only three hours away, we could waste a lot of time if we headed there to find out we were wrong.”

“What other options are there?” Tessa asked. “Not going anywhere?”

Anna knew that as well. “All right. Let’s go.”

The time for tears was over. Now it was time to get things done. She needed to make sure Janie realized that Dax loved her and that not standing in front of him this evening before God and everyone to say I do would be a monumental mistake.

Almost as monumental as her thinking she and Nick St. Claire ever had a chance.

* * *

Nick remained silent as Dax whipped around a corner almost an hour after Anna’s last ridiculous text message. With time running out, his brother had been determined to follow Janie’s progress in the hopes of catching up with her before the battery died on her phone.

It would happen any second now if the flashing red battery light on the Find Me app was any indication.

“Easy there, Dax,” Nick said as Dax barely dodged the curb as he took the next corner. “You want your next visit to the church to be for a wedding—not our funeral.”

“I don’t understand where she’s going.”

That made two of them. As they had since the minute they climbed into Dax’s too fast and too sporty car so he could chase the woman he loved, Nick’s thoughts returned to Anna.

“You know, I don’t understand what Anna was thinking,” he said, thinking out loud even though Dax’s preoccupation probably meant he wasn’t listening. “Is she the slightest bit worried about her sister and the pain she’s going through? The pain of being betrayed by her fiancé? Her best friend? Sorry,” Nick said quickly when Dax scowled at him. “Not to mention the pain and anguish that Janie might be going through at the possibility that this new sister she was just getting to know could have betrayed her so cruelly. After all, if she hadn’t done what she was accused of, wouldn’t it have made sense to stick around and force Janie to see the truth? She could have tried to make Janie and everyone else see that she hadn’t betrayed them. That she hadn’t—”

“Nick, who are you kidding?” Dax asked, his tone impatient. “You mean, why didn’t she stick around to try and make you see the truth. Why didn’t she stay and fight for you and prove she didn’t betray you.”

Nick was about to fight his brother on the issue when the truth hit him.

His tirade wasn’t about Anna abandoning Janie to deal with the grief. It had been about him.

He clenched his jaw and looked out the window. The answer to his question was glaring back at him.

He’d hurt her. She had needed him to believe her when the chips were down and he hadn’t been able to. At least not quickly enough.

Because for all the reasons on one side of the line that told him all the things she had to gain by feeding that story to her editor, the one solitary reason on the other was enough to tell him she was innocent.

Her honesty.

She’d always told the truth, painful as it might be. There wasn’t a treacherous bone in her body.

Sure, she tried to be tough. She tried to appear as if she didn’t care and that things like family and finding people who accepted her weren’t important. In fact, she might have even convinced herself of that.

But he’d seen through it. He’d seen through the wisecracks and eye rolling and knew that she was actually a big softie who had more love, sensitivity, and generosity in her heart than all the people combined in that room this morning accusing her of deceit.

She hadn’t had a lot of people in her life who were there for her, to stand up for her and to be her voice when she was too vulnerable to have one. No one was there to stand by her side to support her and have her back.

Least of all him.

The anguish in his gut twisted sharply, leaving him disgusted with himself.

For all her faults, Anna was a woman of her word. A woman of integrity, who wouldn’t go behind anyone’s back in such an underhanded, mean-spirited way.

Hell, if she wanted to take anyone to the mat, she would do it face-to-face, not hiding behind some anonymous staff byline.

She enjoyed a challenge as much as he did, which was why they were so perfectly matched to each other, complementing each other with their differences as much as their similarities.

“How are we doing? Are we any closer to catching up with her?” Dax asked, drawing Nick from his thoughts.

He glanced down at the phone. The blinking on the GPS that represented Janie was no longer moving. Nick looked around, trying to figure out where they were. “Hang a left.”

A half a mile and two right turns later, they pulled up next to Janie’s car in the parking lot of Howarth Park. Nick was guessing that the phone was locked inside the vehicle while Janie…was nowhere in sight.

“She can’t be far. Why don’t we split up and see if we can find her,” he said to Dax, who was looking more desperate than before.

“Do you think she’s okay?”

“I think she will be now that you’re here.”

At least Nick hoped so.

Because the sooner those two said I do and wrapped up this day, the sooner he could track down Anna and beg her to forgive him for not being quick enough to see the truth.