Layla considered her options. Viv worked as an attorney at the State Department, and the two of them had worked together before on highly sensitive classified projects. She knew she could trust Viv with her life, so she decided to open up in a high-level way. “I worked with DEA on a mission last month. One of the DEA agents came to see me in the middle of the night. A man had ransacked her house.”

Viv twirled her straw in her soda. “So there could be a connection between someone watching you and what happened to her?”

Layla nodded. “Yeah. Or it’s completely possible that I’m just being paranoid, or that there are two separate things going on.”

“You need to be careful.” Viv’s tone had turned serious.

“I will, I promise, but let’s stop talking about it and enjoy lunch. I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Viv shifted in her seat. “Then is it safe to bring up the reunion and your last-minute excuse not to go?”

This topic was almost worse than the other. “My excuse was legit. I really did have a work emergency come up yesterday.”

“Well, once you bailed, Bailey and I decided not to go either.”

“You shouldn’t have let me stop you.”

Viv leaned forward. “You might have dodged the reunion, but that still doesn’t resolve the larger issues you have with Hunter.”

Layla groaned at her ex’s name.

“Maybe it would be good to talk to him and finally get some closure.”

“Closure,” Layla muttered. “How much closure can you get from the love of your life cheating on you?” Her heart had been shattered into a million little pieces her third year of law school when she’d found out Hunter McCoy had been unfaithful.

“It’s not just that he cheated on you. It’s how it all went down.”

“Are you talking about the fact that he chose a college girl who couldn’t have been more different than me? Or the fact that he told me right in the midst of my interviews for the Agency?”

“Both,” Viv said flatly. “I can still hear the pain in your voice over five years later. Facing him is just what you need to be able to move on. You can’t pine over him forever. It’s time to open yourself to new possibilities. It’s been long enough.”

If only. Layla had been convinced that Hunter was the one. She’d asked God so many times why. Why had she been so wrong? And how could Hunter have been so cruel? “I understand what you’re saying, but dealing with feelings isn’t always a rational exercise.”

Viv patted her hand. “I’ll be by your side. You don’t have to go through this alone. You know that Bailey and I will always be there for you.”