Yet when she’d seen Zach’s friends at Gage’s house, neither of them appeared to recognize her as Kara Marsh, the girl she’d been before she adopted her social media persona. Perhaps that was just as well, as it meant they wouldn’t be on their guard around her. Because with Alonzo Salazar in the news since Christmastime, and his connection to his former students becoming a point of public interest, Chiara sensed that answers about what really happened to Zach were finally simmering close to the surface. She owed it to her friend to make sure his story was told at last, no matter whom it might hurt.

Six

Elena needed a reprieve from all the feelings stirred up by being with Gage. But when she sat down to her laptop to work the evening after they’d toured the ranch together, her inbox exploded with bad news.

Emails from the bank, emails from creditors, emails from her work popped up one after another. As she scrolled through them all at the massive desk in her sitting room, she realized that her financial situation had turned dire. The woman who was subletting her apartment had given Elena a bad check, and that had made one of Elena’s checks for her utilities bounce, too. The news seemed no better on the work front with two tabloid outlets both asking her when she’d have a story on Alonzo. She felt confident that her angle could warrant a bidding war for the piece, but since she had zero to offer them yet, she had no hope for seeing her next paycheck anytime soon.

Worse, her subscriber and follower numbers had taken another downturn, meaning her social media channels were going to be less attractive outlets for advertisers. And while she didn’t object to returning to the business world and the kind of job she used to have with one of Gage’s companies, she also knew that her value as an employee had gone down, too. What good was a social media expert without the following to back her up?

Staring into the flames blazing inside the sleek stone fireplace, Elena’s head throbbed with the new layers of stress. It all served to remind her she should have been more aggressive in her divorce. Taking the high road had not only left her with less access to the marital assets, but being parted from her physical things also robbed her of a surface level of comfort.

A soft rap on the door startled her from the regrets that tormented her and served no purpose.

“Yes?” She swiped a hand across her eyes and blinked. She needed to pull herself together. She couldn’t change the past...with her ex or with Gage.

“It’s Gage.” His deep voice slid straight past her defenses, conjuring up old confidences and quiet conversations. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”