I refused to do that to myself—wallow on the when, why and how. None of it mattered since the end result would still be the same.

Everly was pregnant with Owen’s baby.

It was a double betrayal. I lost two people at once, their treachery inflicting wounds so deep I knew I would never fully recover.

The instant loss was so extreme and all-consuming that the same blearing thought blasted on repeat. A sense of self-preservation.

Leave. Escape.

And I knew exactly who’d help me. I called Alicia.

“Hey, sis. This is a bit late for you?” her cheery voice chirped through the speaker.

That’s all it took. The sound of my sister’s teasing tone had me undone.

A sob broke out as I choked through the phone, “I need you.”

Then, I thoroughly broke apart, collapsing to the grass as my legs refused to keep me upright any longer.

I was unsure how much time had passed. I was cold, scared, alone and submerged in a void of depressing black until warm arms pulled me back into a tight embrace.

Alicia held me close, cradling my head in her lap as she stroked my hair. “I’m here,” she repeated. “I’m here.”

As awareness set in, I looked at my sister to find tears tracking down her face.

I wiped mine, trying to catch some semblance of normalcy. “How’d you find me?”

“Your location. You still have it on.”

I sat upright and cleared my throat. “I don’t know where to go from here.”

Since she had arrived, I had given her the rundown of what had happened. It took some time between the cries and threats, but I managed to relay everything I knew—which wasn’t much and too much, all at the same time.

“We can go back to Mum and Dad’s?”

“I can’t see—” I choked. “I don’t ever want to see him again, Alicia.” Our parents lived a five-minute drive from my house—correction, Owen’s house. I knew once my ex-husband had overcome his temporary breakdown, he would chase after me, and my parents’ would be the first stop on his redemption tour.

I refused to go there.

“Then you’re coming with me,” she said, so straightforward that I launched myself at her, crushing her in a bear hug.

Alicia worked as a high-profile financial advisor in the city—a four-hour drive away. She just happened to be visiting Acacia Falls over the weekend, and was due to leave the next day. It looked like those plans were expedited immediately.

We gradually made our way to the parking lot. I removed my suitcase and put it in her boot, transferred half of mine and Owen’s joint savings to her account, then left my phone and keys on the driver’s seat of my soon-to-be former car.