“But they weren’t following her like they were you,” he added. “They won’t be snooping around in her life anymore, either. Their investigator broke several laws and was too careless to conceal it properly. With that sort of leverage, you can expect them to leave you alone going forward.”

“Does that mean it’s safe for me to talk to her?”

“Yes,” he said. “Travers Mill have to let Luke know they were exposed, but you have a small window of opportunity before that happens. I’m going to tail you myself for the next few days to be sure they’ve backed off.”

A rush of air flooded my lungs, like I’d been holding my breath without realizing it.

I could see her. Talk to her. Tell her everything. Beg for her forgiveness, or at least try.

“Stewart is handling the legal end of things as we speak,” he added.

In addition to talking to the management for Los Angeles, Stewart planned to “leash that sorry excuse for a shit stain” by going straight to the source of said stain—Luke’s parents. He felt that, as lawyers, they’d be pretty receptive in light of the recording from the truck and the threat of a messy, public lawsuit. Not to mention criminal charges on top of that.

Either it would work or it wouldn’t. I couldn’t wait any longer to find out. If the coast was clear, nothing would keep me from seeing Bailey.

* * *

“Yellow.”

“Are you okay?”

“I want a kiss.”

“I thought you were getting overstimulated.”

“No, I was getting lonely up here.”

“We can’t have that. Do you want me to untie you?”

“Not yet. But I need you to make good on all this teasing soon, or I’m going to lose my mind.”

* * *

BAILEY

I’d insisted that Siobhan have Dallas over as planned, realizing too late how weird it would be to see him.

Cracking open my bedroom door, I listened for any signs of life. When all that greeted me was silence, I tiptoed into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. Crying non-stop was shockingly dehydrating. I hadn’t ever drunk as much water as I had in the past few days.

To add to my stress, Shiv had gotten a hold of Kristen’s number for me earlier today. I was trying to formulate the right thing to say before I called. Was there really a right thing to say in this situation?

As I turned to fill my glass from the dispenser in the fridge, a text popped up on my home screen. Luke again. This was why I’d hesitated to change my number in the first place—it was a pain, and I knew he’d track me down sooner or later. Turns out I was right.