And having one tail me was a reminder of why I needed to be tailed, which wasn’t pleasant.

I would be glad when those days were at an end.

“Georgia texted,” I began to explain. Having glided into a spot, I threw it in park. “Wanted a meet. Her schedule today is such she couldn’t get to me, so I’m coming to her.”

“My guy can’t get anywhere near that warehouse, Liv,” he told me.

“It’s just a meet with my sister. Not a big deal. She wants to go over some new investments I’m suggesting.”

“I don’t like this,” he muttered like he wasn’t talking to me.

I didn’t like it either. I never liked being at the warehouse.

But this would one day come to an end.

I believed.

Nick Sebring was not Tom Leary.

And I was no longer the Olivia Shade I was when I was twenty-five.

I was smart and I was savvy. I had a good head on my shoulders.

And I could make a man like Nick Sebring talk about having a future with me.

Babies.

The only thing I wasn’t was strong. I had to admit that to myself so I could face it.

I’d had my strength burned right out of me.

No, I’d let them burn the strength right out of me.

Then I let them do whatever they wanted to do and I’d quit fighting. I’d quit dreaming.

I’d quit believing.

Now, Nick was showing me another way. He’d once been another man, a maybe not-so-good one, and he’d learned. He’d learned not to be petty and selfish and manipulative.

He’d grown up. He’d become his own man. He’d become the master of his destiny.

And he saw something in me.

I honest to God didn’t know what.

But if he saw it, if he liked it, if he wanted a future with it, I wanted to give it to him.

I wanted to make it worth it.

I wanted it for myself.

Nick had needed to grow up.

I didn’t need to grow up. I was grown up. Too grown up. I felt a million years old.

So no, I didn’t need to grow up.

I needed to grow a backbone.

Nick wanted to look out for me. He wanted to find a way to make me free.

I loved that.

But I had to help.

And I had to make that struggle (and it was going to be a struggle) worth it.

Thinking about all of this on the plane, wanting a life with Nick in it, wanting the future he was leading us to, as well as coming to terms with all of this, I also had to admit I was scared shitless.