There’s the option of quitting, but if I do what’s going to happen to everyone else? I don’t want to go but I know that I need to do it. Maybe I can convince the new owners to keep Denver or figure out something else for my team. I don’t say anything. Just swallow all the pain and let out the tears.

“Quit,” he suggests, as he draws circles around my back.

“And then what?” I sniff.

“You come upstairs with me,” he says as if it’s super easy.

“It’s not that simple,” I say. “Jobs are at stake. God, I don’t know what’s going to happen to these guys. They believed me when I said this would be grand and now… How can they do that to us?”

“We can find jobs for them.”

“They are my team,” I tell him. Why can’t he understand what’s happening? “You don’t abandon your people. If I could, I’d buy the company, but as fucking Shelby pointed out, I’m poor.”

“The entire thing?” he asks. “This branch just started.”

“Yes, the entire thing. I’d close London and move people here because the quality of life is better, and the place is less expensive than New York or London. But you know what’s going to happen? I’m going to end up in London, away from everyone I love.”

My heart shatters because this guy and I were just starting to find our way back together. I cry for a long time. This wasn’t part of the plan. I was going to make this branch the best one, and they didn’t let me prove I could do something amazing with it.

“Everything will work out,” Miller assures me. “Trust me, okay?”

I chuckle, snort, and sob. “You’re still living in some kind of fantasy, but I like you anyway.”

He checks his phone and says, “Hey, I have to go, but don’t forget I love you.”

I try to smile and say something, but I just can’t.

Miller pulls me against him, his hungry mouth finds mine. His kiss is consuming, urgent, hungry like if it’s the last kiss we’ll ever share. It mirrors my emotions, and just when I thought we’re about to make love, he stops.

He cups my face, his gaze locks mine. “I love you more than anything. Do you understand?”

I nod and I want to tell him I love him too, but I want the moment to be special and not when I’m feeling so vulnerable. He gives me one last kiss. And it’s just what I need to feel like I’m not alone. Maybe we can make this work, even if I’m on the other side of the world.

Would he understand?

Miller