I told her that I would walk away if she needed me to, but it doesn’t mean I won’t keep coming back. Because I’m not giving up on her, and I’m certainly not leaving her unprotected while this lunatic is out there.

Watching her walk down the hallway in the apartment after telling me she is off to shower, I start messaging the guys and tell them to be prepared that she is about to run from me. I’ve never been this open with my friends, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Flynn and I discuss moving her things to his place during the day tomorrow once she makes her decision in the morning. To be honest, she has already made her decision, she is just trying to work out how to tell me, or if she does at all. It could be a case of coming home to an empty guest room and a note on the kitchen counter. A small percentage of me wants to think I’m wrong, that she’ll stay, but deep down, I know I’m not.

Rem will assign a couple of permanent bodyguards with her no matter where she is. She can complain all she likes, but that is the choice she is making by leaving. He will coordinate with Sandon on that and make sure both the Kentwall and Darcy teams are working as one on this detail. I want everything prepared and ready to go.

While Nic tries to keep me calm, telling me that I need to give her the space to come back to me, it’s not really helping. This man is talking from experience with Tori who left him not long after they met, and luckily, it was short-lived. But this time with Harper, it’s different. Harper is in danger and has so much trauma that she’s trying to work through that leaving her to her own thoughts is not what she needs. And no one truly understands that but me.

She has no idea that every time something got hard, I distracted her. The cute names were perfect and just the simple act of making her do something fun, to step out of her comfort zone without realizing it. But the nighttimes are going to be the problem. Who is going to be there to hold her, to take away the fear? Make her feel safe and chase away the darkness?

I have one last night to convince her to stay, so I need to do this the right way. Whatever that is.