“It’s me.”
A sob sounded in Quinley’s ear, and Quinley raised a hand to her mouth to forcibly hold in her own.Please don’t cry, please don’t.“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice thick.
“Quinnie.”
Quinley squeezed her eyes shut to combat the stinging and moved her hand from her mouth to her full stomach when it threatened to revolt with a sharp clench. “I’msorry,” she said again because she didn’t know what else to say.
“Are you okay? Of course you’re not. That’s a stupid question. Are you safe? Have they found you?”
“No, no, I’m safe. I’m still with Elias. Ana, I can’t talk about yesterday. Not yet. I just… Please know how sorry I am that I left you to deal with Rhys.”
Silence followed her words, and Quinley’s heart broke even more at the sound of Ana’s tears and upset.
“You jumpedovera balcony? Quinnie, what were you thinking? Every single time they play that footage, I think of what could’ve happened to you. That I could’velostyou…”
“I know. I’msorry. I just— I couldn’t do it.”
“Obviously, but did you have to almost kill yourself? I would’ve helped you. You could’ve waited for me to get back.Toldme how you felt. I would’ve driven the getaway car myself.”
Her best friend said the words while still sobbing. They’d spent so many years together, crying over one thing or another at different times of their friendship, that Quinley actually understood Ana’s words despite them being garbled by tears. “I love you, too.”
“Quinnie, you need to call Rhys. It’s important.”
Quinley’s already tight and tense body turned to stone. “I can’t. Not yet.”
“You have to. This— You have to, Quinnie. This is serious.”
Quinley frowned at Ana’s tone. “Why? What’s happening? What aren’t you saying?”
Ana sniffled and obviously attempted to get control of her emotions. “People are being ugly.Crazy,” she added.
“Ana, you’re scaring me.What’sgoing on? Is this about the reporters?”
Ana sniffled, her breaths stuttering in and out of her chest, the sound echoing on the phone.
“No, it’s worse than that. Rhys called Cole a few minutes ago. They’re still on the phone. There have beendeaththreats against you. You should call him, Quinnie. Let Rhys come get you and help you. Hepromised methat despite everything, he would keep you safe, but he has to know where you are to do that.”
People were making death threats against her because she didn’t go through with the wedding?
Becauseshehadn’t gotten married to a man she loved but didn’tloveenough? Because of how she’d handled things so badly. So publicly.
And because the world was crazy and people did awful things, those threats were very real and—couldn’t be ignored. But to want her dead.Dead.
“Quinnie? Are you still there?”
“They want me todie?” The words were barely a whisper, barely a sound, thanks to the sheer horror of Ana’s words, that there were people who thought her unworthy tolivebecause she’d left Rhys?
“We’ll keep you safe. We won’t let anything happen,” Ana said in her mama-bear tone, though she still sounded like she cried. “Call him, Quinnie. Okay? Promise me you’ll be reasonable. Let him put guards on you until this dies down.Please. Let him do this for you, formeif nothing else.”
Her hand, her body, shook so badly the entire bed shook beneath her. She sank to the floor, the pain of the bed rail painfully scraping each and every vertebra as she slid down, doing nothing to calm the storm inside her.
She curled in on herself, dropping the phone to the floor and wrapping her arms over her knees, hugging them tight to her chest as the tears she’d buried so deep erupted in a surge, freed by the pain and the grief and the knowledge that strangers wanted herdeadbecause she’d done something for herself.
A sob left her and then another, and she turned her face into the rug, choking on her tears. People wanted herdead. Because she chose to do what was right.
But all of the pain, the fright, theguilt, the stress, and the magnitude and weight of her actions bore down on her until she couldn’t draw breath. Raw sobs tore out of her lungs when she did, each more powerful than the last as she lost herself to the pain, drowned in it, and simply…broke.
ChapterEight
