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Sam stared ahead, her chest tightening. It all felt like a lie—like everything she’d been working for, everything she’d sacrificed, had led her to this moment where suddenly nothing fit anymore.

“I’ve already made my decision,” Sam muttered, her voice flat.

Scarlett sighed beside her, but didn’t pull away. “I get it. But are you doing it because youwantto? Or because you’re scared of—”

“I’m not scared,” she snapped, her voice sharp.

But even as the words left her mouth, something bitter settled in her throat. She didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t want anyone picking apart her choices, especially when it suddenly felt like she barely understood them herself.

London was clean. It was clear-cut. It had no strings attached, no history, no—anything.

Scarlett watched her for a long moment, the silence almost unbearable. “You’re really going to walk away from this again?”

Sam’s heart clenched, the image of Jess standing there, tears in her eyes, flashing through her mind. She’d been ready to say something—anything—to stop her from walking away. But then what? They’d been there before. They’d stood at the edge of the same cliff, and every time, it ended the same way.

One of them always jumped. And the other always stayed.

Maybe it was because of Jess. Or maybe it was because of her.

Maybe Jess had walked away from her so many times when they’d first met that she couldn’t even tell whose fault it was anymore.

“It’s better this way,” Sam whispered, barely able to say the words aloud.

Scarlett shook her head slowly, disappointment etched into her features. “You really believe that?”

Sam didn’t answer. She couldn’t.

The truth was, nothing about it felt right.

The gap between them had grown too wide, and this deal was the only thing she could control.

Scarlett let out a long, slow breath. “You earned this. You deserve everything you’ve accomplished,” she said, her voice calm but firm. “But don’t convince yourself into thinking youneedthis. It won’t change anything.”

Sam bit the inside of her cheek, trying to keep her emotions from rising again. “It’s not about changing anything,” she said, her voice cold. “It’s about moving forward.”

Scarlett’s eyes darkened with something Sam didn’t want to face—pity, maybe. Or sadness. “If that’s what you think you need,” she said quietly.

Scarlett’s hand slipped away from her shoulder, the weight of her absence settling in as she made her way back into the wedding venue.

And as she sat there, the cold night air biting into her cheeks, she felt it sink deeper—that familiar isolation.

The only constant she had left.

Chapter twenty-five

The streets outside the coffee shop bustled with late-morning energy, a mix of business professionals and students weaving their way through the sidewalks.

Two painstaking weeks had crawled by since the wedding, each day stretching endlessly.

Luckily, work had been her saving grace—a relentless, all-consuming distraction she clung to like a lifeline.

After Caleb had cancelled the meeting, Howard had rescheduled for a couple weeks later. And they’d spent every waking moment of that time poring over details. But finally, that morning, she couldn’t take it anymore. She needed a break. Just a few minutes to clear her head before diving right back in.

Sam tucked her hands into the pockets of her hoodie, the crisp air nipping at her face as she turned the last corner to the nearby coffee shop.

And right when she did, she froze, her lips parting in surprise.

Jess was walking toward her from the opposite way, about to open the door.