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She rubs both hands over her face. “His grandfather and my Aunt Hildy were in love a long time ago. Percy believed his granddad was entitled to some of the money Turquoise Crown has made, so he decided that marrying me was the way to get his hands on it.”

“Fuck.” The word falls from my lips. “That asshole.”

“You were helping him do that,” she accuses, tears welling in her eyes. “You were helping him steal what belongs to my family. That game is my great aunt’s legacy, William. How could you do that?”

I’m so fucking ashamed to admit that I had no clue, but I need to. “I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know?” She laughs, but it’s laced with bitterness and contempt. “So, you’re saying you just agreed to help a man get me to fall in love with him? You didn’t know why he wanted that? Did you even ask him why me?”

I drop my gaze to the sidewalk to collect my thoughts.

“It doesn’t matter,” she spits the words out. “You’re no better than he is. You’re both just as bad as TJ.”

As I look up, I see pain etched in her expression. Her tears are flowing now, falling down her cheeks as she turns and runs away. I watch her through the haze of my own tears, knowing I’ve lost everything that ever mattered to me.

* * *

I don’t knowhow I got here, but I stumble into my office, pain pulling me down. My feet moved slowly when I finally left the spot I was standing in when Opal took off.

I’ve never cried in public before. I rarely shed a tear in private, but I sobbed as I felt my future slip from my grasp.

Several people stopped to ask if they could help me. I finally took a guy in a sweatshirt and a ball cap up on his offer when he said he’d flag down a taxi for me. I slid onto the backseat, barked out the address to my office, and tossed a bunch of bills in the driver’s direction when he finally pulled over to the curb in front of this building.

“William?” Sheila calls my name from somewhere to my left. “My God. Are you all right?”

“No,” I whisper.

She’s beside me with her arm wrapped around my waist before I realize what’s happening. “You need to sit down.”

I don’t argue that point because it’s a miracle my legs have kept me upright this long. She tugs on the back of a rolling office chair, so I drop my ass onto it. My hands cover my face as I try to make sense of what just happened.

I sense when she crouches in front of me. “Did something happen to someone? Is it Scout? Is Bauer okay? Where are your parents?”

“Fine,” I say in a voice that doesn’t sound like mine. “They’re all fine.”

“Is it a friend?” she presses, trying desperately to understand how to help me.

That’s who she is. Sheila is the fixer. She’s a nurturer. She’ll go out of her way to help anyone in need.

I know there’s no turning back from what I did. I fell in love with a woman a client wanted. I raise my chin and look her in the eye. “It’s Opal. I love her. I just broke her heart.”

Her gaze scans my face. “Opal who?”

“Waverly.”

Her mouth falls open. “Opal Waverly? Is that why you broke the contract with Percy?”

The sound of his name feels like a dagger being pushed through my heart. He’s the reason I found her but he’s not the sole reason I lost her. I played a hell of a big part in that.

“He’s an asshole,” I tell her. “He wasn’t right for her.”

“You are,” she says, and it’s not a question.

I look down at the floor before I glance at her again. “I am. I fell in love with her. I had to tell her the truth about Percy.”

“That must have been hell,” she whispers, patting my left knee.

“She said I was no better than him.” I toss my head back to look at the ceiling. “I can’t argue with her.”