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If Cassia didn’t need her help, fine. She’d leave her alone

and stop with the online searching. That was the right thing to

do. The healthy thing to do. If Cassia had someone, a friend or

a girlfriend, then Adalynn would be happy for them. If Cassia

had no one, then Adalynn would try to make her see that it

was okay to accept help from her. Financial help, or even just

companionship. Either way, she wouldn’t leave Vegas until she

knew Cassia was going to be okay.

She took a few deep breaths as she walked over to the

kitchen and used the countertop to brace herself. Not much

about going to Vegas made sense, but then, she’d never lived a

very ordinary life.

Why should a stranger matter so much? Not a stranger, but

someone she’d met twice. Adalynn reasoned that it wasn’t just

her loneliness reflected back at her like a mirror. It was more

than a desire to save and make right. It was something that she

couldn’t name, but it was legitimate for her, strong and

compelling all the same.

She had to face the truth that the only time she hadn’t felt

entirely hollow since Pierre died was those few minutes and

then the few hours she’d spent with Cassia. The memory of

that time was like a brand, seared deep into her skin, a scar she

couldn’t turn her back on because she’d always know it was

there.

“None of this would be happening if you hadn’t searched

for her name,” she chastised herself out loud, then looked at

the window, feeling foolish. Thankfully, no one was standing

on the other side ready to catch her going over the deep end in

an ancient house that some people in town no doubt thought

was haunted.