Page 5 of Before Broken Vows

Four years of running, of looking over my shoulder, of building walls so high that even I can't see over them sometimes, and now I'm sitting sixty feet from the man I left behind.

A woman approaches his table, leaning in too close. Is she his? Does he look at her the way he used to look at me? I have no right to care, but the jealousy stirs anyway.

You left him, I remind myself.You don't get to feel this way.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the crumpled piece of paper. I smooth it against my thigh.

The note is short, but the words feel like razors every time I read it. I wrote it shortly after taking off because I didn't want to think about it.

I need your help.

Stassi

310-555-1234

Pathetic.

He won't help me. He shouldn't.

I should just turn around. Go back to the hotel. Figure something else out. There's always something else. There has to be.

Except, I know that's a lie, or I wouldn't be here.

I glance back at the window.

Theo nods as the man he's talking to gets up and leaves.

This is it. I need to do it now before he comes out because I can’t face him today. I'm not ready just yet.

I push up from the bench, knees wobbling.

Theo’s car is parked around the corner. I spotted it the second I got here. It's a sleek black muscle car he’s had for years. As a matter of fact, I was with him the day he got it.

I wait for a car to pass so I can cross the street. They slow so I walk out only to have them honk at me. I hurry across and glance up in the window, scared Theo will be staring at me, but he's not. He's talking to that woman again and signing the check.

I have to hurry.

I walk briskly to his car and pull the note from my pocket. I press it against the glass and a gust of wind comes.

Dammit.

It falls to the ground and I scramble to pick it up, dropping to one knee and stretching under the side of the car, desperately reaching for it. Once I get it, I pop back up, lift his windshield wiper, and tuck it under, letting go to pin it in place. The edges flap in the breeze, but it won't go anywhere now.

Done, done, done.

Looking at his car, for a second, I swear I feel his presence—smell his cologne, feel his gaze on me. It hits me so hard I almost stumble.

My heart is hammering in my chest and my mind is spinning a hundred miles a second that I don't even hear the footsteps until it’s too late.

Shit.

3

THEO

"Mr. Kastaris, I've done all I can." Nico shakes his head, sweating beneath his cheap suit despite the restaurant's air conditioning. "These accounts are restricted."

I sip my cortado slowly, staring at him as he's fidgeting with his napkin like it might save him.