Page 185 of The Elusive Billionaire

She sniffles, but I keep my focus on our hands.

“It was just easier not to eat. It got easier when I met you and Clover, and slowly, over the years, I got better. Until Grey left and Riley was released, I hadn’t even thought about what I was eating or not eating in years.”

“I wish you’d talked to us about any of this, Savvy. We would have helped.”

“I—I was embarrassed. I’m the friend who has it all together. I’m the one you come to when things are falling apart. I’m the rock. I like being the rock. It makes me feel…useful and needed. I don’t know who I am if I’m not the person you all count on.”

“Geez, Savvy. You will always be that person to us. It’s who you are, but even rocks can be bowled over in a tsunami. You can’t be anything for us if you’re not there for yourself first. You know, you can’t pour from an empty cup and all.”

Finally, I make eye contact and find the truth I was afraid didn’t exist.

“I think somewhere along the way, I learned that no one could love me as much as I loved them, so I created this mask. I became someone you guys needed but never shared the darkness I hid beneath. I didn’t want to give you a reason to push me away.”

“I understand that you were protecting yourself, Sav. Everyone you’ve ever counted on has left you more broken than the last, but I appreciate you telling me. Hopefully, now we’ll be able to prove to you that we’ll never leave you alone, we’ll never push you away. You’re our family, the way family should be, and we won’t ever let you down.”

My phone beeps as Madi’s buzzes.

Clover.

“Can you believe Valen calls her Honeybee and has no idea why?” she squeals, diving for her purse on the floor to retrieve her phone.

Clover: Upstate New York. Wouldn’t this place make a great murder hotel?

Clover: Photo sent.

“Oh, gross. A murder has definitely taken place there,” Madi laughs while texting back.

Madi: Absolutely. Please tell me you’re not staying there.

A couple of weeks ago, Clover received yet another threat. Riley opened the door to Clover’s hell when he put out her private information on the dark web, so the Harrington family made a suggestion: Take a road trip with Valen to retrieve all the letters she’s mailed him over the years.

She only said no because I was in the hospital, but after a week of back and forth and a lot of reassurance that she couldn’t do anything for me, I convinced her that if this was something she wanted to do, she should.

I got the biggest shock of my life when she left the next day with him but also brought Chief and Elle’s dog, Wrecks, along for the ride.

My scaredy-cat friend who’s afraid of her own shadow packed up to go on an extended road trip with a man she hasn’t seen since she was fourteen, a seventy-year-old man whose self-importance is a matter of national security, and a dog who eats tires for fun.

It’s the man who doesn’t remember her that makes me the most nervous—a stranger whose heart may remember hers, but whose mind can’t recall a single fact about her.

Clover had absolutely no reservations about jumping into a car with him, so who were we to keep her from this adventure?

We did insist that she and Chief check in with us eight times a day, and at least three of them had to be video calls—we couldn’t just take Valen’s word that they’d be safe. We also joined a family plan on Life360 and track her every move.

I still don’t know if it was the right call, encouraging her to go, but I’d also never seen her so…alive before.

“Do you think he’s ever going to remember her?” I ask.

Madi freezes with her thumbs on her phone. “I don’t know, but no matter how it plays out, she’s finally getting closure, and that’s more than I ever thought she’d get.”

“True. I just don’t want to see her get hurt.”

“If it’s any consolation, after watching them together, I don’t think she’ll get so much as a hangnail with Valen around. He’s too…protective. Her heart might be another issue, but we have to let her write her own story.”

I laugh. “As long as her story doesn’t have any murder attempts, serial killers, or stalkers, I’m all for it.”

My hospital room door opens, and Grey walks in as though he owns the place. And based on the threats Elle told me he made, he just might.

“You ready?” he asks. He’s not wearing a suit, and he hasn’t the entire time I’ve been in here.