Page 65 of Falling For You

My chest tightened.

The room seemed to blur around me.

I needed air.

I needed to get away.

Without another word, I turned and left the room, walking onto the patio overlooking the lake. The moment I stepped outside, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and stared at the messages from Violet.

Hey, are we still on for tonight?

I was thinking maybe we could grab dinner at the lodge. My treat this time???

Owen, everything okay?

My stomach lurched. I couldn’t answer her.

Not now. I couldn’t face her knowing what I was about to do to her, to her family. She had no idea what was coming.

I leaned against a cobblestone baluster, my phone clutched tightly in my hand. How was I supposed to tell her? How could I explain that the man she’d been getting close to was the same man who was about to destroy her entire world?

I couldn’t tell her.

But I also couldn’t lie to her anymore.

My fingers hovered over the screen, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to type a response. Every word felt wrong. I couldn’t pretend everything was fine. And I couldn’t tell her the truth.

Instead, I slid my phone back into my pocket and walked toward the lake. My mind spun with guilt and regret.

I’d come to Buttercup Lake for a deal. But now, I would leave behind broken dreams with no way out.

Chapter Seventeen

Violet

I had been pacing my tiny kitchen for what felt like hours and glancing at my phone every few minutes. I’d sent Owen three texts and hadn’t heard back from him for two days.

Normally, we chatted throughout the day, sharing banter, funny memes, and little inside jokes that had developed over the past week.

But the last few days?

Nothing.

It was like he had vanished.

I stopped and stared out my kitchen window at the remaining few bronze leaves fluttering from the trees.

Laughing to myself, I shook my head in disbelief.

My picker struck again.

An unavailable man visits Buttercup Lake, and who chases after him like he is the last male on the planet?

This girl.

I frowned at the thought and stared aimlessly out the window, not fully believing it.

There was something more to him than that.

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