Chapter 1

one

“Who are you?” Fallon’s voice pierced the damp air.

Fallon tensed her entire body, the light rain falling on her face and on the plastic surrounding the flowers gripped tightly in her right hand. The stranger had a long black jacket on, one that nearly reached their mid-calves. But this stranger was definitely standing right in front of the grave Fallon had come to see, the one she knew she was the only one to visit in the last year.

The stranger jerked with a start, turned around and faced Fallon. She had a head full of bleached blonde hair, bright brown eyes, and pale cheeks in a heart-shaped face. She was short, much shorter than Fallon herself, and she still hadn’t explained her purpose for being here.

“What are you doing?” Fallon tried again, wanting to know what was going on and why some stranger would be mumbling things over her mother’s grave.

The stranger shook her head and put her hands up in front of her defensively. “I… I don’t even know where to begin, honestly.”

“You better start talking now.” Fallon clenched her free hand into a tight fist, her knees locked as she stood her ground. She wanted answers, and she wanted them immediately. She couldn’t let anyone else stand on her mother’s grave. It could only be people who deserved to be there.

“I come here—on occasion—to apologize.”

“What the hell for?” Fallon’s voice had a serious bite to it, the one where she meant business. It worked on her sister every time she used it, but this stranger seemed impervious almost. Like she wasn’t bothered by the venom Fallon spewed in her direction.

“That really is a long story where I play the dumb innocent victim.” She winced, glanced back at the headstone, and then moved forward with her hand out. “Savannah Logan.”

“I’m not shaking your hand.” Fallon kept that anger front and center in her chest. She crossed her arms tightly, the crunching plastic around the flowers she’d brought for her mother loud in her ears. She raised her eyebrows at Savannah and shook her head. Had she heard that name before? It had a familiar ring, but she couldn’t place it. Besides, it was too odd that someone was standing over her mother’s grave. Fallon was going to hold her ground on this one until she knew what was going on.

Savannah again put her hand up defensively before placing it down by her side. “The rain is picking up.” She pointed to the sky. “Why don’t we go get some coffee and then I can tell you the story where I look like an idiot?”

“I won’t even shake your hand and you think I’m going anywhere with you?” Fallon couldn’t believe this woman. Did she really think that Fallon was so easy? Was this some kind of kidnapping gone wild or something? She’d never heard of the traffickers taking women from cemeteries. That wasn’t a bad idea, though. She’d have to ask Athena how many cases like that had happened in the last ten years.

“It’s a public place for coffee.” Savannah shook her head. “I’m not that scary of a person, I promise. Just a bumbling idiot on a good day. But the rain really is picking up.”

Fallon could feel it. The drops weren’t light anymore, but heavy and cold as they landed on her head and shoulders. It wouldn’t be long before it seeped into her jacket and drenched her hair. But she really didn’t want to go anywhere with Savannah.

“Why were you here?” Fallon asked. She wanted answers now, not later, not when Savannah would be able to come up with a reason, not when she’d be able to better formulate a lie.

“It’s a long story that spans about six months…” Savannah grimaced and pointed at the head stone. “I felt bad, so I’ve been bringing flowers any time that I come.”

“To make yourself feel better?” Fallon didn’t believe it. Why would this woman bring flowers to a stranger’s grave? Because she would be too young to have known Fallon’s mother prior to her death over thirty years ago. Hell, was she even old enough to have been alive at that point?

“Yeah, I guess. To assuage some of my guilt.” Savannah blew out a breath, drops of rain sliding down her face, but she didn’t reach up to brush them away. She wouldn’t turn her gaze away from Fallon, either. Those deep brown eyes didn’t waver.

“I’m not here to fix your problems, and neither is my mother.”

“Mother?” Savannah’s eyebrows shot up, behind her bangs. “I… I didn’t realize she was your mother.”

Fallon shook her head sharply. “Do you even know who you’re bringing flowers to?”

“Are you Fallon or Monti, then?”

Fallon tensed even more sharply than she had before. A chill rushed through her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Her lips parted in surprise, and she had no idea how to even respond to that question. How had Savannah known their names? What the hell was going on?

“Are you stalking me?” Fallon’s voice wobbled.

“What? No!” Savannah shook her head wildly, eyes wide, and plump cheeks pale. “I’m not stalking you. If I was, then I’d know which daughter you are.”

Well, that was sound logic. Still, she could be lying, and Fallon didn’t like liars. She clenched onto the flowers even tighter than before. She wanted to leave them on the headstone and stomp out of there, never looking back, but she also didn’t want to turn her back on a potential threat. She wouldn’t let herself ever be in that situation again.

“I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you should leave.” Fallon stared wide-eyed at Savannah, unable to remove her gaze. She wanted to look somewhere else, but she couldn’t. She wanted to know more about what was happening, but she couldn’t force herself to ask any more questions.

She would just chalk this up to some weird encounter and go on with her day when she got back to the office. Until then, she was going to have to live with the fact that her time with her mother was interrupted and that it was going to be a much shorter visit than she had anticipated.

Which didn’t sit well with Fallon.

She only got out here once every few months at this rate, and she wanted the time that she’d planned for. When Savannah didn’t make any attempt to move and leave, Fallon scoffed. She stepped forward and set the flowers down at the base of the headstone and took the dead flowers, and the ones that Savannah must have left because Fallon had never seen them before.

At least now she knew who was leaving flowers. For a while there, she’d thought it had been Monti or Tia, but after some questioning, she’d figured out that it was neither of them. Now that little mystery was solved with a crazy woman who was stalking her.

Wonderful.

Fallon said nothing as she stood back up with the dead flowers and Savannah’s flowers. She separated them and handed them back. “She doesn’t need your pity.”

“It’s not… it’s not pity,” Savannah fired back, fear racing across her gaze. “God, it’s anything but that.”

Fallon snorted. “Then what is it?”

“Guilt. My guilt.” Savannah stared down at the flowers in her hands, her cheeks reddening as the rain continued to pick up into what could be considered an actual storm, soaking through their jackets and hair.

Fallon loved a good storm, but this one was going to be ruined by Savannah and the mistrust and chaos she’d caused just by being here. Biting the inside of her cheek, Fallon stepped back and away. “My mother isn’t here to fix your guilt over anything. Your guilt is your problem.”

“I know that.” Savannah’s tone had a bite to it, one that Fallon hadn’t anticipated. Was she getting angry that Fallon hadn’t given in and told her which sister she was yet?

“Good, so we’re agreed.” Fallon took a step away and immediately headed for her car. She wasn’t going to get any peace with Savannah there.

“Look…” Savannah moved quickly and caught Fallon right before she reached the small roadway. “Why don’t we go get a coffee or something and I’ll explain? I know you said no before, but I’d really like to explain.”

“So I can relieve you of your guilt instead of my mother?” Fallon gave her a cold hard stare. This wasn’t what was supposed to be happening on a simple visit to the cemetery. “No, thank you.” Why had she added the platitude? At least it had some venom in her tone for added effect.

“Please, I’d really like to explain.”

“I said no.” Fallon moved out of Savannah’s reach and grabbed the door handle of her car. She slid behind the wheel and pushed the button to start the engine. Savannah stayed right where Fallon had left her, in the cold as the water pounded down on top of her head. Fallon’s heart tightened in her chest, an uncontrollable feeling inching its way up into her heart.

She couldn’t get rid of it this time. Not like she’d done before. But she wanted it to go away. She had so many questions, and she hated that she had no answers. But she was just going to have to live with that because that was the decision she’d made. Putting the car into drive, Fallon stepped on the gas and drove away.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, she made sure to keep eye contact with Savannah’s retreating form until she couldn’t see her anymore. When she was at the road, ready to turn onto the street, Fallon relaxed her shoulders and blew out a breath. She had to get herself under control before she went back to the office for the rest of the afternoon.

Driving to the nearest coffee shop, Fallon ordered a drink for herself and one for her boss. This would at least make her feel slightly better after the disaster that was visiting her mother over her lunch break. She hated when things didn’t go to plan, and this was a major plan that had gone awry.

Parking at the downtown office, Fallon took the two drinks and the dead flowers, and headed into the building. She ditched the flowers in the nearest trash can that she could find, and then made her way up to the office. She missed working at the home office that Athena kept—it was much quieter there. But ever since Athena had met Fallon’s sister Monti and become embroiled in a relationship with her, there were far fewer days that Athena wanted to work from home.

Which meant Fallon had to fight the downtown traffic.

Which she hated.

Pursing her lips, she stepped into the office suites and called through to Athena’s always closed door. “It’s just me. I’m back from lunch.”

Fallon set her purse on the top of her desk and took Athena’s coffee to her. Athena was beautiful. Her blonde hair was swooped to the side and she had a pile of books on her desk that she was reading through. She rolled her shoulders as she looked up into Fallon’s eyes.

“Is that for me?” Athena’s voice was smooth as ever, confident in the way it had been when Fallon had first started working for her fifteen years ago.

“It is.” Fallon handed the coffee cup over and stepped back. “I did buy one for myself, too.”

“Oh good. Don’t want people to think you’re trying to bribe me or get on my good side.”

“I think I’m already on your good side.” Fallon enjoyed this light teasing, something that Athena had come back into since Monti had arrived on the scene. It had been far too long since Fallon had seen her boss be so comfortable with herself, and she was glad that something had changed to make that possible.

“You are. How was the cemetery?”

Fallon froze. How had Athena even known that was where she went? “Uh… not great.”

Athena frowned as she sipped her drink. “What happened?”

“There was a strange woman there who’s been leaving flowers on mom’s headstone—so I guess that’s one mystery solved—but it was just unsettling.” Fallon clenched her fingers tightly into fists, that same tension she’d had at the cemetery coming back into her shoulders.

“She didn’t say why she was doing it?”

“No. Well, she wanted to get coffee to tell me why, but I wasn’t about to go someplace with a stalker.”

Athena sighed heavily. “Fallon… nothing says she was stalking you if you stumbled upon her.”

“She knew my name and Monti’s.” Fallon had to prove her point. It would have been risky to go off with some stranger, even to a public place. And if she brought up Monti, then perhaps Athena would get protective.

“If she researched your mother’s grave, she probably found the reports about what happened.”

Fallon pressed her lips together sharply. The one thing she didn’t enjoy about her sister and her boss being in a relationship was that her personal story was now out in the open. For years, she had been able to hide that secret away, but that was no longer possible. She understood that for their relationship to work, things had to be shared. She just didn’t like that it also involved her.

“Did she say that was how she figured it out?”

“We didn’t get that far in the conversation.” Fallon hated that she sounded so defensive. She wanted the past to be left in the past as much as possible. She’d take the life lessons from the mistakes her mother had made when marrying her dad, an abusive jerk who killed them both, and she would gladly stay out of any relationship to avoid that risk.

“Then it could be as innocent as a good internet search.”

Fallon hated that Athena was probably right. “But why would she bring flowers?”

“Only she can answer that question.” Athena glanced toward the door. “Can you set up for my next appointment? I have some research I want to get done before.”

“Yeah, absolutely.” Fallon knew when she was being dismissed. She turned toward the main office area. She was just at the door when Athena’s voice reached her again.

“Maybe next time you should get curious instead of defensive. You never know what answers you might find.”

“Careful, Mrs. Pruitt, you’re starting to sound like Monti.” Fallon flicked a glance over her shoulder before walking out of Athena’s office, hearing nothing but the sound of soft laughter in her wake.

With her coffee in her hand, Fallon moved to the small conference room that Athena used for most of her meetings with clients. She didn’t like them in her personal office. That was her sacred space, and Fallon understood that need deeply. She set up fresh coffee and cookies, along with bottles of water. She couldn’t remember how many people were coming for this meeting, but it was usually only one or two at most.

With everything ready, Fallon sat down at her computer and stirred it to life. She clicked on the calendar to check what was happening next. A pile of bricks landed in her stomach as soon as she saw the name of the next client coming in. Tears brimmed in her eyes. That was where she recognized the name from, when she’d made the appointment in the first place. A new potential client. Her heart sank. She wouldn’t ever be able to get away from this one, would she?

Savannah Logan.