And that had been the slippery slope. She’d gotten comfortable in this life where there wasn’t a daily worry about a roof over her head and food to eat, no stress over how she’d be able to take care of her baby. She’d forgotten how far from this world she belonged.

And in the end it didn’t matter since she’d just sabotaged it all. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Lanie let out a sound that very clearly said not good enough. “What were you looking for?”

One last lie, as it was easier than the truth. “Something I could pawn for quick cash.”

Lanie looked around her cottage and shook her head. “No. You’re lying. I left my purse on the counter—it’s right there in plain sight, and yet it’s still zipped. You didn’t even look in there for cash. You’re in my closet searching through what’s mostly an empty suitcase. Like you’re looking for something specific.”

With that rather shockingly accurate assessment, River managed to get back to her feet. She started to hold out the necklace, but Lanie came close and snatched it from her hands, hugging it close to her chest. It was an unguarded reaction that made River deeply ashamed. Her heart was pumping in her throat now with the need to somehow fix this. “Lanie—”

“Please just go.”

“Are you going to call the cops?”

“Just get the hell out!”

But River couldn’t leave, not like this, and she dug her feet in. “Not yet. Please, Lanie, please let me—”

“What the hell’s going on in here?” Cora asked from the still-open front door.

River startled in shock and would’ve gone down if Lanie hadn’t grabbed her. She waited until River had found her feet before once again jerking her hands away as if she’d been burned, taking a big step backward, carefully not looking at River again.

And just like that, the warmth that had been with her ever since she’d first come to Wildstone five weeks ago evaporated out of River’s chest, leaving her cold and chilled at the loss.

She’d done this.

“Someone answer me,” Cora said, using her scary CEO voice with River for the first time ever, which made her want to cry.

But it was Lanie who drew a deep breath and spoke first. “When I got back here after work, I found River searching through my stuff. She had my grandma’s necklace in her hands.” She didn’t mention River’s lie of needing something to hock for cash.

Cora’s mouth fell open in shock and surprise, and her gaze whipped to River.

But River couldn’t have spoken to save her life. Not with her heart in her throat.

“Oh, River,” Cora whispered.

“Is there a problem in here?” another voice asked, this one male.

Mark.

In uniform.

Oh God, River thought, beginning to shake like a leaf. This was bad. So bad. The shame that had filled her veins pumped even hotter and even more destructively through her body.

“Yes, there’s a problem,” Cora said. “Lanie came home to find River with her grandma’s necklace.” She looked at River with such worried, kind eyes that River felt herself start to break. She stole a quick glance at Mark, who was standing there looking stern, but clearly willing to hear what she had to say for herself. She opened her mouth and . . .

Burst into tears.

And not the pretty kind of tears either. Nope, this was the humiliatingly loud, can’t-catch-her-breath sobs as she let the entire sordid tale fall out of her, unable to keep it to herself any longer. “I wasn’t trying to steal anything of hers, I swear! I was trying to find something that’s mine. He stole it from me. He’d told me I was his moon and his stars, but that turned out to be a lie too, just like everything else he told me!”

She felt Lanie jerk in surprise but she couldn’t look. She couldn’t do anything but shake and cry. She was getting close to hyperventilating as the sobs wracked her frame, but she couldn’t stop talking now, not until she made them understand. “I thought I was m-m-married, but it turned out I w-w-wasn’t. It wasn’t ever r-r-real. Kyle f-f-fooled me and d-d-destroyed my life and left me alone and p-p-pregnant. And it was all my f-f-fault for trusting him.” She had to stop for a second and suck in air, which gave her the hiccups. “H-h-he told me we’d be a family and that I w-w-wouldn’t be alone ever again and then v-v-vanished on me. Turned out he’d d-d-died and I wasn’t his only w-w-wife.”

At that, she ran out of air and covered her face and let the sobs take her.

Cora hadn’t said anything more and she knew Mark was still standing there. She couldn’t see him, but she could feel his presence, along with that ever-present sense of rock-solid, stoic authority. “I’m s-s-so sorry,” she tried to say, but she wasn’t sure the words were even understandable. She was horrified, humiliated.

And terrified.

“River.”

This was a new voice. Holden’s voice. And her heart about stopped now because she couldn’t let him know what she’d done. Then they’d all hate her. “No—”

Two arms came around her. Strong, warm arms attached to a solid body that smelled like the mountains and the sea. “Shh,” Holden said in her ear. “Slow deep breaths now, River. Do it with me. In . . .” He demonstrated by inhaling deep. “And then out, slow . . .” He exhaled against her jaw and she clutched at him, the only lifeline on her sinking ship.

“You’ve got this,” he said.

They breathed in and out for a few minutes, during which she shuddered with the last of her tear storm, doing her best to pretend she was anywhere but where she was, with a silent audience, waiting her out.

“That’s it. More.” Holden ran a big hand up and down her back in a soothing, comforting gesture that melted her into his embrace—until she realized he might hear things about her that she didn’t want him to hear because then he too would stop looking at her with all that warmth and affection in his gaze. “What are you doing here?” she managed to ask.

“I heard the yelling. Keep breathing, River.”

“You’ve got to go.” Panic had her shoving him now. “Please. Just go.”

Holden looked around the room, his gaze landing on Mark first, then Cora and Lanie standing there, all very serious, before his gaze came back to her. “If you’re worried about me hearing what’s going on, you’re too late. And I think that more than you need me to go, you need a friend on your side. So I’m staying.”

She swallowed hard and looked away, unable to meet his eyes. But she wasn’t strong enough to let go of his hand, which she gripped tightly.

Cora came to sit on the other side of her and stroked her damp hair from her face. “Water,” she said and snapped her fingers.

Mark was way ahead of her, having already helped himself to Lanie’s kitchenette, where he grabbed a bottle of water from the small fridge. He opened it and handed it to River, who took it with shaking hands.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I know you are,” Cora said.

But River had been talking to Lanie.

Who still wasn’t looking at her.

She sipped at the water, awaiting her fate, shaking in her boots because she’d really managed to do it now, hadn’t she, sabotaging the greatest thing that had ever happened to her. Not only with Cora and her family, but with Lanie, who’d been the best friend—no, the best sister—she’d never had.