He swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing, as he drew himself up to his full height, turning to face me. “She isn’t.”

“Where’d she go, Peterson?” I ground out, struggling to keep my temper in check. He had one job, one goddamn job. A job he’d fucking failed.

“She told me you sent her a text message.” Of course she did. Because Molly never did what she was told to do. Why in the hell would she start now?

“We’ll deal with the whys later,” I clarified, making sure he understood how pissed I was at him. “Right now, all I want to know is where in the hell she is.”

“Her dressing room.” He tipped his head behind me. I turned and ran down the hall before he finished talking.

There was no one down here, no roadies running around like crazed people trying to do more in a few hours than could be done in a day, no crew hurrying back and forth as they attempted to get the stars of the show ready and on stage in time, and no musicians lounging around, laughing off their nerves. In a few hours, this entire place would explode in activity, and it would be a madhouse. Now, though, it was eerily quiet.

Molly was probably down here trying to get some peace before her day started. Either that, or Julie drove her away and I’d find her in her dressing room, clutching a fifth of vodka. At least, that’s what I always wanted to do after dealing with my ex. I laughed as I reached Molly’s door, relieved that I didn’t hear voices. At least she was alone.

When I pushed open the door, though, my laughter died. I yanked my 9mm from behind my back as my eyes moved around the room, searching for anything suspicious as I rushed to my girl. A thousand scenarios ran through my mind, none of them good, as I knelt next to her.

When my hand touched her face, she jolted awake and sat up in a panic, eyes wide, scooting backward on the floor away from me. “Hey, hey,” I soothed, “it’s just me.”

Molly blinked the sleep from her eyes, her movements jerky as she looked around, trying to figure out where she was. When her eyes settled on the gun in my hand she didn’t panic like I’d assumed she would. Instead, her shoulders relaxed and tears filled her eyes as she launched herself at me, throwing her arms around my shoulders and burying her face in my neck.

I didn’t know what happened, or who caused her this much misery, but when I found them, they were going to wish to God they’d left her alone.

All I could do now was rub her back and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

That’s how Lia and a woman I’d never seen before found us a few minutes later. To her credit, Lia took one look at us huddled on the floor, me with the gun still in my hand, and reacted the way any manager would. She ushered the woman into the room, shutting the door and sliding a chair in front of it before she joined us.

She didn’t ask what was wrong. Instead, she coaxed Molly out of my arms and into a chair. The new woman immediately went to the adjoining bathroom, coming out a few seconds later with a wet cloth. Crouching in front of Mols, getting on her level, she muttered soothing words as she washed Molly’s face and pushed the matted hair off her forehead. Molly continued to shake, but the tears had stopped.

Lia’s worried eyes met mine over their heads as I slid my Beretta back into its holster, and then she tipped her head sideways. I followed her lead, moving to the corner of the room.

“What in the hell?” she hissed as soon as I was close enough so we couldn’t be overheard. “I’ve never seen her like this.”

I shook my head, not knowing what to say. “That’s how I found her.” I explained the morning to my old friend, telling her the last time I’d seen Molly had been in the meeting room, where she’d been laughing and happy.

Lia chewed on the inside of her cheek as she tried to recall when she’d seen her last. “She was talking to Julie." Lia shook her head when she noticed me tensing at her words. “No. Julie came over to talk to Nate and me. Mols looked at her…” She trailed off as her eyes lit up and she moved back across the room to grab Molly’s iPhone, pressing buttons as she brought it back to me. “Shit! It needs a passcode.”

I held out my hand. “Let me try.” I typed in 1-5-0-5, and it unlocked immediately. I used Jake’s birthday for all my pin numbers, too. Molly was that kind of mom, so it only made sense. We’d had in-depth conversations about our children and I’d never forget Bryant’s birthday because it was so close to Jake’s. Following Lia’s original line of thought, I pulled up her call history. “The only call here is to her sister.”

“Roxy?” Lia sounded horrified and pissed off—a deadly combination.

I shook my head. “No, Anneslee.”

“That doesn’t make sense. The two of them are tight.” Lia’s face scrunched together as she looked at me. “You don’t think her mom…” she whispered, the idea too awful to even complete.

“You know, I’m right here. I can hear you,” Molly called from across the room. She cleared her throat.

I would have smiled if I hadn’t been so damn worried. Instead, I moved back to her, leaning on the arm of the chair next to hers. Bloodshot eyes watched me wearily, but I wasn’t going to push her for answers. Not yet.

“Mike, have you met Emily?” She pointed to the woman still crouched in front of her. “Em, this is Mike. Mike, Emily, my new PA.”

I smiled at the woman, feeling like I’d met her somewhere before. She was older than Molly, maybe even older than me. If I had to guess, I’d say she was somewhere around thirty-five. And not at all what I’d expected from the way Nikki talked about her.

If Molly had a polar opposite on this tour, it would be this woman. Emily was short, 5’2”-ish, larger, with unruly black hair swirling around her shoulders, and was wearing yoga pants, flip-flops and a baggy tee shirt with a messenger bag slung sideways over her chest. Her smile was pleasant, and the way she was patting Molly’s hand, doing her part to calm the woman she’d just met, made me like her immediately.

I smiled and nodded my hello. We’d have plenty of chances to talk on the tour.

Molly bit her bottom lip, inhaled a deep breath, and then looked from Lia to me and back to Lia. “We need to talk.”

I crossed my arms over my chest while Lia nodded.

“But I’m just not ready yet. Okay?”

“I can leave,” Emily assured us, standing up.

“No.” Molly shook her head. “No. It’s not that. I just need to process everything. I talked to my sister, and it’s just a lot to take in…” She swallowed. As if knowing that we needed some sort of explanation, she took a shaky breath and continued. “I just found out someone I used to love died.” My heart sank. She wet her lips, shaking her head and avoiding all of our eyes as Lia and Emily offered their sympathies.

“We weren’t close anymore, but it surprised me.” She shrugged. “I think I’m overly tired and the news was just unexpected.” She glanced up at Lia. “Do you think we can push back some of today’s appointments? Just give me some time?”

“Absolutely. I’ll cancel the entire weekend if you need me to.”

“No. Those are important meetings.”

“The only important thing here is you, kid. I’ll clear your schedule. We can make up interviews from the road next week. I’m sorry for your loss.” Lia leaned down to hug Molly, then headed to the door. “I’m going to go make some phone calls. I’ll be back in a few to check on you.” She shoved the chair out of the way and then she was gone.

Molly looked at me. “I’m fine, really. I just need a little while.” She cleared her throat again. “I’m sorry that I left without you.”

“Hey, we’ll talk about that later. I’m just worried about you now. You want to talk about it?” I didn’t even know who she had lost, but the pain radiating from her body told me it was someone important.

She shook her head. “Kevin.” It was as if she’d heard my unasked question. Her voice broke as she said his name, and I wanted to do whatever I could to take the pain away. She swallowed audibly. “I hadn’t seen him since”—she shrugged—“well, since I left home. But I always thought that one day we’d…” She broke off in a sob and I rushed to her side, pulling her into my arms again and cradling her.