And just like that, the familiar free fall engulfed me.

I closed my eyes and fought the ache in my lungs.

“Is Sam still there?” Henry asked.

“I think so,” I managed to squeak.

“Just tell him to wait. I’ll be there soon. We’ll get this fixed, okay?”

But I didn’t want to tell Sam to wait. I wanted to see him.

And go home with him.

And let him do exactly what he had unwittingly been doing since the day we met—healing me from the outside in.

Suddenly, my eyes popped open. Why couldn’t I have that?

Yes, my life had spiraled out of control. But the only person who was stopping me from taking charge of my own future was me.

Levee Michelle Williams was a fighter. I hadn’t gotten my success in the music industry by sitting around and letting people tell me how to run my life. I had done it by clawing my way to the top with nothing more than a guitar and head full of dreams.

Fuck this place. No one was going to tell me how to run my life—a life I suddenly realized I never wanted to leave. And that epiphany hadn’t come from the bottom of a prescription bottle or inside those walls. It had come in the shape of a gorgeous man who’d saved me with nothing more than a quick wit and a simple conversation. And he was sitting only yards away in a parking lot because his name was on a magical fucking list.

I dropped the phone from my ear and pushed the conference room door open, then the hallway door, and finally, the front door of the entire building. I didn’t stop until my high heels hit the asphalt of the parking lot.

Voices called my name behind me, but they were all muted by my newfound determination.

My feet kept moving in search of a pair of golden eyes that I soon realized were nowhere to be found. As I came up empty, nerves didn’t take over. I didn’t have a million thoughts of guilt and worry. I was no longer allowing the free fall to dictate my life.

I squared my shoulders and smiled proudly, feeling like myself for the first time in months.

“Levee!” Doctor Post called, but I quickly slipped behind a car, squatting low until the voices disappeared.

I wasn’t going back, not even to explain that I wasn’t going back. I wasn’t in the mood for an argument. I was in the mood to start living.

Without my phone, I couldn’t call Sam, but there was only one place I needed to go. So I started down the sidewalk and hailed a cab.

He’d know where to find me.

AFTER ALMOST THREE hours of chugging coffee, smoking cigarettes, and talking myself off the ledge of rage, I decided to head back and see if I could charm my way in to see Levee. As I pulled into a parking spot, I was thrilled to see a familiar face. Carter, the barrel-chested bodyguard who had driven me home from Levee’s house after our fight the first night together, was standing out front, barking into a phone. I threw my car in park then jogged up to him. Maybe he could get me inside.

His eyes grew wide as I approached. Using his hand to cover the phone, he asked, “She’s not with you?”

“Levee? No. They won’t let me in. I was hoping—”

He lifted the phone back to his ear. “Sam just arrived, Mr. Williams. She’s not with him. We’ll keep you updated.”

Mr. Williams? Levee’s dad?

He hung up. “Come with me, Sam.” He walked toward the door.

I grabbed his arm. “What the hell is going on? Why would you think Levee was with me?”

“Follow me,” was his only reply.

The receptionist glared at me as Carter escorted me past her and into a back office. I was already a bundle of nerves, but the moment I caught sight of Henry’s hollow eyes, I realized something was terribly wrong. He stopped midpace, and hope filled his empty expression.

“Oh thank God!” He rushed in my direction and peered over my shoulder. “Where is she?”

“I have no idea.” Bile rose in my throat.

He threw his hands over his mouth and spun in place to face Devon and the Men in Black conferring in the corner. Several other people lined the walls, all looking equally as devastated by this realization.

“Someone please tell me what the fuck is going on!” I barked as my gaze flashed around the room, pleading for some answers.

But no one so much as made eye contact.

“Damn it!” Henry screamed, swiping a hand out and dramatically clearing off the desk. He pointed an angry finger at Devon. “Find. Her. Right fucking now.”

Find her.

Fuck.

Devon nodded and started to leave the room, but I caught his arm first. Someone was going to give me some answers.

“Fill me in.”

He didn’t. With furrowed brows, he snatched his arm from my grasp and headed out the door.

I approached Henry who looked like he was about to fall apart at any second, but so was I. “Talk to me. Now!” I roared, all patience gone.

“Devon put you on her banned visitors list. She lost her mind. She called me in tears and I told her to stay put, but she took off. We assumed she was with you.”

I menacingly leaned into his face. “What the fuck do you mean she took off?”

He threw his hands out to his sides in frustration and yelled, “I mean we have no fucking clue where she went!”

My entire world stilled then flipped completely upside down. A whooshing noise filled my ears, and Anne’s smile appeared behind my lids with every blink. Her words from the past echoed in my mind.

“I’m fine.”

I knew exactly where Levee was headed.

And it was the most terrifying moment of my entire life.

Without another word spoken, I sprinted from the room like an Olympic athlete on fire. And, judging by the burn in my chest, I really might have been.

No. No. No. No.

There wasn’t much this world could throw at me that I hadn’t already experienced, but this…

Oh, God.

The pendulum of my anxiety swung epically high, sledgehammering my knees on the way up. They were shaking so badly that, if I hadn’t needed them to find her, they would have buckled. Pure force of will kept me on my feet—well, that and a pair of Designer Shoes that I prayed were still securely on solid ground.

I slid behind the wheel of my car and pulled up the maps app on my phone. Then I peeled out of the parking lot, still zooming in and out, frantically searching for the closest bridge.

I tried to be rational and tell myself that she wouldn’t do this to me. She’d been doing so much better. She was just upset and needed to blow off some steam. That didn’t mean she was suicidal. However, when she was nowhere to be found on the first bridge, the overwhelming fear made it difficult to stay positive.

After the second bridge, it was damn near impossible.

And, after the third, I was lost in the pits of despair.

But I kept going with nothing more than her last words to me fueling my hope.

“I’ll see you in a minute.”

I would never forget as long as I lived the moment those brown curls came into view. There wasn’t even a pedestrian lane on that small bridge overlooking what could only be described as a creek. But she was there, standing at the concrete railing—her heart still beating, her breath still filling her lungs. And, as my car came to a screeching halt in the middle of traffic, a smile covered her face.

I was so relieved that I couldn’t have cared less when cars started honking as I jumped from my car and slid across the hood like Bo Duke.

“Jesus Christ, Levee,” I breathed when I crashed into her, folding her securely in my arms.

“Well, that took you long enough,” she teased.

I wanted to be pissed. I really did. But that could wait. I needed to figure out where her head was. She didn’t seem upset or distressed, but she was definitely standing on the edge of a bridge for a reason. I just hoped it wasn’t the reason I thought.