We were short-staffed at the bakery again. The barista, Ollie was on leave because her grandmother fell down the stairs so she was taking care of her which meant, the café now solely relied on my shoulders. Archer was an added help, but today he had woken up early and gone to a local farmer's market to pick fresh fruits because we'd received a late-night order for deserts that we were supposed to cater for a cocktail party tonight.

Seriously, I had no clue how I was going to handle all of that. The pressure was tremendous.

I was so caught up with decorating a lemon tart that I didn't even realize the bell on the door had chimed.

"Good morning!" I greeted the patron without looking up as I arranged the tarts into the glass display. "There's banana bread fresh out of the oven. Would you like to try? I won't charge for—

"Hi, Vicky,"

That voice.

I glanced up to find myself staring into a friendly face from a few nights ago.

Sarah stood at the other side of the counter looking as exotic as ever, dressed in a cute t-shirt over shorts and knee-length boots. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she legit looked like a very sexy cowgirl. Yeeee-Hawww. The hat was missing.

"Hey," I said.

This couldn't get any more awkward.

"I heard that you have the best bakery in town. Your éclairs are world-famous. I couldn't resist." She sounded friendly, but I couldn't help but notice her eyes were a little red and puffy like she'd been crying for days.

I laughed, "Let me guess...Tyler told you that."

"Max did." She corrected me. "I'm living in the mansion, in case you weren't aware."

"It's none of my business, Sarah, and I really don't understand why you're telling me this."

"I want to apologize for the last time." I heard the sincerity in her voice. "Tyler used to always talk about someone called Victoria that he couldn't forget and then when you told me your name was Vicky, I never put two and two together."

"It's not your fault," I assured her.

"Tyler is not my boyfriend." She declared and then her eyes were filled with unshed tears. "I lied to you and I feel so stupid. It was just my wishful thinking that maybe someday he would forget his first love and give me a chance but I don't see that ever happening. I used to always introduce Tyler as my boyfriend because it was easier to fend off unwanted attention and he never had a problem with it."

I huffed a sigh. "Did Tyler send you here?"

"No, he didn't." She shrugged. "But he was a little mad, and I wanted to make things right. I would still love to be friends with you, Vicky. It doesn't change anything."

I placed a banana cake on a plate. "Would you like some Coffee? I make the best Spanish latte."

She cheered up a little. "Sure."

I brought our plates and coffees to a booth at the back. The patrons still hadn't started coming for their morning breakfast. The clouds had turned gray outside, and it started drizzling. The weather was nice to get cozy under the covers with a book and a hot cup of coffee. Recently, I haven't had the luxury to enjoy either of those things.

"Sarah, just to put it out there. Tyler and I broke up a long time ago when we were seventeen when he moved to the U.K. He visited the country every year for his vacation but I steered clear off him." I explained. "There are a few things that you probably don't know about Tyler. He's a self-serving, manipulative man with narcissistic tendencies. It was one of the reasons we broke up. He fucked up pretty badly."

"I see it now." Her lower lip trembled. "He came closer to me because he thought I was like you. We share so many things in common so he saw you in me."

I never even thought of it that way. It did make sense. Sarah and I had so many things in common, leaving out the physical characteristics. He might have gotten closer to her for that reason.

Sarah was barely holding it in so I went over to her side of the booth to give her a hug and that's all it took for her to burst into a sob, gut-wrenching sobs that were proof how badly she loved him. Poor girl.

Her brown eyes stared up at me, "but, I still love him."

I wiped her tears. "I know."

"If you love him, Vicky, I would still root for you." She said between sobs. "I want you to know that. I'll leave Cold-Bay if you want me to."

I shook my head, holding her hands in mine, squeezing them a little. "I loved him so much it used to hurt, Sarah. And stuff happened after that, dark, and ugly stuff that I can't talk without triggering an asthma attack. I wish I could tell you, but I can't. Not right now."

"He still likes you." She murmured.

"It doesn't matter. He hasn't changed."

She wiped her tears. "So if I wish to keep pursuing him, is it alright with you?"

I looked at her.

Was it really okay to give Sarah permission to go after him? I did have feelings for Tyler, I wasn't going to lie but I wasn't ready to endure any more pain by being in a relationship with him.

Would I be ready to see him together with another woman?

"Yeah. Go nuts." I told her. "Tyler and I are not going to happen."

Relief crossed her features. "Thank you so much, Vicky. So we're good, right?" There was so much gratitude in her expressions, you would think I'd handed her my lottery. "I understand why Tyler couldn't forget you. You're amazing."

I didn't know how much of that was true.

"Do you recognize this woman?" Archer asked me when I arranged for dinner that night.

My eyes flickered to the TV screen mounted on the wall and my chest tightened with fear.

Archer watched me curiously, "Do you know who that is, Vicky?" He tried again.

"Channel Five is curious to know who this mystery woman is. Sources have informed us that they saw the beautiful lady leave the country's most eligible bachelor, Tyler Lockhart's suite at two am on Friday.

The news cut to Tyler stepping out of his building and a journalist shoving a microphone in his face. "Tyler, can you tell us more about this mystery lady that you've been seeing? Can you tell us about your relationship with her?"

Tyler looked at the camera and I swear I felt like he was looking right into my soul with those piercing blue eyes, he smiled. "She knows who she is and what she means to me, and that's what matters."

Another reporter asked, "Tyler, one last question. Does that mean you're finally dating?"

"You should ask the lady when you find her." He said jokingly before Morgan opened the door of a sleek Rolls-Royce as Tyler settled inside. The journalists tried to talk to him again but the tinted windows were rolled up and the security guards politely told the media to back off. The scene cut back to footage of me walking out of Tyler's suite in a disheveled state. You couldn't see my face clearly but my silver-blonde hair was a dead giveaway. They kept playing the clip again and again. Someone from the hotel staff or the people staying there had reordered it and sold it

to the paparazzi.

"That is me," I confessed.

"Rumors have already started flying. Anyone with a pair of eyes and common sense in this town would recognize who that is."

"I had been careful. Why would anyone in the hotel do something like that knowing that Tyler would ruin their life if he found out about the person?"

"Unless the footage was leaked by Tyler himself," Archer said simply.

"What?"

"Think, Vicky. He wants to tie you down to him, again and he's using any means necessary. Tyler knows you won't just leap back into his arms, so he's resorting to playing dirty."

"By tarnishing my reputation?"

Somehow none of this came as a shock to me. When we were younger he used childish antiques, dangerous even, now as he'd grown older, those antiques had taken a turn for the worse.

From dangerous to downright deadly.

"He's taken you for granted for a long time. He thought that if he came back, it would all be the same as before. Since you're playing a little hard to get, he's making sure you have no way out. Once the people on social media figure out your identity, it won't be difficult for the paparazzi to start following you. And then you'd have no choice but to play the charade of a billionaire's girl. See, he wouldn't have to even try hard."

"We just kissed, and then we had a fight." My mind was screaming at me for making the mistake of walking into his hotel room. "Nothing happened that night in that hotel room!"

"You know that. Tyler knows it, but no one else does." Archer leaned against the counter. "He's never going to change, so my question to you Vicky, what do you want exactly?"

"I wanted to hurt, Tyler, the same way he hurt me, but recently I saw the human side of him that he likes to keep hidden and I thought if nothing else, we can at least stay friends but he likes to ruin every possibility of a normal relationship. He's still that same hot-headed seventeen-year-old boy who left me wounded and broken." My hands were balled into fists. "I don't want to make the same mistake I did before."

Archer came closer and pulled me into a hug. "Whatever you decide, I won't intervene. This is your life, you make the decisions. I don't want you to take a fall for it."

I put my head on his chest and closed my eyes for a moment. It felt nice to rely on my brother for once, to know that he had my back. He'd always been supportive and we'd been through all the shit together and I was glad that Archer trusted me with this and never judged me now for the wrong decisions from my past.

"Just don't get involved in anything crazy, okay?" he kissed the top of my head.

"Archie, I'm going to have to do something, but when you find out, can you promise to understand and not blow through the roof?"

Archer chuckled, "I promise, but you're scaring me. What are you planning to do?"

"You'll find out soon."

Noah was surprised to see me on his doorstep, but he wasn't the only one surprised. I was too, I couldn't believe I was even going through with this. Throughout my drive to his house, I'd almost thought of turning the car back.

"Hey Vicky-Mickey, what brings you here today?" He had a friendly demeanor as he opened the door wide for me to enter.

"I have something to talk to you about. Am I intruding?"

He waved his hand like it was nothing. "Of course you're not. I'm actually glad to see you here. We don't hang out much these days."

"I think I need to rectify that."

He laughed, "Whoa. Are you flirting with me?"

"In your dreams."

"I saw the news." Noah led me through the hallway into his sitting room.

The room was as I remembered, lavishly designed in vibrant colors. Mrs. McCloy had some of the best interior designers come in and design their beautiful home. Her tastes were a little too bright for my eyes, but that was Debbie McCloy—she was a little extra about everything.

I settled down on a turquoise velvet chaise lounge that matched the drapes. Noah sat down in the single chair opposite me. The chair was stuffed with so many cushions, one could fall asleep in it.

"What you saw in the news is not entirely true."

"What part of it?" He maintained a poker face while he said that.

I started explaining when a maid walked into the room asking if we needed anything.

I waited for her to leave the room before I whispered, "I went to see him. That is true. But what the tabloids are implying, that's not. We just argued."

And shared a hot kiss. But Noah didn't need to know that.

"They are saying Tyler's having an affair with this woman." He whispered back.

"He wants people to believe that."

"Wait, why are we whispering again?" He asked.

"Your house staff have connections with Tyler's house staff. So it's possible your maids hear something and it reaches the Lockhart's mansion. Gossip travels fast." I explained as I got up and closed the door of the room.

Noah stared at me for a moment, and his lips pulled into a smile like he could detect my intentions. "How can I help you, Vicky?"

"Let's be very honest, Noah. I see you as a friend, and I know you don't exactly have feelings for me as something more than that either"

"You insult me, Vicky." He said laughing. "I like you, I didn't say it much these days because I know what your answer is going to be."

"Hear me out. If you think I'm crazy and if you want to throw me out of the house, I would totally understand."

"I'm all ears."

"Tyler is trying to control me again. He will do whatever it takes to make sure that I'm his, but I'm not a toy that's going to let a man possess me."

He nodded in agreement. "You're not. He thinks he shits gold or something, and yet he's the same as us. He's just a rich, grown-up, bratty, man-child who doesn't understand what it takes to woo a woman."

You don't know either. Again, I didn't say that out loud.

"This is going to sound ludicrous, but I have a plan. You're free to say no."

Noah stared at me with an amused expression on his face but when I asked him the next question, he reacted as if I'd hit him with a brick and doused his pretty face in a tub filled with ice water.

I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"Noah, will you marry me?"