Page 61 of The Billionaire's Promise

I couldn't tell you how many times some woman who barely knew me had said,But Vance, I love you. What I had with Magnolia was so much bigger than that. It was more. She was everything. My closest friend. My partner. She was home. She was my heart.

Fuck.

They were right. I'd been a dick. I was distracted by Rosie, and everything with Magnolia was so easy. I was happy, she seemed happy, and Rosie was happy. In my world, everything was good. No, fuck that, everything hadn't beengood. Everything had been fucking amazing.

Spending my days with Magnolia, working with her, hanging out with her, taking her to bed at night, and waking up next to her in the morning.

Fucking perfection.

And it killed to know that the whole time, she'd been feeling scared and unloved. God dammit. I'd just assumed we were fine. Assumed we had time to figure out the hard stuff later. This was completely new territory for me. My problem was usually how to get rid of a woman, not how to win one back.

Aiden had called it. I had no idea what I was doing. My years of experience with women might serve me well when I took Magnolia to bed, but when it came to her heart, I was as clumsy as a child.

"Why didn't I just tell her I loved her?" I asked no one in particular. It appeared that my cousins were done giving me shit because neither of them said anything.

Not until Aiden commented, "It certainly would've solved a lot of problems if you had."

I ignored him. To Charlotte, I said, "Do you know where she is?"

"No. She wouldn't tell me. She said she doesn't want to see anyone."

"Do you think you can get her to the show tomorrow?" I asked. Charlotte eyed me warily.

"That depends," she said. "Are you going to fix this?"

"I'm going to try," I said. "Will you help me?"

"I'll watch Rosie," Aiden offered, standing up from behind his desk and taking Rosie from Charlotte's arms. "I'll bring her home to Mrs. Williamson and work from my office there. I have a light afternoon, and Mrs. Williamson would love an excuse to watch Rosalie."

Charlotte stood and brushed her hands down her skirt. "Let me fix my hair and make a couple of calls. Then we'll get out of here. Whatever you've got in mind, Vance, it had better be good."

I didn't have much of a plan. I hadn't had time to come up with one. All I had was determination and love. They would have to be enough.

I was going to get Magnolia back. Rosie and I needed her.

I was crap at relationships, but I knew Magnolia. No one could make her happy like I could. Now that I'd pried my head out of my ass, I just had to find a way to prove it to her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

MAGNOLIA

I was hiding. Hiding and feeling sorry for myself. After storming out of the house, I'd jumped in my car and taken off, headed nowhere. A few minutes later, I'd pulled over into the parking lot of Starbucks. I was crying too hard to drive safely.

I'd told Vance I didn't trust my judgment anymore. It was the most honest thing I'd said in a long time. I didn't trust my judgment. On anything. I would have sworn that Vance had feelings for me. I truly thought he loved me, at least a little.

The blank look on his face when I'd asked him—I couldn't remember it without wanting to throw up. My life was a mess. I sat there for almost an hour, staring through the windshield of my car at the front window of Starbucks with no idea what to do.

Vance called. I ignored him. He called again. And again. I didn't answer. There was nothing to say. His silence when I'd asked him if he loved me had been brutal. I couldn't bear to listen to his excuses. I was terrified he’d talk me into coming back, into settling for affection when I wanted love. It wasn't his fault if he didn't love me, but it would be mine if I accepted anything less than everything. That had been my mistake with Brayden. Settling.

I finally texted him to make sure he was gone when I got back. Then I couldn't bring myself to go home. I ended up calling Charlie, dodging her questions and begging her to take care of Scout. I felt bad for abandoning him, but I just couldn't stand the idea of sitting alone in my house. When my grandmother had died, it had been so lonely. Letting Brayden move in had helped, but I knew it would be so much worse now that Vance and Rosie were gone. I couldn't face it yet.

I drove down the street to the AC Hotel at Phipps Plaza and checked into a room. Between room service and the mall downstairs, I could hole up there forever. I was curled up on the king size bed in my room, watching the television screen flicker when my phone rang again. I was ready to ignore it, but the unfamiliar number caught my attention.

"Hello?"

"Maggie, it's Evers."

"Evers, if Vance put you up to calling, you can just tell him to leave me alone."