bear the thought of something happening to him.
Part of me wanted to take him up on his offer to help. What if there was another way?
I really didn’t have a choice, though. Dylan’s father had made it clear he would destroy everything I cared about, including Soren, if I told anyone. So right now, I had to focus on the fact June was alive, and I had to do everything in my power to save her. Not just for myself, but for Dylan. He deserved to have his mother.
Just as the sun sank behind the horizon, I saw a figure approaching in the deepening shadows. Irrationally, I hoped it was Soren, and was stupidly disappointed when I saw that it wasn’t.
Brittany made her way through the gate and to my front door, and when I opened it for her, she just looked at me sadly.
“May I come in?” she asked hesitantly.
“Of course.” I stepped back and held the door open. I hated that she wasn’t even sure if she was welcome now. Surely, she’d heard all the horrible details by now. Who knew what she thought of me? After all, her brother-in-law had confessed his love for me, and I’d pushed him away.
“Where’s Dylan?” she asked, glancing around the empty living room.
“He’s in his room doing homework.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath, then turned to me with pleading eyes. “Please reconsider, Maya. Please, stay here on Hollander. You have no idea how heartbroken Soren is. How worried about you he is—all of us are.”
My throat tightened and my chest ached, but I forced myself to remain strong. “He can’t be that heartbroken. He hasn’t answered any of my calls.”
On more than one occasion over the past couple days, I’d picked up my Holopad and called Soren. They were moments of weakness, where I couldn’t be sure what was right and what was wrong anymore. In those moments, it had felt right to accept his help, to work together on this.
But then I’d remember the threats made by Dylan’s father.
Perhaps it was a good thing Soren hadn’t answered any of my calls. After all, I was trying to protect him by keeping him safe from the wrath of Dylan’s father.
If I’d accepted his help and brought him back into my life, if he’d found out I still needed him and loved him, who knew what lengths he might have gone to, to stop me from going to Tracorox? He’d already tried to buy out my contract and get it canceled.
So in the end, I’d left it alone, no matter how much it hurt.
“He’s not answering your calls because he’s heartbroken, Maya,” Brittany insisted, bringing me back to the present. “I’ve seen the way you two are together. You can’t tell me that wasn’t real.”
No, I couldn’t. And I wouldn’t lie to her, too. So I just kept my mouth shut.
Brittany sighed. “It’s not just Soren who will miss you. Our entire family will. You’ve become a part of us, and we all want you to stay here. Our friends too. Isn’t there any way you can stay, Maya? I know Niall could pull some strings and get you out of your contract…”
That’s when I realized Soren must not have told her everything about our conversation. If he’d told Brittany why I was really going to Tracorox, she wouldn’t have been here now, saying these things. She probably would have been trying to convince me to let everyone help, just as Soren had.
“I can’t, Brittany. I’m sorry. There’s no way out, and I have to go.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded, then sighed once more. “At least let Niall and me foster Dylan while you’re away. That way if you change your mind and decide you want to come back to us, he’ll be right here. Besides, we’ve already started to think of him as family.”
Without warning, tears sprang to my eyes, and I threw my arms around Brittany.
“Thank you,” I said through my tears. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”
The fact that they would want to do that truly did mean the world to me. And while it made it harder to accept that I was leaving such wonderful people behind, it would make it easier knowing that Dylan was with the Hollanders—including Soren.
“I haven’t even told Dylan yet,” I admitted. I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation, but it had to happen, and soon.
Brittany squeezed me back tightly. “I wish things could be different.”
So did