After her dad showed up at the office that day, Valerie went straight to muting every single call and text from him. She wanted peace more than anything.

But that silence came with a heavy price—it left her heart feeling hollow. Not because she missed him, but because that kind of loneliness always crept in whenever life hit her hard and she had nowhere safe to run.

Usually, Ashley could chase that feeling away. Or Arthur, like she’d been noticing lately. Too bad Arthur had ...