Chapter 11

Vance had run away.

Leaving Vivi and me staring at each other.

Luckily, before leaving, he'd bought breakfast, made lunch, and even combed Vivi's hair.

I nibbled on whole wheat toast, calling him several times.

That idiot didn't answer his phone.

"Mommy, is Daddy coming back?" Vivi asked worriedly. "Before he left, Daddy looked at me for a long time, touched my head, and said you were going to find someone better."

My blood boiled.

That dramatic, self-sacrificing, noble idiot.

He'd seen Xavier, decided I deserved "better," and—true to his absurd villain logic—removed himself from the equation.

"Vivi, Daddy is being very, very stupid right now."

"Is stupid a bad word?"

"In this case, it's accurate."

I tracked his phone. Off. Of course.

I called his delivery company. "Has Vance clocked in today?"

"Nope. He resigned this morning."

Resigned?! He resigned his eleven-dollar-an-hour job because of a gay man and two desserts?

I spent the entire day searching. His friend's apartment—empty. The old villa—sold. The abandoned rooftop—

My heart stopped.

I drove there at ninety miles per hour.

When I burst through the rooftop door, lungs burning, I found—

Vance. Sitting cross-legged on the concrete. Eating a cup of instant noodles.

Not jumping. Just… eating.

"Sophie?" He looked genuinely surprised. "How did you find me?"

"This is where you tried to kill yourself! Where else would I look?!"

"I wasn't going to jump. I just… needed to think."

"You needed to think. On a rooftop. The same rooftop."

He slurped a noodle. "In hindsight, the optics are bad."

I sank down next to him, my adrenaline crashing. "You scared the hell out of me."

"I'm sorry. I just thought… you and that guy…"

"He's gay, Vance! I told you yesterday! He has a cat named Dumpling!"

"I know, but—" He set down the noodles. "Sophie, look at me. I'm broke. I deliver food. I wear the same three shirts. You have a nine-figure bank account and a face that turns heads everywhere."

"And you think I can't decide for myself who I want?"

"I think you deserve someone who can give you what I used to give you."

I grabbed his instant noodles and took a bite. Terrible. Oversalted.

"Vance, I have something to tell you, and I need you to shut up and listen."

He shut up.

"I stayed. After the bankruptcy. After the rooftop. After you gave me a debit card with $1907. I stayed. Not for pity, not for obligation, and definitely not because I couldn't find a richer man."

"I stayed because you're the only person who, while planning to die, worried about whether I'd have nightmares."

His eyes glistened.

"Now stop running away and come home. Vivi wants mango cake."

He picked up his instant noodles, stuffed them in the trash, and followed me to the car.

In the elevator down, he muttered, "I still think you could do better."

"Vance."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

He shut up. But he was smiling.