FAZER LOGINSavannah's POV
Dad did not make the situation easier.
When Julian and I walked back toward the house holding hands after our first honest conversation in days, Dad decided he had something to say.
Mom stood by the back door with a basket of folded towels in her arms. The look she
Julian's POVThe diner was nothing special, which was exactly why I liked it. No valet. No reservations. No host pretending not to recognize me while obviously recognizing me. Just cracked vinyl booths, laminated menus, and coffee that smelled strong enough to strip paint.Savannah relaxed as soon as we walked in. Her shoulders dropped. The careful look she had worn since the ranch finally loosened. For once there were no cameras, no whispers, no one waiting for us to fail in public.We were just two people getting dinner.I hadn't realized how badly I needed that until the waitress filled our mugs and called us both "honey." She didn't care who I was. She cared that I was blocking the sugar caddy with my elbow.Savannah peered over her menu. "You look confused.""There are pictures in the menu?"She laughed, and something tight in my chest eased."I've eaten in diners before," I said. "But I never paid attention to pictures in menus.""Well, they have always been there... you might h
Savannah's POVDad did not make the situation easier.When Julian and I walked back toward the house holding hands after our first honest conversation in days, Dad decided he had something to say.Mom stood by the back door with a basket of folded towels in her arms. The look she gave me when she noticed our joined hands was so subtle I almost missed it. Her eyes softened. That was all, but it was enough to know she approved.Dad, on the other hand, looked directly at Julian. “You.”Julian stopped. I sighed. “Dad.”
Julian's POV Standing in front of Savannah felt harder than walking into any boardroom I’d ever entered. There were no documents between us, no lawyers, no numbers to hide behind, just her and the uncomfortable truth that if I wanted her to understand why I had failed her, I would have to show parts of myself I had spent most of my life keeping locked away. She stood a few feet away with her arms folded, watching me the way someone watches a storm approach. I could still hear her father’s last words before he left us alone: Try. Maybe he’ll surprise you. I wasn’t sure who the surprise was meant for, her or me. “When my father came to my office about the leak, I was angry,” I began. I turned to face her. “You know what I did afterward, but you don’t know what was happening in my head.” “He came in already convinced the timing was suspicious. He saw us together at the gathering. He saw me bringing you into that world and acting like…” I stopped, searching for the right word. “Like
Savannah's POVThe garden felt like a room the world had forgotten to notice. Mom had taken care of it herself over the years. Flowers lining the stone path, vines climbing the wooden arch, a bench beneath an old tree where the shade stayed cool even on the hottest afternoons, and that was where Dad found me.I'd been sitting for nearly twenty minutes, turning a leaf between my fingers, staring at nothing.Dad rarely eased into conversations; he walked into them. He sat beside me with a quiet grunt and stretched his legs out. For a while we simply listened to the wind in the branches. I appreciated the silence.Finally he looked at me. "Your mother told me you came back yesterday.""I figured she would," I muttered. "She told me that you knew when I arrived.""She also told me not to ask questions until you were ready," he added. "And yes, I did know when you arrived, but she was the one who told me that you were coming."I glanced at him. "And you listened?""Barely," he said, and a
Savannah's POVThe ranch came into view just before sunset.For most of the drive I had sat quietly in the back seat with my forehead against the window, watching the city shrink into highways and the highways dissolve into open road. Buildings gave way to trees, trees to open fields, and the familiar shapes of home, barns, fencing, the farmhouse like a small promise on the horizon slowly filled the glass. Usually, seeing the ranch made something inside me loosen.Tonight it made my chest ache. I had told myself I would feel relief the moment I crossed the property line. Instead, the second I saw the fields and the farmhouse, everything I'd been holding together since leaving Julian began to crack.I pressed my lips together and looked down at my hands. Don't cry, I told myself. I had managed
Julian's POVThe apartment looked like a war zone, and for once I didn't care that it did. A glass lay shattered near the far end of the living room, one cushion had been flung across the floor, and the papers I'd brought home from the office were scattered across the table as if I'd tried to fight them instead of read them.What I cared most about was Savannah leaving, and I remembered every second of it.The sound of the elevator doors closing, the hollow echo of her footsteps down the hallway, and the way I'd stood in the doorway like an idiot with my hand on the frame, hoping she would change her mind and come back. But she didn't… she was long gone.I paced from one end of the living room to the other with my phone clenched in my hand. I had called her once, then again, and again, but after several voicemails I had stopped calling. Not because I didn't want to hear her voice, but because she had asked for space and I had no right to keep calling after she'd made that crystal clea
Savannah’s povGrowing up on a ranch had lots of advantages, as well as disadvantages.I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand as I rested against the wooden fence. Around me, the ranch was alive with the familiar sounds of a multimillion-dollar agricultural empire. Cattle grunte
Savannah’s POV“Move!” I yelled, having little time to react as I quickly dived out of their way. I had barely taken a breath of relief when I turned to see Julian, who was still frozen on the spot and he stood directly in their path.He was completely still with a frightened expression on his face
Savannah's povI had always imagined my wedding to be like a fairytale wedding, filled with love and happiness.The wedding I had was the complete opposite. There were no joyful tears, no happy toasts, and certainly no romance. All through the brief wedding, I tried not to snap at a super cold Julia
Julian’s POVI adjusted my collar and stepped into the commercial real estate office, heading straight for the broker's desk. I didn't care about the extra fees or the location costs because I really needed the space. I was a Montgomery by blood, but I wanted to make a name for myself. My startup wa







