Chapter 2

Sierra.

The ringing of my phone interrupts my sleep. I groan and try to ignore it, burrowing deeper into the warmth of my blankets. I am tired and the last thing I want is someone calling me at odd hours, interrupting my precious sleep.

Whoever it is, they can wait.

The ringing stops and I sigh in relief. I bring my cat closer and curl tighter around her, pressing my face into her soft fur. I was just about to fall back to sleep when the damn ringing started again.

I grope blindly for it on the nightstand, knocking over a water bottle in the process. I should’ve switched the damn thing off like I usually do.

I’m a biologist, so you can imagine the crazy hours I put into research. When I do get time to rest, I’ve learned to guard it like it's gold.

Eyes still shut and assuming it's a colleague, I swipe to answer and grumble into the phone, “This better be important.”

“Si? Are you awake?” her sweet familiar voice breaks through the haze.

My body goes rigid. That voice... I know it like a lullaby. The fogginess immediately clears and I snap awake.

“Hi, Aunt Ava,” I reply sheepishly, sitting up in my bed, guilt warming my cheek for being rude to her.

My cat, Blackie, meows, communicating her annoyance at the disturbance. To calm her down, I pull her onto my lap and pet her back, watching as she curls up and goes back to sleep.

“Did I wake you?” she asks, her tone laced with genuine concern

I’ve known this woman since I was eight. She’s like my second mom. I love her so much; I would do anything for her, including telling a little white lie.

“No, you didn’t.” I lie, clearing my throat to sound more alert than I feel.

“You do realize I can tell when you are lying, right, Si?” she asks with a chuckle.

My heart warms at her nickname for me. She says it with so much love and affection. I’ve never understood why she would treat me like her own daughter when her son hated me so much.

I close my eyes for a brief second, smiling into the empty room.

“Sorry,” I murmur sheepishly.

There are only a handful of people who truly know me—my mom, my grandma, Aunt Ava, Aunt Harper, and Lilly, my best friend.

“It’s late at night. I know I woke you up.” Aunt Ava says, but there is something off in her voice. She’s nervous and It’s so strange because nervousness isn’t an emotion I would associate with her.

Aunt Ava is strength personified. She is a powerhouse. Always composed. Always assured. Never nervous.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” I assure her before continuing, “Is everything alright?”

There is a beat of silence. I can feel her nervousness through the phone and that makes my heart thump a little faster.

I give her time even though I am starting to get anxious. I wait for her to collect her thoughts and let me know why she called. I know her well enough to trust that if she called me this late, it’s not something trivial.

“Aunt Ava?”

Now I know that something is seriously wrong if she’s yet to tell me why she called.

My mind jumps to different scenarios. It couldn’t be that someone is hurt, right? If that was the case, then Lilly would have been the first to inform me. Maybe it’s Lilly? But then if it were her, Aunt Harper would have informed me instead of Aunt Ava.

“You are killing me with the suspense, Aunt Ava,” I chuckle nervously as my heart begins pound in my chest and Panic sets in.

I am an overthinker, so this suspense is wreaking havoc inside me. I literally feel like my heart and lungs are being squeezed right now.

She exhales slowly, like she’s trying to steady herself.

“I need a huge favor,” she finally says, the words hesitant. “And I just... don’t know whether I should be asking you.”

My stomach knots.

“Come on, Aunt Ava, you know I’d do anything for you,” I reply without hesitation. And I mean it.

Another shaky breath, as if she’s preparing herself for a battle.

“IneedyoutofindNoahforme” she says it all in one breath, her voice conveying uncertainty.

“Slow down,” I plead, “I barely understood a thing you said.”

She takes another deep breath before repeating the words that freeze me to my core. “I need you to find Noah for me.”

My world stills and my mind goes blank.

“I think I heard you wrong,” I mumbled, unintelligently.

My voice comes out faint and brittle, like my voice has forgotten how to form words. There must be some mistake—I must have misheard.

She sighs tiredly. “You didn’t.”

The silence that stretches between us is deafening. My heart is racing, my hands trembling. All the warmth that surrounded me moments ago has vanished, replaced by a cold that creeps into my bones.

“Noah?” I repeat numbly. “You want me to find Noah?”

She sighs, exhausted. “Yes.”

I swallow the lump forming in my throat.

“Aunt Ava, I’m the last person on this planet you should be asking,” I murmur, still confused about why she would be asking me to look for Noah.

I take a deep breath to try and calm myself down. What she just asked me is beyond what I can do. I know I said I would do anything for her, except this. Noah is one person I didn’t want to get involved with.

“Please, Sierra. You uncle and I can’t find him,” she pleads, her voice on the verge of breaking down. It’s been years, but to her, Noah is still her little boy. The boy that went toe-to-toe with her family for wronging her.

“Aunt…” I pause, not really finding the words to continue. “And what do you mean, you can’t find him?”

I shouldn’t have asked, but curiosity just got the better of me.

“You know what day today is, right?” she asked.

I’m confused, thinking today is Tuesday. Nothing special about it. That is until I remember the exact date.

I blink, then glance at the calendar. March 15.

Oh.

My chest tightens.

I had completely forgotten… Or maybe I just didn’t want to remember.

“Yes,” I reply softly.

“He left the twins with us and said he’d be back. That was hours ago,” she continues, her voice cracking. “We've called him. Over and over. He won’t answer. And today’s... today’s hard for him, especially with the twins having turned Five. I’m worried, Si.”

My heart aches at the pain in her voice, but I just can’t. Noah is where I draw the line. I swore to myself to never cross paths with him since he got married.

What was the need to be around him when he clearly hated me? I needed to do what’s best for me and protect my heart.

“Aunt Ava, have you tried Gunner?” I ask her, my voice trembling. “He is his best friend; he’s bound to know something.”

“He doesn’t. All the locations he sent us turned out to be dead ends.” She answers. “He is also overseas, so there is not much he could do.”

“What about Lilly? She’s knows him just as well,” I offer weakly.

I was grasping at straws. Anything that would save me from having to do this favor for her. I do love her truly, but Noah is a no-go zone.

“Her phone is turned off. No one can reach her.”

Damn it! We talked before I went to sleep. She told me she was going on a date. If she switched off her phone, then it means the date was going pretty well.

“Please, Si. I’m afraid he’ll do something stupid in his state.” she cries, and my heart melts. “You are the only one I know who knows him best.”

I want to tell her no. I need to. I promised myself that I would never let myself be tangled up in Noah Woods’ world again. Not after he shattered mine.

I tried to come up with excuses I could give her, but my mind was blank. Noah and I are a volatile mix, and I doubt he would want to see me, especially today.

“I know it’s a pretty big ask, but I am really worried about him.” the worry, sadness and heartbreak in her voice are my undoing. It breaks all of my defenses.

“I don’t know what I’ll say if I do find him. It's been years,” I murmur. “I don’t even know if he’ll talk to me.”

“Just try. Please.”

I close my eyes. My chest aches with a thousand things left unsaid. But I can’t say no to her. I never could.

“Okay,” I whisper, defeated. “I’ll do it.”

“Thank you, Sierra. Thank you so much.”

It’s hard not to miss the relief in her voice and that makes it worth it even though I have this nagging feeling that this isn’t going to end well for me.