Chapter One

      Call Jade.

      I can’t do this.

      Please forgive me.

      Jade Scott read her sister’s note for the tenth time since arriving in Saddle Ridge. Almost an entire day had passed since Liv had vanished, leaving behind her month-and-a-half-old triplets. Jade would’ve arrived sooner if there had been more flights out of Los Angeles to the middle-of-nowhere Montana. She’d ditched the godforsaken town eleven years ago and had sworn never to return. But her sister’s children had annihilated that plan. Especially since Jade had been partially responsible for their existence.

      “I didn’t call the police like you asked, but now that you’re here, I think we should.”

      “No!” Jade spun to face Maddie Winters, her sister’s best friend and the woman who had taken care of the children for the past twenty hours. “As soon as we do, Liv’s labeled a bad parent and those girls go in the system.”

      “Nobody will take them away with you here.” Maddie checked to see if there were any new messages on her phone. “I’m really worried about her.”

      Jade scanned the small living room. A month ago, it looked like a baby—or three—lived there. Today it looked cold and sterile, devoid of any signs of the triplets. The crocheted baby blankets and baskets of pastel yarn were gone from the corner. Once covered with stacks of photo albums her sister couldn’t wait to fill, the coffee table now sat bare. Embroidered pillows with their cute mommy and baby sayings no longer littered the couch. Her sister had even removed the framed pictures of the girls along with their plaster hand-and footprints from the mantel. Except for the video baby monitor, nothing baby related remained in sight. Why? She knew Liv’s desire for order was strong thanks to their chaotic upbringing, but she’d never thought her sister would wipe away all visible traces of her children.

      “I’m worried too. We don’t need to involve the police though. She wasn’t kidnapped.” Liv was a chronic planner and everything about the situation felt deliberate. “She made a conscious decision to walk away. She wrote a note, she called you to babysit and then left on her own accord. If we call the police, the girls go into the system. Hell will freeze over before I let that happen.”

      Jade knew all about the system. She and Liv had spent fourteen years in foster care, bounced from place to place until Liv had been old enough to become her guardian. Being two teenage girls on their own had forced them to grow up fast. Too fast.

      Jade’s phone rang inside her bag jarring her back to the present. It wasn’t her sister’s ringtone, but she reached for it to be safe. It was her office in Los Angeles. She answered, praying Liv had called there by mistake instead of her cell and they were patching the call over to her. “Yes.”

      “I’m sorry to bother you,” Tomás, her British assistant, began. “I just wanted to let you know the Wittingfords have finally decided on their venue for their summer opener.”

      Jade’s heart sank. Tomás’s call was great news, just not the news she wanted to hear at that moment. The Wittingfords were the most extravagant clients her event planning company had seen to date. And their showstopping party guaranteed to outshine all the celebrity weddings she’d produced this year.

      “I’m glad to hear it. I just wish I was there to oversee it.” Jade tugged her laptop out of her bag and opened it on the dining room table. “Email me the contract and I’ll review it. I want you to look it over first. Flag anything you question. I need you to be my extra set of eyes while I’m away. And please call my clients and tell them I’ve had a family emergency. Give them your contact info and make sure they understand I haven’t abandoned them. But they need to phone you with any issues or changes and you can fill me in later.”

      “I’ll get on it, straightaway. Any news about your sister?”

      “Nothing yet.” Jade lifted her gaze to see Maddie glaring at her from the living room. “I need to go. We’ll talk later.”

      “I can’t believe you’re putting work first.” Maddie picked up the baby monitor from the coffee table and checked the screen.

      “I’m sorry you don’t approve of my multitasking.” Jade turned on the computer. “I know my sister. She doesn’t do crazy. Wherever she is, I’m sure she’s safe. While I try to figure out what’s going on with her and where she ran off to, I still have a business to maintain.”

      “And walking out on your newborn triplets isn’t crazy?”

      Not unless you knew the whole situation. “All right, tell me again. What time did you come over yesterday afternoon?”

      “A little after three. Liv sounded frazzled when she called. I asked what was wrong, but she kept doing that answer a question with a question thing that drives me up a wall. I got nothing out of her.” Maddie ran both hands through her hair, on the verge of tears. “I tried to talk to her, but she took off the second I walked in. I found the note taped to the nursery room door a few minutes after that.”

      “When did she remove the baby things from in here?”

      “I don’t know.” Maddie shook her head wildly. “I’m trying to remember the last time I came over.”

      “What do you mean? You’re her best friend and you didn’t check on her? When I left, you assured me you would. You only live next door.”

      “She insisted on space so she could learn how to take care of the girls on her own. I guess it’s been a little over a week since I’ve been here. I’ll be honest, her abrupt dismissal hurt. I had been staying in the guest room after you left. I should have noticed