A solemn look resided on Haley's face as she brought her coffee mug to her lips. Neither of us had uttered a word in several minutes and I was beginning to think I'd done something wrong by telling her about the latest Brad episode.

After careful consideration on the way home from the hotel, I'd decided against mentioning to Haley that I was thinking about leaving New York over this fiasco. I'd mentally dragged myself through the mud overthinking how abandoned and betrayed she might feel and guilted myself out of discussing leaving with her. Now that we'd been sitting in the living room in awkward silence and Haley's expression resembled that of having seen a ghost, I was pretty confident I'd made the right choice.

"Are... Are you going to say anything?" I muttered, half expecting her to blow up in anger over this shit happening again – right when she'd just gotten comfortable and happy in her new home and job.

Really, I wouldn't blame her if she did. It was a lot to take in, and it wasn't even her problem in the first place, but it was a problem she had to bear through no fault of her own. It wasn't fair.

Haley sighed, raking her fingers through her messy bedhead and placing her mug back on the coffee table. One of the stain rings from before we'd decided to be adults and buy a coaster set caught my attention and I smiled fondly at the memories of all the late-night conversations and laughter we'd shared sitting around that table. The sentimental value was priceless to me.

"What can we do, Vanessa?" she somberly asked. "Do we hire an attorney and blow all our money trying to fight him in court? Do we talk to the police? Do we go buy a couple Louisville Sluggers and wait to beat his ass if he shows up here? What do we do that we haven't already tried in the past?"

I let out a horrible sounding groan of frustration. Haley had a good point. There wasn't really anything we hadn't already tried – except maybe hiring a hitman, but that obviously wasn't a brilliant idea. We couldn't afford it, but even if we could, we'd eventually go to prison. Although, I was beginning to think prison was a safer place to be at the moment. I was already getting tired of looking over my shoulder.

"Court was a bust last time. His dad just called his judge friend who knew the presiding judge and got it dismissed. The police were never any help. What the hell good does it do to have an extra patrol car drive through your neighborhood every night? It took a minute or less to drive by the house in Minnesota and Brad had the entire night to stalk and terrorize us. How did the cops think they'd catch him in the act over one minute out of a whole night? And baseball bats aren't permanent enough this time, Haley. I think I'm going to buy a gun. I need something that'll permanently put him out of my misery!"

I was irate, in ugly tears, ready to throw my fist through the wall. I refused to go through another season of Brad's bullshit. My blood pressure couldn't handle it. I'd probably have a heart attack this time!

"Haven't I – haven't we – suffered enough already?" I practically screamed, balling my fists so hard, my nails were starting to cut into the skin of my palms.

I jumped up from the couch, ready to race out the front door to the nearest state that would allow me to purchase a gun right then. I knew with my luck that any measures I took that involved a waiting period wouldn't be available before my ex found me. I couldn't wait.

"Where are you going?" Haley shouted, chasing after me through the kitchen.

She grabbed my arm and yanked me back, stopping me in my tracks.

"What are you going to do?" she demanded, a scared look in her eyes. "Do you think you're going to go hunt him down and end this right now? You can't. It'll just make you look like the only guilty party. Nobody will take your side legally if you just go beat the shit out of Brad or shoot his ass! I'd love to see that happen, you know, but we have to figure this out the safe, legal way. You don't want to ruin your chances of enjoying your future without Brad, do you? Think about this, Vanessa. Think."

Just then, there was a knock at the apartment door and I instinctively spun out of Haley's grasp and grabbed the nearest kitchen knife, automatically assuming it was Brad at the door.

"I'll get it," she told me in a calm voice, squeezing my shoulders.

I didn't miss her picking up the poker off our old fireplace set from Minnesota on her way to the door, though.

"Who is it?" Haley called out, hovering near the door behind a wall.

She was smarter than to open a door without checking first. We'd both learned that the hard way the first time we'd dealt with my ex.

"It's Emily Fischer. I'm here for Vanessa Hamilton."

Haley and I looked at each other, confused as could be. Who the fuck was– and then I remembered.

I walked passed Haley and went to the door to look through the peephole. There stood Emily, apparently alone, with a grim expression.

Carefully opening the door, I kept the butcher knife behind my back in case anyone else tried to shove their way in, and I quickly locked the door behind her.

"Who is this?" Haley asked, still holding the poker.

"Holy shit! What did I just walk into?" Emily gasped when she eyed the sharp object and then saw me set the knife on our entry table.

I raised my hands in a surrender move in hopes it'd make her feel more comfortable. It was peculiar enough that Emily was standing in my entryway. The last thing I needed was for her to bolt before telling me why.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her in a somewhat angry tone, unable to shake my frustrations about Brad.

"And who the hell are you?" Haley asked again.

Emily swallowed hard, clearly nervous. "I'm Emily Fischer. Vanessa and I used to work together in Dallas. I'm the chief operating officer at Integrity Investments. Or at least, I was. I got fired last night right in the middle of a business dinner in Brooklyn. I was about to close an incredible deal and they just pulled the plug like I never even existed."

My forehead hurt from frowning, trying to comprehend her point. "I'm sorry about your career trouble, Emily, but what does that have to do with me?"

She nodded awkwardly, like she was trying to get her bearings and figure out how to explain the issue to me. I didn't remember Emily ever acting this out of sorts.

"I came here to warn you, Vanessa," she sighed. "Your ex, Bradley... he's in New York. He's looking for you."

"Unfortunately, we're already well aware," Haley quipped. "And how do we know you didn't just lead him right to us? Are you in on his charade? Is this part of his plan?"

Emily's eyes widened in horror. "What? No! No! Never! I have nothing to do with him. I swear."

"Then tell us what you know," I demanded.

"Look, I didn't come here to cause any trouble. I'm trying to help," Emily sniffled, tears brimming in her eyes. "I had a business lunch recently with a bunch of investment guys. One of them is friends with your ex. I think they went to college together or something. Anyway, we were discussing what was new in business and I talked about how you put Mr. Roth in his place when Advantage Republic and Integrity had that meeting. It was a great conversation topic, so I didn't think anything of it. Well, your ex's friend who was there told your ex about it and then-"

"And then Brad found out where I work and live now."

Emily sadly nodded. It was obvious how bad she felt. But one thing was still bugging me.

"But I never really spoke to you when we worked for the firm," I frowned. "How did you find out about my trouble with Brad? You seem to know exactly what's going on."

"People talk, Vanessa," she said firmly. "He's done the same thing to two other women after you. Alyssa talked. She told everyone."

"Alyssa... as in the secretary Brad was banging the night you were supposed to get engaged?" Haley asked, her brows shooting straight up.

"Yes." Emily awkwardly smoothed out the creases in her pencil skirt and turned her attention back to me, her eyes full of regret. "He did the same things to her that he did to you, Vanessa. Alyssa disappeared a year ago and nobody knows what happened to her. I really hope she was able to get away from him."

"That's horrible," Haley and I said in unison.

Alyssa, despite helping my almost-fiancé cheat on me, was a sweet girl. She had her bratty, stuck up moments, but I never had a problem with her until I found my boyfriend balls deep in her. I hated her in that moment, but I never would've wished Brad's bullshit on her. She didn't deserve that. No one did.

"Does this have something to do with you getting fired?" I asked, leaning back against the wall.

Emily nodded, still keeping a peripheral eye on Haley's poker still in hand. "Brad controls his father's firm now, along with three other companies, and one of them just bought controlling interest in Integrity. I believe I was fired because Brad wanted to tie up loose ends. Maybe he thought since I knew you, I was a problem."

"Well, at least you came and told us. That's probably more than what most people would've done," Haley shrugged. "I'm sorry about your job."

The two deviated off the subject and into another conversation about where Emily might be able to get a new job. I wasn't paying any attention. My mind was fixated on one detail Emily had divulged. Brad's company bought controlling interest in Integrity. I started to feel dizzy and then I realized I needed to get ahold of Jesse immediately.

"Where are you going?" Haley asked as I bolted toward the living room to locate my phone.

"I have to call Jesse!"

Dialing his number, I began pacing back and forth, seconds feeling like hours waiting for him to answer.

I knew Jesse was pondering working with Integrity still, even though they'd lowered their offer equal to Morgan Taffey's and he'd said that was too low. Despite what he was saying, he was desperate to find a way for his employees to stay employed. Morgan Taffey didn't have as many marketing resources as Integrity, so Integrity was likely the only company Jesse might still sign with after all. There was a very slim offer in play, but it was still on the table. And I hadn't had a chance to talk with Eliza Morgan yet, so he didn't even know that I was trying to get Morgan Taffey to raise their offer. They may not have as many resources, but they had enough to sustain Advantage Republic and its employees, and that was worth passing up Integrity even if Brad wasn't involved.

"Hello?"

"Jesse!" I hollered into the phone, probably startling the hell out of him. "You can't work with Integrity! You can't sign that deal!"

Before he could ask what in flying shit I was talking about, I continued, my words racing together. "Brad's company just bought controlling interest in Integrity! If you take that deal to bail Advantage out, my ex will literally own you! And it's not a coincidence! He found out about our negotiations with Integrity and that I worked for you and it's all a big scheme of his to ruin everything!"

I turned around at one end of the room to pace back to the other side and caught a glimpse of Haley's and Emily's faces as they watched me from the kitchen doorway. Emily looked like she felt more guilt than anyone else in the world and Haley had a half puzzled, half pissed expression, like she was trying to process what the hell had just happened and who she should be mad at.

"How do you know all this, Vanessa?" Jesse asked softly, depression thick in his voice.

"Emily Fischer just came over to tell me about it," I explained. "She inadvertently let Brad know where to find me and it snowballed from there."

"Emily Fischer... Emily Fischer..." he mumbled her name a few times, trying to recall where he knew the name from.

"The former C.O.O. at Integrity."

There was a long pause followed by an angry sigh.

"Jesse?"

He had to be livid, but I hoped his anger wasn't directed at me. Then again, here I was letting my former relationship ruin everything good I had going once again. First, I'd let it nearly ruin Haley's chances of a stable career and a normal life. Now I was letting it destroy my boyfriend's company and all of his employee's jobs. It was time I faced it. This wasn't going to end until I was out of the picture. Even if I escaped Brad's grasp a second time, he'd just find me again and again and keep tearing down every good thing in my life. Everyone around me would always be collateral damage. There was no escape, but at least, maybe I could reroute the train Advantage was about to crash on. Maybe I could prevent some collateral damage.