Chapter 171 After She Was Gone
POV Maya:
I park the car in front of my friend’s house in the middle of the night. The long drive gave me time to think through every step I must take to make sure I help the Morettis in the best way possible. To leave the farm, I had to wait until they were asleep. Since my bags were already packed, I grabbed Louis and them and left before any of them could see me go. It was better this way. I would not have been able to say goodbye anyway.
I get out of the car with Louis in my arms and knock on my friend’s door. She knows I am coming. I sent a message saying I would need her and her boyfriends—they will help me, because otherwise I would not be able to do this. The moment Tay opens the door, I jump into her arms and cry, because I love them and could not confess it before leaving.
“We are here for whatever you need,” she says. I kiss her cheek, grateful. I do not know what I would do without her.
“Thank you, Tay. Thank you for being such an incredible friend.”
I step inside and go to the living room, finding her four boyfriends sitting on the couch. Their faces are serious—I do not think I have ever seen them like this. They are always smiling. David opens his arms, and I run into his large embrace. After everything I went through in El Soledad, I grew even closer to him, because now I understand him. It is impossible not to love that town.
“Of everyone in this room, your help is the one I will need the most,” I say, sniffling.
“I will do everything you ask—and even what you do not ask,” he says. I pull back, confused. “I bought Salazar for you as a gift. My parents will not come for him.”
“David?” I say, emotional, hugging him tightly. This is the kindest gesture anyone has ever made for me.
“Besides being the best friend of the woman of my life, you are my friend,” he says. I cry, unable to handle all my feelings anymore. “What do you need?”
“I need to take care of some bureaucratic matters, and I am terrible at that—but I know you are not,” I say, looking from David to the Collin brothers, who smile at me.
“Whatever you need,” Hunter says.
“Anything,” Sean declares.
“Just say the word,” Gavin adds, and I nod, knowing I could not have better friends.
“To ask for your help, I need to tell you a story.”
I begin to talk about my parents, and for the first time I am not sad, because I know the money I hated so much is the only thing that can save the farm my cowboys love so much. And with that money, I can do much more for them—and I will. After that, I can leave knowing I gave them my best and my worst, and that I would do it all again, as many times as necessary.
(...)
POV Adrian:
She left.
Maya left without saying goodbye to us. When I went into her room to call her for breakfast, I found it empty—everything she owned was gone. It wasn’t easy going downstairs and looking at my brothers and telling them she was gone. I saw the hurt reflected in them. Maya was gone and hadn’t said goodbye, as if everything we lived through meant nothing to her compared to what it meant to us.
After the shock of her departure, everything became far too quiet. We had our breakfast and went back to our work routine. There was no reason to stop everything because of her—we knew it would be like this. Still, it was hard to accept. At lunch, when we returned home, our parents were already waiting for us. They told us about the proposals that had been turned down, and we told them how we managed and about our decision to sell the horses. My mother cried but thanked us for what we did to try to save the farm. When she asked about Maya, we said nothing. There was nothing to say.
Night was the worst part of her leaving. There was no longer her laughter during our horror movie sessions. There were no more inappropriate questions for Sebastian, much less her provocations toward Dominic and Luca. There was nothing—and this was only the beginning. I knew it, and my brothers did too.