James got out of his car in surprise because he also found three other cars at the location where Hazel had suddenly wanted to meet him to give him an answer to his proposal. James didn't mind waiting longer.

James tried to call Hazel several times to let her know he had arrived, but she didn’t answer the phone at all.

“Why meet at a place like this?” James muttered softly.

He felt uneasy as he began to walk toward the old building where he had once asked Lucas to bring Zia. Since then, that place—even the streets around it—had become one of the places James hated the most.

If...