Matt shook his head from side to side, and frowned. “Looks like she was desperate. And in a tough spot, too.”

I nodded, and my eyes partially filled with tears. “Yeah … she couldn’t tell me, but her protective instincts had kicked in, and all she wanted to do was to take care of the problem at its root.”

Philip blew a shaky breath out, and murmured, “Annie … what did you do?”

I continued, “So while Aerin was in Vegas, she managed to rope in help from one of her friends in New York … don’t ask me how … and one thing led to another, so soon a security specialist who knew her well met up with her, telling her that he and some others wanted to help. Together, they were able to reach the lady, but while Aerin was trying to negotiate something with her, the lady said that a dangerous man could be after me, because I’d given this lady advice not to do business with him, and, although he didn’t know it had been me giving the advice, the lady said the man had sworn to look for the one who’d given her that advice.”

Matt and Philip both stiffened. “What?!” they asked simultaneously.

“One thing led to another, and, somehow, Aerin reached an agreement to help some people trap this guy in exchange for expunging any traces of my work in Vegas with this lady,” I added.

“Meanwhile, to keep the ruse up in LA, Aerin flew back to LA and pretended to break up with me, in a very public and hurtful fashion,” I said quietly, biting my lip.

“When she did that, although it struck me earlier that she could be staging this elaborate drama for a reason, it felt like she’d really meant it,” I continued, and then paused to take a sip of water. My hands shook at the remembered pain as I gripped the glass.

“So that’s why Annie’s friends said you were distraught …” Philip said aloud.

“And Veronica was deathly worried,” Matt added.

I nodded, and continued, “To keep the drama going, I called Katy around noon today, and told her that I couldn’t handle what had happened and had to leave town. That I’d have to miss the wedding, but I couldn’t talk about things.”