Jason grinned at her through the screen, completely unbothered, like he had not just given her a minor heart attack. "There. Happy?"

"Ecstatic. Overjoyed. I am considering throwing a parade."

He walked further back, away from the cliff, toward a path that led to a small wooden bench. He sat down, and the view behind him changed to mountains, green and rolling, with a sky so blue it almost hurt to look at. Much better. Much less deadly.

Jason’s voice was softer. "Better?"

"Much. I can breathe again. Thank you for that small mercy."

He tilted his phone, showing her the mountains. "You know, the cliffs over here are famous. People come from all over the world to see them."

Bella’s voice was still shaking, but she was recovering. "I do not care if they are famous. I care if you are alive. Famous cliffs do not send flowers to your funeral." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Jason’s expression softened. "I am alive, Bella. See? Two arms, two legs, one very handsome face. All intact."

She rolled her eyes, but her heart was still racing. "Your face is not that handsome."

"Wow. Rude."

"You almost gave me a heart attack. You deserve rudeness."

Jason laughed again, and this time Bella felt some of the tension in her chest loosen.

Jason’s voice turned slightly more serious. "The real reason I called is to ask if you got the tickets."

Bella blinked. "Tickets?"

"For my race. The one I am hosting next month. I sent them through Dom. He was supposed to distribute them."

Bella nodded. "Oh. Yes. Leo got them from Dom."

Jason’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Did Dom give him the tickets, or did Dom throw the tickets at him and run away?"

Bella could not help but smile. "He barged into a meeting and called Leo ’brother-in-law’ in front of clients."

Jason stared at her. His mouth fell open. Then he burst out laughing, the sound loud and unrestrained, echoing through the mountains behind him. "No."

"Yes."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

Jason was wiping his eyes. "In front of clients?"

"Yes!"

Jason laughed so hard he nearly dropped his phone. He had to put it on his knee to steady it. "I wish I had been there. I would have paid money to see Leo’s face."

Bella’s smile grew, and she felt her tension flying out the window.

Jason settled back on the bench, looking more relaxed now. "So, you are coming to the race, right? All of you?"

"All of us. Leo, me, Jay, Jace, Scar, Dom, Hazel. The whole crew."

"Good. I have missed you guys. It is lonely out here without anyone to annoy."

Bella’s throat tightened. "We have missed you too. Even Leo. He will not say it, but he misses you."

Jason grinned. "Leo misses everyone. He just expresses it through silent glaring."

"That is his love language."

"Terrible love language."

"The worst."

Jason’s expression softened again, the humor fading into something gentler. "Hey, Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for caring. About the cliff thing...about me."

Bella’s voice was quiet. "You are like family to me, Jason. Of course I care. Even when you do stupid things. Especially when you do stupid things."

He smiled. "I will see you soon."

"See you soon. And Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"Stay away from cliffs."

"No promises."

"Jason."

"Fine. I will stay away from cliffs. For now."

The call ended.

Bella stared at her phone for a long moment, her heart still recovering. Oh no, she thought. Jason alone is very dangerous. Jason alone near cliffs is a disaster waiting to happen. Jason alone near cliffs with no adult supervision is how people end up on the news.

She made a mental note to call him again tomorrow, and the day after, and every day until the race. Someone needed to keep that man alive, and apparently, that someone was her. She added another mental note to assign a bodyguard to follow him around. Leo had plenty of bodyguards. He could send one of them for Jason. Surely, they could spare one to keep Jason from accidentally unaliving himself.

She sighed, set her phone down and stared at the ceiling.

Meanwhile, Jason sat on the wooden bench, the wind still tugging at his hair, the mountains stretching out before him like a postcard. The view was beautiful and the air was so fresh and clean, the kind of air that made you regret every cigarette you’d ever seen someone else smoke.

But he wasn’t looking at any of it.

He was staring at the sky, his head tilted back, his phone clutched in his hand like a lifeline. His expression was somewhere between misery and disbelief, the face of a man who had just realized he was the last slice of pizza at a party where everyone else had already eaten.

"Oh god," he said out loud, his voice carried away by the wind like a prayer nobody was going to answer. "When are you going to find my soulmate?"

He thought about his friends. All of them. Paired off. H and d in love. The kind of in love that made you want to throw popcorn at them during movie nights.

Scarlett. A h nut to crack. The woman who had sworn she would never settle down, who had laughed at the idea of romance, who had called Valentine’s Day a corporate conspiracy designed to sell overpriced chocolate and mediocre greeting cards. And what happened? She found someone. Before him. Before all of them. She was the first to get a boyfriend and Jason still hadn’t forgiven her for it. He had been happy for her, of course. But also deeply, personally offended.

Bella. Sweet, innocent, married-because-of-circumstances Bella. God had delivered her to the perfect husband. Leonardo Moretti. Cold, Rich and Absolutely obsessed with his wife. The man looked at Bella like she had personally invented the concept of sunshine.

Jason didn’t know what to say about that except that it wasn’t fair. He had been single for years and some people just got handed a mafia husband on a silver platter.