How to Rebuild (Hearts & Horsepower #4) Read online

  Copyright 2020 by A.K. Evans

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Cover Artist

  cover artwork © Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations

  www.okaycreations.com

  Editing & Proofreading

  Ellie McLove, My Brother’s Editor

  www.mybrotherseditor.net

  Formatting

  Stacey Blake at Champagne Book Design

  www.champagnebookdesign.com

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Epilogue

  Out of Alignment preview

  Acknowledgments

  Connect with A.K. Evans

  Other Books by A.K. Evans

  About A.K. Evans

  This had to be a joke.

  There was no way it was real.

  I swallowed hard as a cold, empty feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. My mind was frantic, consumed by so many different emotions. Fear and confusion were at the forefront of it all.

  When the alarm clock went off, and I opened my eyes this morning, I had let out a deep sigh of relief. All I had left to do was pack up my things and catch a flight this morning. Then for the first time in months, I’d be able to take a few weeks to decompress. I’d been working nonstop for the last couple of months, but the rush was finally over.

  It was Monday morning, the second week of January, and the holiday madness had all just ended. I thought everything would settle down for the next few weeks.

  I was wrong.

  Because social media existed.

  Social media was one of those things that I’d had a love-hate relationship with for years. When things were good, it could be great. I was living proof of the positive effects of social media.

  I was Elise Flynn; makeup artist turned beauty vlogger turned beauty brand owner. I was the CEO of Flynn Beauty, a beauty brand specializing in high-quality, sustainable, and safe cosmetics and skincare products.

  Social media allowed me to climb the corporate ladder and build a global brand.

  I’d always been creative and loved being a makeup artist; though, my talent for it showed itself when I’d been forced to use it years ago. While I’d done okay for myself, there was indeed a limit to earning potential. When my best friend, Scarlet Morgan, a bestselling romance author, suggested I launch a beauty vlogging channel on YouTube, I took her advice. Within months, my following was well into the hundreds of thousands. I also had a massive following on Instagram and Facebook in a very brief period. Before I knew it, my followers were looking for more than just makeup tutorials and brand recommendations from me.

  So, I gave them what they wanted.

  I gave myself what I’d worked hard to achieve.

  I quickly got to work on taking the next step in my career: launching my brand.

  And now, not quite ten years after I took Scarlet’s advice to start that channel, I was the owner of a multi-million-dollar global brand.

  But as critical as social media was to the growth and success of my business and many others, it had the potential to take those who’d made it close to the top back down to the bottom.

  Having been riding the wave of success while continuing to put in the work to grow even more prominent, I was acutely aware of the fact that one mishap could result in social media drowning me. It had happened to others in my industry, and it was always devastating.

  Some recovered.

  Others didn’t.

  As I sat there in the bed of the hotel room staring at my phone, I wondered which one of those people I’d be.

  Because it seemed I was, at the very least, trending on Twitter. And while that had happened before when I’d launched the brand and a few new lines to it, there was an early indication that I was trending for the right reasons.

  Now, I wasn’t so sure.

  In fact, I was convinced this was anything but good. And even though I didn’t understand just yet what was going on, at least four hashtags led me to draw this conclusion.

  #FlynnBeautyisOverParty #FlynnBeautyisCanceled #EliseFlynnisOverParty #EliseFlynnisCanceled

  My eyes shifted to the top of my phone. If I was going to make it to the airport on time, I had to leave in less than an hour. And I still had to pack.

  But I couldn’t ignore this.

  This was my life.

  Not wanting to search on my phone, I scrambled out of bed and darted across the room to where my laptop was sitting. I sat down at the desk, opened a browser, and immediately went to Twitter. There I was in all my glory with my canceled hashtags and thousands of notifications.

  What the hell happened?

  I started clicking and reading, my eyes scanning the screen with wild abandon. I couldn’t consume the information fast enough. And while I continued to see the same things over and over again, I continued to read, the churning in my belly becoming worse and worse.

  Realizing almost too late that I would be sick, I dashed into the bathroom and heaved over the toilet. The next several minutes passed in slow motion as I stood up and moved to the sink to brush my teeth.

  Staring at myself in the mirror while I brushed, I noticed the uneasiness in my stomach was still there, lingering. I had to call someone.

  But all my staff was back home.

  I was in New York, it was six in the morning, and everyone I could call was two hours behind in Rising Sun, Wyoming. Nobody would be awake this early.

  Shit.

  I needed to pack, get to the airport, and hope to get someone on the phone before I boarded my flight.

  Quickly packing up my toiletries, I walked out of the bathroom and noticed the clock on the stand next to the bed. I thought I’d only been sitting at the desk for five or ten minutes. Apparently, it had been much longer. Because I needed to leave now.

  Nothing was packed.

  My phone buzzed from the desk.

  Running to it, I saw my ride was here. Crap. Crap. Crap. My fingers moved over the phone as I tapped out a reply to let the driver know I was running a few minutes behind but would be down shortly.

  As difficult as it was, I pushed the awful things I’d read this morning to the back of my mind and made quick work of getting myself changed and my things packed. Having set the alarm clock to go off early, I never thought I’d end up risking missing my flight. Of course, I never thought I’d wake up and learn that I was at risk of losing everything I’d worked so hard to achieve.

  Thirty-five minutes after I was
supposed to leave, I gave my room one last look before I ran out. Unfortunately, by the time I made it to the front desk, the hotel staff were already helping two other guests, so I had no choice but to wait. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait too long and was in the car on the way to the airport within five minutes.

  The problem was that I had stayed in Manhattan last night. And even though JFK International Airport was only fifteen miles away, it was still a Monday morning in Manhattan. Traffic was a nightmare. On the bright side, my worry over making it to the airport only slightly overshadowed the horror I was still feeling from what I’d read this morning. I had a feeling that was mostly because I realized that if I missed this flight, it would only be that much later until I made it back home. I needed to get home and get this situation dealt with immediately.

  We were nearly at the airport when I ended up sending out three text messages. They all said the same thing, and they went to the people I needed to discuss this with first. Kat, Skye, and Porter.

  Me: Call me as soon as you get this.

  The three of them had been with me the longest. Kat was my assistant, Skye was my lead project manager, and Porter was the manager and marketer for the entire brand. He was also my younger brother.

  For the remainder of the drive, I waited for a return call as my mind whirled with a million thoughts, and the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach never went away.

  Just as we pulled to a stop, my phone buzzed in my hand.

  Kat.

  While the driver got out and pulled my suitcase from the trunk, I answered the phone.

  “Hey, Kat,” I answered. “Thanks for calling so quickly.”

  “Good morning, Elise,” she greeted me. “Is everything okay? I thought you were flying back to Rising Sun today.”

  “I am. I just got to the airport, and I’m running behind,” I explained. As I walked through the sliding doors, wheeling my suitcase behind me, I asked, “Are you near your computer?”

  “Yeah, sure. Do you need something?” she returned.

  “Go look at what’s trending on Twitter right now,” I instructed.

  There was a brief pause before she said, “Okay.”

  While she did that, I scurried over to one of the check-in kiosks. I scanned my boarding pass to get my bag checked and take off toward the security check. Unfortunately, I received a message indicating that I’d need to see one of the gate agents. This is not what I needed right now.

  “Oh my god, Elise,” Kat’s voice filtered through the line. “What is this all about?”

  “I don’t have any idea what’s happening right now,” I told her as I walked toward the agent. “I didn’t have much time to do anything yet. Can you do a little digging for me and see if you can figure out what’s going on? I’m going to try to get my bag checked and through security. I’ll call you once I’m at my gate. My flight doesn’t leave for another forty-five minutes, so hopefully, the security check will be quick. I’ll call you back.”

  “Okay.”

  I disconnected with Kat just as I made it to the agent. Handing her my boarding pass, I explained, “I got a message at the kiosk that said I needed to see an agent.”

  “Okay, let me take a look,” she said as she scanned the pass and focused her attention on the computer. A moment later, she stated, “Oh, I’m sorry. You got that error message because your flight leaves in less than an hour.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  “We’ll have to reschedule your flight,” she answered.

  No. I didn’t have time for this. “What?”

  The agent offered me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, but there just won’t be enough time to get your luggage to the plane on time.”

  “Can’t you just put it on the next flight out?” I wondered.

  She shook her head. “Unfortunately, I can’t.”

  My shoulders fell. I needed to get back to Rising Sun as soon as possible. “What’s the next flight you have to Rising Sun?” I pressed, and I had a feeling she sensed the urgency in my tone.

  “Let me check for you,” she replied.

  This wasn’t her fault. I was late. I was the one who got sidetracked by the news that my life, my career, my company, and my reputation were on the brink of collapse this morning. Despite knowing that it was my fault I missed the flight, I couldn’t stop myself from impatiently sighing and tapping my hand on the counter.

  “So, it looks like there’s another flight leaving at eleven, and there are a couple of seats available,” she declared.

  “That’s eleven this morning, correct?” I confirmed.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, yes, please, I’ll take it.”

  “Window or middle seat?” she asked.

  “Window please,” I requested.

  A few minutes passed while the agent got me set up on the new flight. She printed out my new boarding pass and gave me a few cues of where to go next before she ended with, “Enjoy your flight.”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  Enjoy my flight? That was hardly going to be possible. The only bright side to this whole situation at the moment was that I’d at least have some time for everyone to wake up at home. It was likely I’d be able to get some research done and a few phone calls in. If nothing else, by the time I got back to Wyoming, I could go straight to the office, and hopefully, the team would have a game plan for how to handle this nightmare.

  Though I itched to call Kat back immediately, I wanted to wait until I could sit and focus for an extended period. So, I waited until I had gotten through airport security. Then I scuttled through the terminal to my gate. I had some time to kill.

  Nobody was waiting at the gate when I arrived, considering I was very early, but I was grateful for it. I sat down, placed my carry-on in the seat beside me, and dug my phone out of my purse again.

  Kat answered after the first ring. “Hey, Elise.”

  “Find anything?” I asked her.

  “Well, I’m not sure how much you’ve read, but from what I can gather, there were at least two big beauty vlogs that trashed the holiday line on the bath and body products as well as the new winter eyeshadow palette,” she started. “I haven’t watched the vlogs yet, but I checked, and they are both nearly thirty minutes long.”

  “What is the complaint, though?” I asked.

  “I think it has something to do with quality control or the formula we used on the eyeshadow palette,” she shared.

  “It’s the same formula we’ve always used,” I argued. “That makes no sense.”

  Kat sighed. “I know. I’m just as confused as you are right now. What time does your plane land?” she asked.

  I reached for my boarding pass. “I missed my flight,” I started. “So, now it looks like I won’t be arriving there until around three.”

  “What should we do?” she asked.

  “I’m coming right to the office when I get off the plane. Watch those videos, keep digging, and send me updates,” I instructed. “If you get specifics, call me.”

  “Absolutely.”

  My phone beeped, indicating I was getting another call. I pulled the phone from my ear, looked at the display, and said, “Hey, that’s Skye calling me back. Let me go.”

  “Okay. I’ll let you know what I find.”

  I ended my call with Kat and answered Skye’s call.

  “Have you seen the good news?” I greeted her sarcastically.

  “Are we going to be okay, Elise?” she countered.

  I had no clue. As it stood, I had no idea why I was even in this predicament. I didn’t understand what was going on. Maybe while I had the time, I needed to watch the vlogs to see the complaints.

  “I’d like to think so, Skye, but I honestly don’t even know what’s happening right now,” I admitted. “I just got off the phone with Kat. She told me she saw that two beauty vlogs had some choice words for some of the recent launches, including the new eyeshadow palette.”

  “Three.”

>   “What?”

  “There were three vlogs,” she clarified. “Scooter was whining to go out early this morning, so I had to get up well before my alarm. Since I didn’t want to fall back asleep because I knew I wouldn’t be able to wake up easily if I did, I decided to have breakfast. I was out in the kitchen eating and having my coffee when I opened my laptop. I’d left it on the table last night, so I figured I’d take a scroll through social media. That’s when I went on Twitter and saw we were trending. My phone was in my bedroom, which is why I didn’t call you sooner.”

  Three. There were three. This was getting better by the minute. “I assume you watched the videos,” I declared.

  “Yeah.”

  “And?”

  “While all three of them loved the colors and thought the application of the eyeshadows were what they came to know and love about Flynn Beauty, all of them experienced irritation and swelling around their eyes.”

  My stomach dropped. I could feel my insides beginning to shake as I grappled with this news. “Are you serious?”

  Skye was quiet a moment before she answered, “Yes. I wish this were a joke, but I don’t know, Elise. This seems serious. I mean, we’re talking about people’s eyes. And two of them had pictures showing what they experienced. They didn’t look good.”

  “Can you send me links to the videos?” I asked.

  “Sure.”

  My phone beeped again. I had a feeling it was Porter. I pulled my phone away, confirmed that was the case, and said, “Porter’s calling me. I’m guessing he knows what’s going on. Let me talk to him. Send me those links, and I’ll be in the office as soon as my flight gets in.”

  “Okay. Have a safe flight, Elise.”

  I disconnected the call with Skye and answered Porter’s call.

  “Please tell me this isn’t happening,” I begged him.

  “I don’t even understand this,” my younger brother exclaimed.

  “Well, you won’t get any answers from me,” I warned him. “I just found out a little while ago, delayed packing up at the hotel this morning, got to the airport late, and missed my flight. So, now I’m waiting at the gate for the next flight, but it’s not leaving until eleven.”

  “What do you want to do about damage control?” he asked.