Prologue

“What do you mean he’s not conscious?” Shannon Wilder asked, her voice higher than when she was screaming out during childbirth.

“Mrs. Wilder,” the nurse said. “Let me see if I can find someone to talk to you. I believe your husband came in with another man.”

“Yes. His best friend, John.”

John had called her over an hour ago to say Tyler grabbed his chest and fell to the floor in their office. They’d called 911 and got him to the hospital right away, but she hadn’t heard a word since.

She’d been home working, like she’d done for years since she’d had her son, Jeffrey. Then when Maddie came along it was decided she might as well continue to work from home. Even Tyler worked from home half the time rather than driving the hour to their headquarters in Seattle.

“Right this way. I believe he’s in the waiting room down the hall,” the nurse said.

She wanted to push the lady to move faster than the calm stroll she was taking with her rubber-soled shoes squeaking on the floor.

“John,” she said, moving into his arms. Tyler and John had lived on the same street growing up and had been inseparable. When she started to date Tyler in high school they’d become the three amigos. When John married last year, the four of them did everything together. “What is going on?”

“I don’t know, Shannon. They think he had a heart attack.”

“We’re twenty-seven years old. How is that possible? He’s in great condition.”

“It doesn’t make sense to me either,” John said. “They started to ask me all these questions about Tyler’s family medical history. I said I thought his parents were in great health.”

“They are,” she said. Her in-laws lived a few hours away and were on their way right now. Thankfully the nanny she never wanted to have was able to stay with the kids.

“I’ll see if I can find a doctor or someone to give us some answers,” he said and left the room.

Shannon didn’t know what to do with herself while she sat there staring at the wall.

This couldn’t be happening right now.

Everything in their life just seemed so perfect.

She had what she’d always wanted. What she and Tyler had talked about all through high school and then in college where they went together for another four years.

Heck, she and Tyler married as soon as they graduated and a family followed shortly after while he and John built their company up from the ground.

No one believed in those two but her. She put everything she could into it right alongside of them when most said they were nuts.

They were all multi-millionaires many times over now and living the dream.

That dream didn’t include her husband unconscious in the hospital.

She looked up when John walked back in and handed her over a can of soda. He had a large coffee in his hand that he was never without.

She opened the can and took a sip. When the doctor came in, she stood up and got one look at his face and knew her world would never be the same.

“Mrs. Wilder. I’m so sorry. We did everything we could.”

The can dropped to the floor, the brown liquid spilling everywhere, then the room just went dark in front of her.