LOGINNINA’S POV I don’t know who will get here first—Axel or Sloane—but I’m starting to fear that Cassian won’t even make it long enough to find out.I’ve been his shadow for hours, clinging to the hope that he is holding it together even as every passing minute steals a little more color from his face.He takes one glass of whiskey, then two, then grabs the bottle off the shelf.Maybe I shouldn’t have told him. I should have held on just a bit more until I talked to Axel, but the kidnapping allegation fell into our laps like a bomb.I tell myself not to overthink it. He’s better off knowing now, but I just can’t help it, not when the man I love is barely hanging on by a thread.What’s worse is knowing that this is all because of me. Maybe if I had kept my hands off him and respected mom’s marriage, this wouldn’t have happened.Even if it had, I wouldn’t be in the middle of it.Still, I know if I go back in time, I’ll still climb into this stranger's car and let him take me to his house.
CASSIAN’S POVThe cruelest part about discovering a lie is realizing how many truths you built on top of it.Brother. The word sits between us like a loaded gun, and can’t I seem to look away from it. Fuck…I can’t even remember the last time I allowed myself to imagine having one. That word doesn’t belong remotely on a sentence with Axel—the blue eyed rebound who stood toe to toe with me in Lucas’s living room. The Axel who kissed my Nina. The Axel who is now my fucking brother.All this time, I thought the worst thing my father had hidden from me was a murder. All this time, I was so wrong.“Cassian,” a voice breaks through the thick of my skull. I blink. Nina’s grip on my wrist stays firm.“Baby…do you need to sit down?” Her lower lip quivers as she looks up at me, but I find myself lost in the hazel eyes of the woman I love and wonder just how many pieces of my life she’s been holding in her hands without me knowing.“I’m fine.” I say, even as I hear my voice crack. Gently, I
CASSIAN’S POVI know that look on Nina’s face.I’ve seen it before—that raw, instinctive fear, the kind that sinks so deep into the body that it makes a person forget how to breathe—and it almost makes me take a step back.Almost.Her words hang in the air like a weight, and I find myself wishing that I can snap my fingers and take us back to last night, when secrets lay buried and trust existed. Fragile, bleeding trust…but it was there.“Who was on the phone?” I hear myself ask.She stands there, barely out of reach from me in my oversized shirt, sunlight catching the hazel in her eyes as her fingers twitch at my sides.“I want to tell you. I WILL tell you,” her voice stalls, “but we need to get out of here.”“What are you saying?”“I’m saying that we NEED TO LEAVE.”Frustration wells in my chest.“I know what you said, I’m asking why you—“My phone buzzes insistently in my hand, cutting me short.I glance down at the screen.Sloane. Fucking hell…“Don’t answer it!” Nina’s says sharp
NINA’S POVI wake up reaching for Cassian, my fingers finding only cold sheets, and for one hazy, terrifying moment, I lie rigid staring at the ceiling, wondering if last night was ever real at all.A tiny slice of sunlight steals into the room through the parted curtains, and I tell myself that the memory of his fingers in my hair is real. But where is he? This is his bedroom. The sex was real. The shower was real. Everything he said…Yeah. Definitely not a dream. Not with that buzzing sound plaguing my ears—like a bee found its way in.My neck turns to the sound, and I find Cassian’s phone on the nightstand, screen lit up with a name.Don’t do it, I tell myself…but I crane my neck to see.The name makes my heart stop.Sloane. With a ring emoji.My mouth goes cotton dry, and I turn to the door, ears pricked for the thud of footsteps or the sound of running water— anything to stop me from reaching for the phone.Nothing. The buzzing continues. Fuck it. I lift the phone off the sta
NINA’S POVI know what Cassian is about to say before a single word can reach me.I can read it in the way his lips part, the way his eyes drop, and the way his entire body looks like it’s bracing for impact—and it makes my blood run cold.I want the truth. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. But what happens when the truth threatens to shatter the little slice of peace we just found?I try not to look at the blood on his forehead when all I want to do is to find out why. Eyes. Look at his eyes. Red rimmed and glazed over in the faint light, he blinks slowly and drops his gaze to my feet.No, look at me. Please.“Nina…” his voice comes out raspy, and I make up my mind then and there.“I…I was going to say that when I left, I talked to—““Can it wait?” I blurt, ribs tightening as he lifts his gaze back to my face.“What?”My nails dig into my palm.“This…thing. Can it…wait?”His brows twitch, but I watch his shoulders broaden ever so slightly.“Absolutely.” He says, eyes still searching my fa
CASSIAN’S POVThe second I step out of the room, the love I left on my lips dies—and the monster I’ve spent all evening pretending I buried wakes the fuck up.“What’s going on?” I hold the phone to my ear, hearing Sloane’s steady breathing on the other end.“Hey, um…are you up?” Her voice rasps. I hear a rustle and a deep sigh.“Yes,” I glance back at the bedroom door, “I’m kind of in the middle of something…is everything alright?”She hesitates, and I feel my heart clench. “Sloane? Is it the baby?”“What? No! The baby is fine, it’s just…” her voice trails off, and I hear her sigh, “Alex reached out.”Shit.I glance over my shoulder at the door, knots tightening in my gut.This will take longer than I thought. Forgive me, Nina. I cross the hallway to the foyer, phone tucked against my ear.“Talk to me.” “Okay, so this morning I went for my doctor's appointment, and I got really thirsty after…”“Okay?” I grip the staircase banister and take the stairs two at a time. “I sent Cara t







