Veronica’s words play over and over in my head.
“He was acting out… becoming a threat.”
My hands press against the tiled wall, and I bow my head, water streaming over my face.
Did she kill him?
Did she kill Oscar?
I squeeze my eyes shut, but the questions don’t stop. Did she order it? Or allow it to happen? And if she did, how far would she go to get what she wants now?
Novalee? Koen?
I suck in a breath, but the steam makes it hard to breathe. Pushing off the wall, I run a hand through my wet hair. She doesn’t know. She can’t. If she knew Novalee tried to get evidence from her or that the twins were involved…
I need to protect them.
A bitter laugh bubbles up. Protect the guy who didn’t give a fuck about me since he kicked me out of his life thirteen years ago.
Protect her.
The girl who played me.
The girl who lied to me.
But also the girl who made me feel like… myself. Someone who made me believe, even for a second, that I could be more.
The events from earlier play in my head when she told us about Alaric and her sister. Her pain had been so thick I could feel it. And yet, she hadn’t broken. She’d let me hold her and let it out, piece by jagged piece, until we were all bleeding with her.
I shouldn’t feel this way about her. Not when I know the truth. Not when I watched her wrap herself around Koen and Sylus as if they were lifelines. Not when I saw her breakdownbecause of Alaric. Not when I’m supposed to hate her for what she did.
But I don’t.
God, I don’t.
Instead, I can’t stop thinking about her, the way her voice wavered but didn’t break. I saw myself in her for a moment, a version of me I’ve tried to bury for years. The scared, angry kid who wanted someone to tell him it wasn’t his fault.The way Oscar did.
Veronica killed Oscar. And if she could do that to someone she once loved, what the hell would she do to Novalee or the twins if she found out the truth?
I can’t let it happen. But how the hell do I protect them when I can barely keep myself together? I slam my fist against the wall, and the sharp pain grounds me. My head tips back, the water streaming down my face as I take a ragged breath. Novalee’s face flashes in my mind again, her tear-streaked cheeks, the way she whispered, “Please,” as though it was the only word she had left.
She doesn’t know it, but she’s stronger than anyone I’ve ever met.
Stronger than me, that’s for damn sure.
I exhale shakily while the water washes over me, but it doesn’t cleanse anything. The guilt. The fear. The anger. They’re all still there, bubbling beneath the surface, threatening to swallow me whole.
And yet, one thought cuts through the chaos again.
I have to protect her.
Even if it means pretending to be the son Veronica has always wanted. Even if it means walking into the fire, knowing I’ll burn.
“Fuck.”
Every part of me is heavy—my body, my chest, my mind.
I need a break.Just one moment where I don’t have to think, don’t have to carry this crushing weight. Something, anything, to pull me out of this spiral before I try to sleep and end up staring at the ceiling all fucking night, drowning in everything I can’t fix.
