“We’ll tell you the whole story soon,” Liam said. “Meanwhile, my family are on their way over from the hotel, and they’d love to see you. Do you feel up for that?”

My heart stuttered. “They’re here?”

“All except Nate. He’s dealing with the shit storm Tyler created.”

I felt wetness on my cheeks and realized I was crying. “Sorry,” I sniffled. “I just can’t believe they’re here.”

“You’re one of us.” Liam squeezed my hand. “They’ll always be here for you.”

“Okay.” I swallowed hard and tried to get myself under control. “I’ll see them.”

Liam extracted his hand from mine and left. Blair and I sat together in comfortable silence, both of us mentally processing the betrayal we’d experienced and our relief that it was over until Liam returned a few minutes later with a crowd of familiar faces. My heart swelled as they clustered around me, smothering me with hugs and affection.

In moments like this, I missed my own family, but I counted myself lucky to have been adopted into this big-hearted group of Kiwis. But that triggered another thought. Had my siblings heard what happened?

“Blair, have you talked to Mina or either of the twins?”

He winced. “Yeah, I called all of them on the way here. I didn’t want them to find out when a reporter approached them for comment.”

“Thanks.” At least that was one unpleasant job I didn’t have to do.

“Don’t thank me yet. They’re on their way.”

My mouth fell open. “What? All three of them?”

“Yeah.” He grinned.

“But they have college.”

Blair rolled his eyes. “They’re students. Missing a few days won’t be the end of their career.”

The warmth blossoming inside me grew. Yeah, I was pretty damn lucky.

Chapter Fifty-Two

KENNEDY

“We all have to squeeze into that?” Mina asked, staring at the helicopter dubiously. She was probably running through collections of data on helicopter crashes in her head.

“Come on, Meens.” Jamie slung an arm around her shoulders and squashed her to his side. “It’s safer to fly than drive.”

Her face scrunched and she eyeballed him like she wished he’d let go, but I knew she secretly loved her little brothers giving her a hard time. “How do you even know that?”

“You said so,” he replied. “Must be true.”

Her jaw dropped. “You actually listen to me?”

Joel poked her rib cage playfully. “You were muttering it to yourself the whole time we were on the plane. After that long, it got through even our thick skulls.”

“You’re not thick,” she protested, shoving him. He made a big show of falling away, clutching his chest as if wounded, and his blond hair flopped into his eyes. I hid a smile. Sometimes my brothers reminded me of goofy golden retrievers. Silly and obsessed with food, but very loyal.