She’d gotten addicted and Ethan had been too preoccupied with work to notice. Then the long months she’d been in California overseeing the Keystone project. Even when they’d seen each other in between, he hadn’t realized she wasn’t herself. Or if he had, he’d been too busy to really notice what was in front of him. Until the night he’d come home and tried to wake her up. Except she’d overdosed and was dead. He shuddered at the memory, not liking how Sienna’s passing out in his arms had taken him back to that time.

“How are you holding up?” Olivia Rhodes had walked over and asked, obviously taking pity on him.

“I’m fine. Just concerned about Sienna, like everyone else,” he said.

Olivia nodded in agreement. “You caught her before she fell. If not for you, she might have hit her head. Then we’d have a concussion to deal with on top of whatever else, so thank you.”

“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” He ducked his head, not meeting her gaze, afraid he’d give something away.

Before she could reply, a doctor in a white medical jacket walked into the room. “Sienna Dare’s family?”

The entire room lifted their heads.

“She’d like to see her mother.”

“Is she okay?” Ian strode over to the doctor, his domineering presence all but demanding answers.

The older man tipped his head. “And you are?”

“Her brother. Now is she okay?”

The other man nodded. “She is. Preliminary bloodwork is all good. She asked me to tell you all that. Now is her mother here? She said she’d asked someone to call her.”

The woman who Ethan had thought was Sienna’s mom rose from her seat and headed back to see her daughter.

Ian began pacing, and this time it was Ethan who took pity on someone.

He walked over and faced the other man. “Is there anything I can do?” It seemed like a ridiculous question considering an entire horde of people were here who were closer to Sienna than Ethan.

Ian tipped his head and Ethan followed him to a private corner of the room. “I’m sure you’re wondering why the entire family would show up over a simple fainting spell?”

“I didn’t think it was my business to ask, but yes. My brothers would be there for my sister but this is…”

“Excessive?”

Ethan chuckled. “You could say that.”

“Sienna had childhood leukemia,” Ian said, and all the air left Ethan’s lungs.

“I’m sorry, what?” He had to have heard wrong.

Ian merely nodded. His hands in his pants pocket, his stress very raw and real. “Leukemia. Ultimately we were all tested and Avery was a match. She donated bone marrow and saved Sienna’s life.”

Ethan needed a chair because he thought it likely he might faint. His fragile, beautiful woman had endured all that as a child?

“I had no idea.”

“She doesn’t like to talk about it with just anyone. She feels like she’s put it behind her and only wants to focus on the present and the future.”