And it was Sam’s doing. My sister. Oh, how she cried that night. She told me how sorry she was. I thought she’d meant for Macon’s bad deed. But it was her. I’ve spent my entire life protecting her in any small way I could, and she did that?

Blood rushes from my head and pools at my feet. Dimly, I hear Macon swear. My ears are ringing. Sam stares at me with tears in her eyes and a hopeful expression on her face.

For the first time in my life, I act without thinking. My hand snaps out and connects with Sam’s cheek. The slap echoes in the kitchen. My palm tingles as I turn and walk away.

Macon

Delilah walks out of the kitchen with quiet dignity, leaving me alone with Sam.

“You selfish little fool. You had to tell her, didn’t you?” I want to go to Delilah so badly my heart hurts, but I know my girl needs her space for a moment. Sam needs to be dealt with.

Sam stares in the direction Delilah took, holding a hand to her reddened cheek as though she can’t believe Delilah actually slapped her. “You didn’t tell her?”

“Why would I? I kept it secret all these years.” Something that I hated doing. Especially when I started to fall for Delilah. The truth sat like a brittle stone under my ribs every time Delilah mentioned the incident. “Do you honestly think I agreed to take the fall for your stunt all because I was trying to protect you? I did it for her. Because I knew, even back then, that it would devastate Delilah if she learned her own sister humiliated her as a cruel joke.”

Sam blanches. “I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“Bull. You did it because you were jealous.” I’m beginning to think Sam always was. That the only reason she held on to me so tightly when we were children was because she knew it hurt Delilah.

“Why are you here?” I ask Sam when she says nothing. “Why now? And don’t give me that shit about borrowing the watch. You knew I was looking for you and wanted it back. So why now?”

Sam lifts her chin in defiance. “I saw a picture of you two at that gala. You had a look on your face. I know that look. You were either screwing her or wanted to.”

She isn’t wrong there. I had wanted to.

“And so you had to return and ruin any chance of happiness she might have?” I shake my head in disappointment.

Sam’s gray eyes ice over. “Despite what you think, Saint, I do love my sister. You never liked her. Hell, you two hated each other. I’m supposed to believe you’re what, suddenly in love?”