A creak sounds behind me. I glance back to see Mike walking toward the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. He comes to an abrupt halt when he sees me.

“You’re still up?” he asks.

“Couldn’t sleep,” I respond, taking another searing gulp.

“I’m sure some caffeine will help with that.” Mike fills a glass with water and takes a seat across from me at the kitchen table. “Do you want to talk? Before you answer, Mom’s talking about going back to South Carolina with you. She hates South Carolina.”

“There’s no reason for her to do that.” I state.

“I’ve got to disagree with you on that. You look like shit, Jace.”

“I haven’t been sleeping.”

“So you mentioned. Why?”

“I went to Marcedenia last week.”

Mike lets out a low whistle. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Want to know what my guesses were for what you were upset about? Or rather, my one guess.”

I roll my eyes.

“So? What happened?”

I haven’t told anyone what happened, not even my best friends. It’s too personal, but Mike is family. “Vivienne was pregnant.”

“You knocked her up?” Mike gasps loudly.

“Shhhhh,” I scold him, glancing behind me to make sure none of the rest of our family is loitering in the doorway. “Tell the whole house, why don’t you?”

“You said was. So, she…”

“Ended the pregnancy.”

“She told you that?”

“Essentially.”

“And what did you do?”

“I left,” I admit. “Well, I said some other things first.”

“You yelled at her and split?” Mike surmises. “You’re an ass.”

This is far from the sympathy I was looking for. “What? How am I the bad guy in this scenario?”

“Jace…” For the first time, my little brother looks older than me. “Think about things from her perspective. She’s royalty. She’s got a whole country following her every move, relying on her. She’s about to get married because her father has Alzheimer’s and she has to. She gets pregnant while she’s engaged to someone else and a few months before she’s supposed to become queen. Does that seem like a simple and straightforward problem to you?”

“I know it’s not simple and straightforward,” I hiss. “Nothing about our relationship has ever been simple and straightforward. But she could have reached out to me—she could have at least told me.”

“When? Between your practice schedule and dates with models?”

I glare at Mike. “That’s not fair.”

“But it’s true. You don’t even live in the same country. Does she know your new address? What was she supposed to do? Jump on her private jet and show up at a Sharks’ practice with a ‘you’re the daddy’ banner?”

I grit my teeth, hating that he’s right.

“More importantly, why do you care?” Mike asks.

“What?” I ask, shocked. “How can you ask me that?”

“You guys broke up, right?”

“You know we did. The whole world does at this point.”

“You’ve known for almost a year you guys can never be together. I get why you’re upset, but it’s probably best things worked out this way. Otherwise you would have—what? Had to watch some other guy raise your kid with her?”