She grimaced. “It’s a long story. But we met while I was on vacation. We fell in love, but there was a huge misunderstanding, and I came home convinced I would never see him again. Then I found out I was pregnant…” She shrugged. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. If I could go back and do it over again, I would have told you everything. But I can’t. Now, all either of us can do is move forward.”

“You knew who he was?” I repeated, a feeling of betrayal hitting me dead center. “Ciana, if you knew who he was, then you knew who he was related to. I’ve told you how much Sheena hates me and our family. You knew what my mother did to me, but the old woman still blamed me for what happened. How could you trust anyone from that family? Fuck, how could you put not only yourself in danger, but Nova?” I’d tried so hard the last five days to hold on, to not give in to the pain of losing the other half of myself. And now to find out that someone I trusted with Nova’s life had been the one to put her in danger… It was too much to take in. “If you had told me they had gotten so close to you, I could have protected you both better. I never would have let Nova out of my sight!”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Her sobs only pissed me off more because it hurt to hear her pain. She wasn’t just my cousin. She was one of my closest friends, second only to Nova. I would have given my own life for hers without hesitation, and yet she hadn’t even warned me about the danger she’d lured right to our front door.

“You might as well have handed Nova over to Sheena yourself.”

“Stop,” she pleaded, sagging against Bain as if she had no strength left. “Ryan, I’m sorry. I know I messed up. I can never tell you how sorry I am. I didn’t know how to—”

“You helped them take her from me,” I seethed and saw her flinch as if I’d physically slapped her. “You have no right to cry for her when you’re just as responsible for her death as they are.”

“Enough!” Bain bellowed, holding a sobbing Ciana to him like she was the most precious thing in the world. The sight gave me pause, made me wonder if maybe this man everyone who had ever met him claimed was a heartless monster might actually possess a heart after all. “You will not speak to her like that. She knows she made a mistake. Do not torment her more.”

Seeing how destroyed my cousin was over her own guilt, I forced myself to dig deep, trying to find a way to turn off the hate and anger and bone-crushing agony of Ciana’s betrayal and the loss of Nova. One by one, I turned off my emotions, knowing if I didn’t, I would only end up hurting Ciana more. As much as I hated her for betraying me—betraying Nova—I still loved her. I was her honorary twin, her protector, her friend.