“Ryan blames her for everything that happened,” Mom confided. “And I think Garret does too.”

“Ciana?” I laughed at the absurdity. “Why would they blame her?”

“Sheena and Ramirez had attacked one of the warehouses, which kept Ryan and Garret busy. They had no idea that she planned on striking closer to home and ambushing you that night,” she explained. “If Ciana had spoken up, told someone about Bain, then they might have tightened security. Maybe they wouldn’t have let you girls go out that night. None of this would have happened if Ciana had just been open about Bain.”

“But how would Ciana have known?” I defended my cousin.

“Because she knew that Bain and Sheena went hand in hand. We all know that, Nova.” She was right. I knew that Bain, although an O’Farrell, ruled over the O’Brion family. But Sheena still tried to control them all. “It wasn’t a coincidence that he showed up at the same hotel she was at during her vacation, in the room right next door. It had to have been a setup, to hurt Ciana in some way. Ryan has so few weaknesses, but you and Ciana are at the top of the list.”

“Poor Ciana.” I wanted to call her, to make sure she was okay. She was pregnant, living with a man who had used her to get to Ryan. If he blamed her, then the rest of her family might as well. It probably looked as if she’d turned her back on them, betrayed them. Knowing them so well, I figured they would have then turned their backs on her. Leaving her with no one to rely on.

But none of this was her fault.

“Maybe if you came out of hiding and showed everyone that you’re okay, they will make up,” Mom suggested hopefully. “My heart aches for all of them, especially Ryan. Losing you… I never even saw him cry, Nova. But he was destroyed. It was like he shut down. He turned everything off the moment he accepted the fact that you were dead.”

“I called him so many times, Mom.” I picked up my phone and waved it at her for emphasis. “From a hundred different phones. And every time, he refused to so much as answer. I left messages each time. But instead of calling me back, he simply blocked me. Even if he hadn’t listened to the messages, if he would have just traced the numbers, he would have known where to look for the person he thought was pranking him. He wouldn’t have just accepted someone playing games with him. He would have wanted to know why they were messing with him. He would have wanted retribution. And he would have found me.”

“Why didn’t you just go to him?” she countered.

“Cali needed me,” I said with a lift of one shoulder. “And I was too hurt to go to him. I needed him to come for me. To save me.”