Xander took Bella on an extra-long walk. Not only because he wanted to give the girls time alone but because he needed to destress. He’d been in the city over a week now, and with the added pressure of Sasha’s stalker and the end of her filming creeping up on them, he felt a heavy weight sitting on his chest.

He’d have to be blind not to see her agent on set talking with Sasha’s mother, no doubt both of them planning her future. Was it a future she wanted? One she’d allow them to talk her into having? Or, as she’d said, was she different now? Ready to take control of her life?

Bella paused to do her thing and he waited patiently. The streets were quiet because it was summer and residents left for the beaches. But a car drove by, honking at another vehicle that cut him off, leading to the opening of windows and yelling back and forth. God, he hated Manhattan and he missed the view of the water.

He cleaned up after Bella and tossed it into the nearest garbage can before continuing their walk. His cell rang and he pulled it from his pocket, answering when he saw it was Aurora calling.

“Hey!” He was happy to hear from her. “How’s my adorable niece?”

“Leah is good, thanks! She’s been sleeping through the night for a while now, so I’ve been feeling more human. How are you doing? How’s Sasha?”

He grinned. Aurora was a lot of things but subtle wasn’t one of them. “We’re good… for now,” he admitted, not wanting his starstruck sister to get her hopes up that Sasha would be around and in their lives for much longer. His gut cramped at the thought.

“What does that mean? I saw you two together. You’re as perfect a couple as Linc and Jordan or Chloe and Beck.”

Arriving at a corner, he waited for the light to turn and crossed the street. “Don’t tell me you’re a romantic,” he teased her in an attempt to distract her from his relationship with Sasha.

She snorted in his ear. “Me? Are you kidding? No. I’m a realist about life.”

Xander narrowed his gaze. In the eight or nine months since he’d met Aurora, she’d never mentioned the baby’s father. As far as he knew, nobody in the family had asked about him, either. Aurora was more adult in her thinking and more reserved about her feelings than most people her age, no doubt because she’d been in foster care and alone, practically raising herself. She was an exuberant young woman but not forthcoming about her personal situation.

Ah, well. Xander figured they had time to push. Right now she was thriving and learning to accept their family closeness and being a part of it.