They stitched my arm up at Valley, the local hospital, with Caine and my father hovering over me. My dad had a minor concussion, but other than that, and being a little shaken up, he was okay.

Both he and Caine were ignoring the giant elephant in the room and using me as the excuse to do so.

“I’m fine,” I assured them for the hundredth time. I had a cut on my arm, a swollen nose and eye, and my stomach was burning, but none of that mattered compared to my emotional state.

The police had taken our statements. Caine stood there in his blood-speckled shirt and told us that he’d jumped on a plane to Chester as soon as he got my note and that was why he’d arrived so shortly after me. We told them everything about my previous attack, and the officers contacted Boston PD to check out our story. We were informed we’d have to wait around a little longer, and a little longer had turned into more than a few hours. I was desperate to get home to Boston. I’d never felt such bone-weary tiredness, and I wanted somewhere quiet so I could process the violence and the terrifying absurdity of what had just happened to me.

And although there had been times I’d thought about getting Caine in a room with my father and my father apologizing and somehow everything magically working out, the reality was much different. A surge of protectiveness rose inside me for Caine. I didn’t want him to have to be in the same room with the man who had destroyed his family. It was difficult, though, because I also was grateful to my father for being there today and for being in charge in a way I’d never seen before. In that moment he’d reminded me so much of Grandpa.

“Miss Holland?” The policemen who had questioned us, Sergeant Garry and Sergeant Tailor, filed into the private room just off the ER ward.

“Hey.” I nodded wearily in greeting.

“You doing okay?” Garry asked. He was a big bruiser of a guy with hard, rugged features and kind eyes. His partner, in contrast, was only an inch or so taller than me, wiry, and wore a perpetual look of suspicion.

“Yes.” I tried to rein in the impatience I was feeling. “He talked, didn’t he?”

“Oh, he was desperate to talk,” Tailor replied. “Wants to make a deal.”

“So?”

Garry took another step toward me, compassion written all over his face. “The perpetrator’s name is Vernon Holts. He’s got a record a mile long from petty theft to assault. During a search of his house on one occasion, they found a massive weapons collection.” He gave me a pointed look. “Knives, swords … anything with a blade.”

“There’s a surprise,” I muttered.

Caine’s hand slipped into mine.

“He said he was hired to kill you by a Matthew Holland. Holts claims this man is your half brother.”

“He is.” I tried to wrap my head around the revelation. It was just too surreal. Like I was standing outside myself, watching this play out in a movie. “But I don’t understand …” I searched Caine’s face for answers. “The article about me came out after the attack. How did Matthew know about me?”

“Maybe he found out some other way,” Caine mused.

“That still doesn’t explain why he wanted to hurt me.” I looked over at my father, who was standing silently in the corner. “Do you know why?”

He shook his head, looking lost. “I haven’t spoken to Matthew in years …”

“It’s my fault.” My grandfather’s voice startled me, making me jump.

My heart began to pound at the sight of him entering the room. “What are you doing here?”

He stepped toward me, and the officers watched him warily. He was ashen, his expression stark. “Caine called me. I got on a plane.” He anxiously searched my face. “Please tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m going to be okay,” I said. “Now, what do you mean it’s your fault?”

“I changed my will.” His shoulders slumped with guilt and he faced the officers. “I’m Edward Holland. Alexa and Matthew’s grandfather.” He returned his attention to me. “It was time for me to do something right and not always put the Holland family ahead of everything else. I was proud of you … and I felt impotent not being able to take care of you like family should. Matthew wouldn’t know a hard day’s work if it bit him in the ass,” he said with venom. “I changed my will. Matthew has had every advantage in life handed to him and he’s a spoiled brat as a result. In the event of my death and my wife’s, you would be left with sixty-five percent of our assets. I didn’t know Matthew had made a deal with my attorney that included informing Matthew if I changed my will. I found out yesterday during a family … discussion … about Alexa. The bastard let it slip.”

Aghast, I couldn’t even speak.

“Sir.” Sergeant Garry stepped toward Grandpa. “Are you saying that the motive behind Matthew Holland’s attack on your granddaughter is an inheritance dispute?”

“An inheritance dispute.” I laughed bitterly. “He hired a hit man to kill me because of money.” I glanced over at my father. “Money. It’s so fucking toxic.”

“Vernon Holts isn’t a hit man,” Tailor informed us. I stared at him in confusion. “He claims he met Holland in a bar one night and he bragged to Holland about his assault offenses and his skill with knives. Holland offered Holts a hundred grand to take you out.”

“But Holland didn’t do any research on this guy.” Garry shook his head in disgust. “Holts’s record show he’s had three restraining orders against him in the past six years from women he harassed. Talking to him …” His eyes were grave on me. “He admits Holland asked him to stop after the first attack failed. Holts refused. It appears the money became secondary to catching his prey.”

“He became fixated on Alexa,” Caine’s voice growled from above me.

“We believe so.” Tailor nodded. “Holts has been very forthcoming. He admits to following Alexa from the hospital to Mr. Carraway’s apartment and staking out the property ever since. With his statement and your grandfather’s, the Boston PD should be able to get a warrant to arrest Matthew Holland while they investigate.”

“Whether they find enough evidence against him to substantiate Holts’s claims is another thing,” Caine added impatiently.

I froze at the thought, realizing what he meant. “Matthew gets away with this if they can’t find physical evidence to connect him to it?”

“It’s possible,” Garry said, his voice filled with regret. “However, Holts has admitted guilt. We’re transferring him to Boston, and the officers on the case there will be taking over.”

I nodded, dazed. “Thank you for your help.”

When they were gone, Caine rounded the bed to grip my arms. “Alexa, this is all going to be all right.”

I scoffed. “How? It’s like watching a shitty movie and I’m stuck to the chair and the remote is all the way across the room.” I leaned into him slightly. “My half brother hired a crazy ex-con to kill me. Do you know how insane that is?”

“Yes, I do.” His eyes blazed with anger. “I know the lengths people are willing to go to for money. I’ve been a victim to it, and a victim for it. You’re in a room with two other people who have as well.”

“This is why I didn’t want it,” I said, my voice hoarse.

“Alexa, I’m sorry,” Grandpa said.

I looked over Caine’s shoulder to him. “I know you never meant anything … I know you were just trying to make up for … but take me out of your will immediately. Promise me.”

Tears bright in his eyes, he nodded his agreement. “I’m so sorry I did this.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Don’t take that on.”

“She’s right,” Caine said. “You had her best interests at heart. Matthew and Holts are the ones to blame here.”

I could tell Grandpa wasn’t quite convinced, the guilt still visible in his eyes, but he nodded gratefully at Caine.

“The sins of the father,” Dad suddenly said, his voice quiet, haunted.

We all looked at him.

He seemed wrecked. “Some of us are destined to repeat our parents’ mistakes.”

“Alistair,” Grandpa said sharply. “You made your mistakes, big fucking mistakes, but you did not deliberately attempt to do something so—”

“A woman died anyway.”

The muscles in Caine’s jaw twitched as he stared at my father like he was staring into hell.

“Caine,” I whispered uncertainly, my heart breaking for him.

“I won’t apologize.” My father met Caine’s hard gaze. “Because I know that’s not what you want from me. What you want I can never give. I … I wish that I could.”

The answering silence was so sharp and painful I almost couldn’t breathe in it.

Then … Caine gave my father this almost imperceptible little nod.

My father, on the verge of tears, looked toward me. “I’m going to leave you two alone, but I imagine we’ll see each other soon. I am so sorry this happened to you, Alexa.”

Somehow I managed to speak around the strangled feeling in my throat. “Thanks for being there today.”

He gave me a sad smile. “Your mother would have killed me if I let anything happen to you.”

“Yeah?”

He seemed surprised by the uncertainty in my question. “Yes. You know she missed you every day.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks before I could stop them and I buried my chin in my shoulder in an attempt to hide my reaction. Caine, however, was having none of that. His strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me so close I had no option but to wrap my arms around him. Burying my face in his chest, I let the sobs rise from my belly, and I cried for everything. For Caine, for our parents, for Matthew and Vernon’s attack, and for the realization that sometimes love really could be too broken to fix, and that you couldn’t get a happily ever after with everyone.

But as Caine kissed my hair and whispered soothing, loving words in my ears, I was assuaged by the knowledge that I didn’t need a happily ever after with everyone … just with someone.

“I love you,” I choked out against his warm chest.

In answer, Caine gently pulled me away, just far enough so he could look into my face. I was tearstained, swollen-faced, and exhausted. I was a mess. But he stared at me as if I were the only person in the room, and as if I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. His voice was gruff as he confessed, “I love you too.”

My arms tightened in reflex around him, and a renewed determination pulsed into my veins. “Let’s go home so we can rest. We’ve got a couple of bastards to deal with who need a lesson in manners.”

Amusement curled the corners of Caine’s mouth. “There she is,” he murmured in satisfaction.