Anthony tossed the stack of glossy sheets to the middle of his desk.

“What are you doing, Zee? You know better than this. All these years, and you don’t slip up once, and then this?”

I fought the panic that welled in every cell in my body, coalescing into a hot point of anger and fear right in the center of my chest.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fucking fair.

I was looking at picture after picture of me and Alexis from the last couple weeks. Her coming into my place and her leaving. A couple of me in front of her house.

What got me were the ones of us outside the hospital, that sweet, trusting girl staring up at me with all that belief.

My hands on her face. The girl in my arms where she belonged. Kissing her like she was breath. Air. Sanity.

Killed me to look at it as if it were something dirty. Something bad.

“You know the definition of lying low better than anyone, Zee, and then you go and pull this? Veronica will ruin you. It’s a goddamned miracle she’s kept to the agreement this long.”

I scoffed. “You think she would’ve if it weren’t for the money?”

“Of course she’s only kept it a secret because of the money. And you know how much she loves holding that secret over your head.”

“Like taking care of my family is some kind of sin.” Disgusted, I spat the words.

Lines dented Anthony’s brow. “You were the one who didn’t want anyone to know, Zee. You can’t have it both ways.”

That was what I’d been terrified of all along. Walking this shaky balance. Trying to juggle these two worlds and dreading when they collided.

“Just…don’t know that I give a fuck anymore, Anthony. Not if it means letting her go, too. Not sure I can do it.”

Cautious, he stilled, like he was bracing me for his words. “But what about for him?”

Grief cut me in two. I bent over, trying with all of me to hold together the threads of my life that were unraveling faster than I could repair them.

Or maybe they’d just been lit at the end.

Burning out.

I fisted my hand with the tattoo.

Just like the stars.

* * *

Regret had taken me hostage. Pain throbbed with each vapid pulse of my heart like those little bits that had sparked to life had suddenly been dimmed.

When the doorbell rang, I slowly moved across my loft, wishing I could ignore it, pretend like I hadn’t made that call to Alexis saying I needed to see her right away.

But I had to end this before it got any messier than it already was. Before I went and fucked up the last good thing I had in my life.

Before this hurt Alexis any more than I already knew it was going to.

I had to remember what was important. Why I was doing this in the first place.

I fumbled with the heavy metal lock and slid it free, opening one side of the massive doors. I jerked back when I saw it wasn’t Alexis on the other side.

“Veronica…”

It was all shock before a rush of anger came raging in. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here? You know you aren’t supposed to be at my house.”

She strutted right past me like she owned the place, wearing high heels and tight black leather pants, slinking in and taking in my home like she were calculating exactly what it would be worth when it belonged to her.

Probably wasn’t that far off the mark.

She looked back at me with all that innocent wrath. “Hmm…well, I figured since you were breaking the rules, I might as well, too.”

My hands fisted. It took all I had to keep myself rooted to that spot, every part of me itching to drag her right back out. “You’re not welcome here.”

She tsked and wandered deeper, over near the sofas. She picked up a framed picture of me and the rest of the guys, studied it, and caressed her finger over the faces. Then she looked over at me. “It’s such a shame your brother’s not in this picture, isn’t it?”

I ground my teeth. “I’m warning you, Veronica.”

She set it down, so casually. Too casually. I shook, fucking hating that she held all the control as she strolled around my loft. “You know, I’m really not the fangirl type. Living in LA all my life, I know better.”

Right.

Like she hadn’t hunted my brother down.

“But some headlines are just too big to miss, especially when they’re splashed all over the front pages of everyone’s favorite tabloids.”

She sighed as if it actually hurt her and she wasn’t over there doing her best to cinch that noose just a little tighter around my neck.

“I signed into Facebook this morning, and guess what was trending? Zee Kennedy. Sunder prince. The boy who’d always worn the innocent crown, never dipping his fingers into all the…let’s say…unsavory offerings like the rest of his friends.”

Sadly, she shook her head. “And there he was, caught with a lover, right outside the hospital.”

I was at my end. “What fucking difference does it make?”

She turned on me, spewing venom. “What difference does it make? You took him from me, and we had an agreement. You promised.”

“And you’re gonna stand over there and pretend like you weren’t responsible, too? You’re the one who came to me.”

She blinked, feigning offense, like there wasn’t any chance she was guilty of the same goddamned sin. Slowly, she wound back my direction. “We were both hurting.”

Resentful laughter tumbled out. “I wasn’t anything but prey. Just like my brother. As far as I’m concerned, you can go fuck yourself.”

She ran her fingers down the front of my shirt. “I actually prefer when it’s you.”

I gripped her by the wrist, probably squeezing too hard. “You are nothing to me, Veronica. I don’t belong to you. I haven’t in a lot of years. Get out.”

She hefted a shoulder as she passed me by. “Liam says hi.”

That was the thing about Veronica. She knew exactly where to get me. I blew out a breath, trying not to completely lose my cool. “He doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

Scorn rolled from her when she turned back to look at me from out in the hall. “He always has. You want to see him again? It’s going to cost you.” Then she headed for the elevator.

Of course, it had to be at the exact same second Alexis was stepping off.