A T-rex was chomping through my brains, and my insides were being wrung out like a wet towel. At least that’s what it felt like as I opened my eyes and struggled to sit up.

I glanced around, realizing that I was somehow back in my own bed in my suite at the Mirabella. I could hear the shower running in my bathroom, which I must’ve forgotten to turn off somehow. I didn’t recall turning it on, though. In fact, I didn’t recall coming back to the Mirabella at all.

I squinted at the clock on the wall. It was one o’clock in the afternoon.

How did I sleep so late? What the hell happened to me?

Suddenly, everything came rushing back to me about yesterday afternoon’s hellish drink-spiking encounter with Derek, the ‘nice guy’ I’d once been friends with. No wonder my head felt like it was being kicked in by a particularly angry horse. And no wonder I’d slept so long.

Groaning, I rubbed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I noticed a note on one of my pillows. Frowning, I picked it up. It was from my mother.

Peyton,

Kaden called your father and me from the hospital and told us what happened. We brought you home when the doctors gave us the all-clear, although you probably don’t remember – they said you would be feeling sleepy and out of sorts for a while.

We’ve just had to go and get some sleep for a few hours ourselves (we stayed up all night sitting with you while you slept, so we’re both about to pass out from exhaustion) but we’ll be back to check on you soon. For now, Kaden is there to keep an eye on you. I’ve left water and painkillers on your nightstand, and if you need anything else at all, my phone is on the loudest setting, so I’ll hear you call.

Anyway, honey… I also just wanted to say that I’m sorry. Kaden told me everything, and apparently he already spoke to your father about the recent issues as well. We know you didn’t know who he was when you became involved with him. We know you didn’t feed any information to the Pierces. I suppose I was just so shocked when I saw that article with the photo the other day that I didn’t know what else to think.

I feel terrible. I’ve been a horrible mother… I wish I had just listened to you when you came to try and explain the other morning. I hope you will forgive me, but I understand if you’re mad at me for a little while. Or a long while.

We’ll talk more when you’re awake and feeling better.

Love,

Mom

PS. Kaden sat with us in the hospital all afternoon yesterday, and all night as well. While your father and I aren’t exactly pleased with his spying activities, or the fact that he misled you (and everyone else) in terms of his identity, we believe him when he says how much he cares about you, and we’re very grateful that he helped you after what happened. Anyway, just thought I should let you know.

Okay, that explained how I got back to the Mirabella.

It also explained why my shower was running.

Right on cue, the water turned off, and a moment later, Kaden stepped out of my bathroom clad in nothing but a towel. I set Mom’s note down on the pillow, unable to keep my eyes off the droplets of water running down his chest in tantalizing rivulets.

“You’re awake,” he said, his eyebrows knitting with concern. He strode over to my bedside. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I was shot by a firing squad, set on fire, then rolled in a mound of salt,” I croaked. Kaden passed me a glass of water from my bedside table. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

I gestured to the note. “Mom said you were with her and Dad at the hospital. I don’t even remember seeing them at all, let alone being at the hospital.”

Kaden nodded and sat down on the end of my bed. “Yeah, you were really out of it. You should’ve seen your eyes. Your pupils were so dilated that you looked possessed,” he said.

I almost smiled at that mental image. “How long were we there for?”

“All of yesterday afternoon, last night, and then half of today as well. We only got back here about two hours ago. But you’d already been asleep for hours by then. I had to carry you in here like a fireman.”

I sighed and shook my head slowly. “I can’t believe Derek did this to me.”

“Same. I’ve known him for a few years—we have mutual friends—and I heard a couple of rumors about him, but he always seemed like a really nice guy. And you know what the rumor mill is like in this city. Usually filled with bullshit. So I didn’t believe it.”

I nodded. “Yeah. He was the last person I would’ve expected to do something like this. And what the hell… spiking a girl’s drink to get in her good books by taking care of her afterwards? Who does that?”

“Derek, apparently. But don’t worry. I called the cops after I took you to the hospital. The doctors confirmed your drink had been spiked, so there’s actual physical proof as well as the fact that he admitted it. I had to give him a bit of a beat-down, but he spat it out eventually.”

I smiled wryly. “I know. I remember that part.”

His brows shot up. “Really? Shit. Sorry you had to see me do that.”

“Don’t apologize. The prick deserved a smack or two.” I sighed and looked down at my duvet, then looked back up. “Thank you, Kaden.”

“For what?”

“Coming to rescue me when I asked for help.”

He scooted closer to me on the bed. “You don’t need to thank me for that. I’ll always help you. And I don’t really deserve any thanks after what I did to you. And your family, too.”

I patted the note. “My mom disagrees. She said how grateful she and Dad are to you.”

“Really? Wasn’t really expecting that after what I did.” He rubbed his temples, then looked back up at me, a nervous flicker in his eyes. “Do you think…er…do you think you’d feel up to letting me try and explain myself again?”

I hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. Please.”

My anger toward him had dissipated now, and all I wanted was to hear his voice. Whatever he had to say, I was finally ready to listen.

He scratched his chin absentmindedly as he began. “I know it was a shitty plan, to come here and spy. I’m a shitty person for doing it,” he said. “But I guess I just felt like I owed it to my parents. They’ve done so much for me; put up with so much shit over the years. And I figured I wouldn’t find anything bad here anyway. So I thought, what’s the harm? I’ll do what they ask and get the job, poke around a bit for a few weeks, then tell them there was nothing to see. I honestly didn’t think I’d find anything, Peyton.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And when I agreed to it, I wasn’t thinking that I’d actually meet anyone I’d later end up caring about. I had no idea I would meet you. No idea we’d get along so well. No idea we’d….” He trailed off for a second, then sighed and went on. “I felt fucking terrible for lying to you, Pey. I wanted to tell you the truth so many times. Every minute that passed without telling you made me feel like shit, but on the other hand, it was also another minute that I got to be with you. Another minute I got to see you happy. And I knew the second I told you, you’d hate me, and that happy light in your eyes would go out. I just couldn’t bear it. But I know I fucked up royally. There’s no excuse.”

I nodded slowly. “I never thought I’d say this, but I think I actually get it, Kaden.”

His eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, if I were in your shoes, I might’ve felt the same way and done the same things,” I said. “Like, you didn’t come here with the intention of meeting a girl to lead along. You just happened to meet me. And we just happened to get along so perfectly. Shitty timing, I guess.”

“That, and also the fact that I’m a lying asshole.”

“Well, yeah, but you were my lying asshole.” I wrinkled my nose. “Okay, that sounded really bad.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, it didn’t sound great.”

I leaned forward. “Look, Kaden, when I found out who you really were, I genuinely considered throwing you into a volcano.”

“And I would’ve deserved it.”

I nodded. “I was so freaking pissed. I honestly thought your plan was to seduce me and get information from me for your parents, or turn me against my family. But there was also this little part of me which said otherwise. It told me you couldn’t possibly have faked what we had. And when I was feeling so fucked up yesterday, you were the only person I thought about. I wanted you to take care of me. No one else. And you did. You showed up.”

“Of course I did. I never lied to you about how I felt, Peyton.” He looked down. “I just lied about everything else, I guess. Or misled you, anyway.”

I was silent for a moment as I tried to sort through my jumbled thoughts and emotions. Then I spoke up again, slowly and haltingly.

“The last few days, with all this shit going on, I sort of went a bit nuts and tried to get through it by going back to my old life. You know, all the crap I said I was sick of. The partying, the drinking, the fake friends,” I began. “And it made me realize something. When I was with you—actually, even before I was with you, when we were just friends, or flirting, or whatever we were doing—you made me want to do something different. You helped me. You talked to me, asked about the real me, and you inspired me to do something else with my life. And I did. I mean, I started to, anyway. It was like… you made me want to be a better person.”

Kaden’s brows lifted in surprise. “Can’t say anyone’s ever said that to me before.”

“Well, it’s true. And without you in my life, everything is just crap, to be honest. It’s all been a total mess. Like I said, I went back to my old ways for a few days, just to try and escape, and it was so shitty and empty. It made me miss you. Miss what we had.”

Kaden’s forehead wrinkled. “Are you saying you might be able to forgive me? Because Pey, you don’t have to. I know I don’t deserve it. At all.”

“I’m saying I think everyone deserves a second chance. So yes, I forgive you,” I said. Then I held up a hand. “But no more lies. Total honesty from now on.”

“So would now be a bad time to reveal that I am in fact the grandson of Ted Bundy?”

I poked him in the chest. “Too soon for jokes.”

“Sorry.” He smiled, his eyes twinkling, and he reached for one of my hands, enclosing it in both of his. “Thank you for forgiving me even though I’m an asshole.”

“Thank you for saving me.”

We stared into each other’s eyes in silence for a moment. Then Kaden finally spoke up again. “I suppose it’s also too soon to ask for a kiss?”

I smiled. “Yes. You wouldn’t want to, anyway. My mouth tastes like a rat crawled inside it and died.”

“How’s that different from usual?”

I laughed, then jabbed him in the chest again. “I said it was too soon for jokes!”

He winked. “But you’re laughing.”

“I was recently drugged, so you can’t trust anything I do,” I said, raising my eyebrows.

“I hope you don’t wake up tomorrow feeling different about us, then,” Kaden said, his face turning serious again.

I shook my head. “I won’t. I was kidding. I might’ve been drugged yesterday, and my brain might feel like someone took a corkscrew to it, but I can still think straight.”

“That’s a relief.”

I nodded, then frowned as something suddenly occurred to me. “Hang on. You said before that you honestly didn’t think you’d find anything while you were spying here at the hotel. Does that mean you did find something?”

Kaden nodded. “Yes. Long story.”

“Is it about the stuff you mentioned that night after the party?” I said, remembering the things he said about tax evasion rumors.

“Yeah. Pretty sure the head of accounting has actually been embezzling money from the hotel for the past year. Maybe even more. I went and told your dad yesterday.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Yesterday? But… I fired you days ago. Why were you still looking into stuff at the Mirabella?”

“I wanted to help. I knew there was something going on, and I knew my parents wouldn’t drop it. They seemed dead-set on keeping up these rumors about your parents and their alleged tax evasion. So I made it my mission to prove otherwise, because I knew your family wouldn’t do that.”

“You helped my parents even after I told you to fuck off and never speak to me again?”

He nodded. “Yup.”

“Even though it might really piss your parents off?”

“Yup.”

I smiled and shook my head. “You’re really not that bad, Kaden. Not that bad at all.”

“That’s the nicest compliment you’ve ever given me.”

We both laughed, but I couldn’t keep it up for long. It made my head feel like it was about to explode. I groaned, and Kaden grabbed my hand again. “So what’s been going on? You said everything was a mess. Do you just mean the whole thing with me, and the scandal bullshit?”

I nodded. “Yeah. But not just that. My sister, too.”

“Yeah?”

I filled him in on how Allegra had behaved toward me last week, and when I was done, Kaden shook his head and grimaced. “What the fuck is her problem?”

I shrugged. “No idea.”

“I always knew she was weird. I never told you what I saw the other week, did I?”

“No.”

“It was so strange. I was at a grocery store about forty-five minutes from here, and I saw her there. She was dressed like she didn’t want to be seen. Baseball cap pulled down low over her face and so on. I tried to talk to her, but she looked like she’d seen a ghost and ran away.”

I arched a brow. “Weird. What was she buying?”

“Uhh…hair stuff, I think. She was standing in the aisle that has all the hair dyes and shampoos and so on. When she saw me, she grabbed a random bottle of conditioner and took off like Usain Bolt.”

“Maybe she was just nervous and didn’t recognize you. She could’ve thought you were just another journalist looking for an interview, and she wanted to avoid all that. That would explain why she was dressed like she wanted to hide her face. And also why she wanted to go shopping so far away from here.”

Kaden tapped his chin thoughtfully. “See, I thought the same thing at first. But then I remembered that she’s been acting like a massive attention whore lately, and taking every opportunity to be spotted by the media. So why would she suddenly be trying to hide on that one day?”

“That’s true.” I wrinkled my nose. “Maybe she just wanted a day off from all the attention.”

He shrugged. “I guess. I have other news to report, by the way.”

“What?”

“I found out who took those photos of us. The ones that got leaked to the media. It was Andreas. Fucking prick.”

My eyes widened, and my brows practically hit the ceiling. “What? Andreas?”

“Yup. He said—”

I held up a hand. “Sorry, can you hold on a sec before you tell me the rest? I really, really need to text Bianca.”

“Oh. Okay, sure.”

Guilt flooded through me as I grabbed my phone and speedily tapped out a message. Hey, B. I’m so sorry for avoiding you these last few days. I thought it was you who leaked those photos of me to the media. I should’ve spoken to you about it. I understand if you don’t want to forgive me, but please know how sorry I am.

She must’ve been holding her phone when I texted, because she replied almost instantly. Hey. I get it. I was worried you’d think that as soon as I saw the article online that morning, because there were so many things that could’ve made me look guilty. Yes, you should’ve spoken to me, but I understand why you didn’t. It must’ve been so stressful seeing that stuff posted everywhere, with all the shit people were saying. So yeah, I forgive you, babe. We’re good :)

I sent a reply. Thank you so much for understanding.

No problem. By the way, I obviously knew the article was total bullshit, so I’ve been telling anyone who will listen here at the Mirabella that it’s not true, and that you didn’t even know who Kaden was, let alone give him and his parents any information about the hotel. I’ve got your back even when you’re ignoring me!

I put my phone down with a small smile, grateful that Bianca had forgiven me and also grateful that she was helping to restore my reputation in the hotel. I’d made a true friend in her, even if I hadn’t acted like one to her.

I really owed her one.

“Sorry, go on,” I said to Kaden a second later. “Andreas said what?”

“It might be bullshit, but he said someone hired him to spy on you and take photos that could make you look bad. That’s why he got the job at the hotel.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Oh my god… who would do that?”

“I don’t know. I was about to ask him when you texted me needing help, so I didn’t get a chance. Doubt the slimy little weed would tell me anyway.”

I sighed. “So someone wants to make me look bad and is willing to part with money to make that happen,” I said. “Great….”

“Yeah. It sucks.”

I sat up straight. “You know what? If that asshole wants to stalk me, then let’s stalk him!”

Kaden’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“If Andreas was really paid by someone to follow me around and take photos of me, then maybe if we stalk him a bit, we can find out who hired him. Or at least get enough ideas to make a guess. I mean, it’s a long shot, but it might work. And like you said, he’ll probably never tell us who it is.”

He nodded slowly. “We could try. But I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

I sighed. “I know. It’s probably dumb. But hey, what else can we do?” I said. I nodded toward my laptop computer, which sat on a desk in a nook on the other side of my suite. “Could you grab my laptop?”

Kaden smiled. “Sure.”

Once I had it ready to go, I opened a search browser. “What’s Andreas’ last name?” I asked, glancing up at Kaden with my fingers poised over the keyboard.

“Whittier.”

I typed in his name, along with the name of our city, and I scrolled through some of the search results. “I think I found his address,” I said. “He lives in—”

“Oakwood in Tozier Towers.” Kaden cut me off. “I know. He gave me his address before the staff party, because he was thinking about having pre-drinks at his apartment.”

I nodded. “Right. I guess knowing his address doesn’t really help us anyway,” I said. Then I wrinkled my nose. “Small world, though. Tozier Towers is where my sister used to live before she moved into the Mirabella. She told me when she first moved in.”

“Right.” Kaden yawned, and my eyebrows furrowed with concern.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry, I totally forgot—you haven’t had any sleep in ages,” I said.

He nodded and smiled. “I’m fine. Although I should probably put my clothes back on.”

“I dunno.” I shrugged. “I kinda like this ‘towel around the waist’ look.”

“Sleaze.” Kaden grinned, then stood up. “I’ll just get dressed quickly while you keep looking online.”

I nodded and kept searching. “I found his Instagram, Twitter and Facebook,” I called out a moment later.

“Anything useful on those?” he asked, emerging from the bathroom in jeans and a shirt.

“Not really. Just a ton of photos. He has about a million albums on Facebook.” My eyebrows shot up a moment later. “Oh my god, you have to see this. It’s an album from three years ago. Apparently he went to some sort of pirate-themed costume party. He looks ridiculous.”

I clicked into the album, and Kaden joined me on the bed. “Holy shit, he looks so young!”

“I know, right? He would’ve only been seventeen or so in these pictures.”

I clicked through the entire album out of curiosity, having a giggle at some of the silly costumes.

“That’s weird,” Kaden remarked, pointing to one of the photos a moment later.

“What?” I wrinkled my nose. “The fake parrot on Andreas’ shoulder?”

He shook his head. “No, the way it’s been cropped. It’s like the fifth photo I’ve seen so far where a girl has her arm around him, or her hand on his shoulder, but she’s been cut out of the picture.”

I frowned and clicked back through some of the previous photos. “Huh. You’re right; I didn’t even notice. It’s the same girl, too, because she’s wearing that silver bracelet in all of them.”

“And she’s not in any of the other photos that actually show people’s faces and bodies. At least I haven’t seen that bracelet on any of them.”

I nodded. “Yeah. It’s like she’s been purposely cut out of the album. I guess it’s an ex-friend Andreas doesn’t like anymore?”

“Guess so.”

I hit backspace on my keyboard to get out of the album so I could go back to Google, but it simply took me back to a previously-viewed photo. I was about to click out of it entirely when something caught my eye, and my heart began to race. “Oh my god….”

Kaden looked at me. “What is it?”

The photo I was looking at was another one of Andreas sitting down with the mysterious silver bracelet girl’s hand on his shoulder. It had been taken at quite close range, so Andreas was the main focus, and the only part of the girl that was clear and visible was her hand and arm along with a glimpse of a patterned dress.

I squinted at the hand, and then I clicked the ‘full size’ option and zoomed in further. “No way.…”

“What is it?” Kaden repeated.

I turned to him with wide eyes. “The girl’s hand… I know it. I know who she is,” I said. “It’s my sister!”