“I’m happy for them,” Ari finally said. She didn’t know where the words came from. But they did. “Of course, I am.”

“But…? Let me guess… They don’t seem to realize what’s going on around them any longer?”

“Does that make me selfish?” She asked the question that had been bothering her since it became clear that Jillian was gone over Rafe. “I guess I got used to it being the three of us. Now, it’s the four of them. And me. It’s awkward. Especially with him.”

She winced when it sank in that it was his brother she’d just practically insulted. But wasn’t the same true for Marc? Travis and Rafe now consumed with Jillian and Lacy? Or did guys think like that. Maybe Marc hadn’t felt that way at all, and it was just something she had to get over?

“I can see where it would be. Rafe was a bit of an asshole when you first met. No denying that fact.”

“Hmmm. A bit.” He’d terrified the socks right off her. Still did. Ari was working hard at not letting that show. “It makes it a bit awkward. I’m not so certain that I want to be around him. Yet, to be around Jillian I don’t have much of a choice. I’m not quite certain what to do about him. Travis…Travis is a lot easier.”

“He always has been. Rafe has always been full of intensity. Everything was just always more for him. He’s gifted, you know. Beyond just intelligent. Yet he’s always been the most sensitive of the three of us. The most empathetic. Sometimes I think he’s shut himself off just so he could survive. Our parents…they weren’t the greatest for someone as easily hurt as he was. Is.”

“Luc and Simon and Paige are all considered gifted like that. I think. Paige…Paige doesn’t seem to think she is. But I do.” Her older sister was remarkable—in all that she’d accomplished, in how talented she was.

If Rafe was considered intense, so was Paige. On many levels. And Luc? He personified that description Well, he was starting to personify the crazy billionaire mad scientist archetype. Payton was all that kept her brother grounded sometimes, it seemed.

Simon was just beginning to tap into his own potential.

“As are you.”

He’d said it like he believed it. Ari looked at him as the orange streaking across the sky surrounded them. “No, I’m not. I’m not like any of them. They can get through anything. I’m afraid ninety-nine percent of the time any more. I don’t think I always was. Until what happened with Henry. And Justin Albright. And that delivery guy Don whatever-his-name was. I don’t even remember his name and he almost killed us all. I’m afraid of everything, Marc.”

And that was part of her problem. They were strong people, even Simon, able to fight for what they needed or wanted. Not like her, timid and afraid of her own shadow.

Or the older brother who didn’t want her.

“No? Look at what you’ve accomplished. With W4HAV, with your music. I’ve seen the sketches and paintings you’ve done, too.”

“I’m not a doctor or a crazy inventor or even the top of one of the best FBI teams in the nation. The only reason I’m involved with W4HAV is because of circumstances. Because there was no one else willing to do it. Or who had the connections to make it happen. And even that was because I screwed up.”

“How on earth did you screw up anything, sweetheart?”

“I started searching for my birth mother. A serial killer used that to find my sister and Simon. If I hadn’t done that, she’d still be alive. And what happened to me, to Simon and Paige never would have happened. Or a bunch of other people. People are dead because of what I started. Did you know…Mel was shot because of what I did? Because what I started?” Because what Ari had had a friend find on a computer had led a serial killer to Paige. That serial killer had orchestrated so much pain for her sister. And Jillian’s. Sometimes it was hard to even look at Mel and the damage that killer had done to her. What kind of damage she could possibly do to Rafe in a moment or two hadn’t escaped her. Hurting him wasn’t something she wanted to do.

What she wanted to do was forget for a little while. Instead, she kept pressed up against Marc’s shoulder and let the wind and the sun and the scent of the world around them calm her. A little.

“Honey, I don’t believe that. I don’t know the full story, but no one can possibly blame you. I won’t let them.”

“No, they don’t. I don’t know why they don’t. I blame me sometimes. If I had just been happy and content not knowing about her, Mel would never have been shot. Simon wouldn’t have been kidnapped. Paige wouldn’t have been hurt that day, nor would more than a dozen other people. It was one domino. And it sent the rest toppling. It changed everything. Changed my whole world. I’d be in Austin right now, with the symphony, had it not happened.”

He wrapped his hand around her arm and turned her to look at him more fully. “And you wouldn’t have these people who love you, either.”

“I tell myself that every single day. I’m so grateful to have them. That they’ve made room for me.”

He pulled her closer. Ari let him, needing that connection. Mel had called her two hours ago. There was definitely a brother in Abilene, not Amarillo, like they’d first thought.

And it was up to her if she wanted to make contact.

She had to talk to Rafe about it, tonight. Because he deserved to know, too. And what she had to tell him was going to rock his very existence on its foundation. More than any of their other siblings out there, this was one Rafe needed to know about.

And it was her job to tell him.

She looked up at his brother. “Mel called me when we were at Lacy’s. I need…I need to talk to Rafe tonight. And it’s important. I think it’s going to hurt him. I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I can hurt anyone else. I should have never started this stupid quest. Too many people have been hurt by it.” Paige, Simon, Mel—and now Zoey was all confused. And Rafe.

“Especially you. Listen to me, baby. You did not hurt anyone by what she did. You’re just the unlucky one now at the center of the fall-out. Whatever you’re going to tell Rafe tonight, he’s a big boy. He’ll get through it. He’s not alone to face anything and neither are you. I am right here. For as long as you need me to be.”

Ari pressed against him and cried.

Marc’s arms went around her and he held her and rocked while the tears flowed.