“I’m sorry.”

I can still see the words on Kane’s lips, just like I can see them on the paper he left in my Bronco.

Because he planned all of this.

Betrayal slices through me again, along with gut-wrenching guilt. I helped him kill my brother.

What kind of sister does that? A stupid one.

I look down at the crumpled paper in my seat.

---

---

“Fuck you, Kane! You don’t get to be sorry!” I scream like a woman with nothing to lose as I jump out of my truck and spin around to face the tools. I came here to get the Bronco, but now I have a completely different objective in mind.

I stomp toward the workbench and look for a lighter and gasoline.

I’m going to burn this motherfucker down.

I spot the torch I used to weld the sculpture I was making for him that day my world ended with three gunshots. Perfect. Fucking poetic. I scan the expansive space for anything I can use as an accelerant. A red gas can on a shelf on the opposite side of the warehouse stands out like a homing beacon.

“Fuck your apology, Kane. Fuck this warehouse. Fuck everything. I’m done!”

I start toward the gas can, but before I reach it, a large hand closes over my arm.

“I don’t think so, princess.”

The rage thrumming through my veins dies for a second at that deep voice.

The deep voice that belongs to a dead man.

I’m imagining things. This isn’t real.

My gaze darts down to my forearm, and the fingers wrapped around it are flesh and blood. Not those of a ghost.

Those big hands send an avalanche of memories tumbling down, crushing my lungs.

No. It’s not possible. He’s—

“Temperance—”

He says my name, and I snap out of my momentary paralysis to whip around to stare up into icy blue eyes that are now as familiar as my own.

My heart slams in my chest as shock floods my system.

Kane.

He’s alive.

He’s alive.

This isn’t possible. I shake my head, trying to break whatever hallucination I’ve somehow gotten lost in.

He’s a ghost. That’s the only thing that makes sense.

The hand on my arm grips tighter. It’s big and strong and real.

“How . . . you—” I can’t get out anything coherent as I jerk my gaze back to his face. “I don’t understand.” My entire body shakes, sending vibrations through my voice.

“I did what I had to do.”

His words send a completely new level of rage boiling through me.

“You did what you had to do? You killed my brother!”

My scream ends on a ragged note as I rip my arm from his hold and flail to grab the closest object that can double as a murder weapon. My fingers wrap around a piece of pipe, and I swing it at his head. Kane latches onto it before it can connect, not even wincing at the impact against his palm.

“Temperance—”

“How could you?” My scream echoes through the warehouse, sounding as demented as I feel.

I jerk the pipe back, intending to swing again, but he yanks it out of my grip and sends it flying. It clangs when it hits the concrete floor, and my instincts roar.

I’m going to make him hurt as badly as I have.

I reach for the wrench, but before I can close my hand around it, Kane’s thick arms wrap around me, caging me like a straitjacket.

“Let me go!”

“Never.” His deep voice rumbles in my ear, and I struggle against him as he holds me tight. “Never, Temperance. I will never fucking let you go. And I swear to Christ, I didn’t kill your brother. He’s as alive as I am. I promise. I would never fucking hurt anyone you love. Never. I’d end my own life first.”

I jab an elbow into his gut before his words sink into my brain. I’m still fighting him like a wild thing when I finally comprehend what he’s repeating over and over.

Rafe is alive. He’s alive. I swear.

“What?” The single word comes out on a ragged breath as his hold loosens.

“He’s alive. I swear to God,” Kane says. “It was all—”

I spin in the circle of his arms as disbelief wars with soul-burning rage. Kane’s icy blue gaze blazes with tortured agony that matches the emotions fueling my wrath. Drip by drip, a fraction of the pain drains away, and my brain spins in a completely new direction.

“You played me?” I stare at him like he told me they were both abducted by aliens. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“It was the only way.”

The admission might as well be a Golden Glove boxer’s combo that knocks me on my ass. I barely stay upright as reality pummels me.

They’re alive.

Both of them.

Rafe is okay.

Kane isn’t dead.

As much as I want to believe every single word of what he’s saying to the very depths of my soul, I’m done living on faith. I’m done trusting blindly.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I swear on—”

Slowly, coldly, I repeat, “I don’t care what you swear on. I don’t believe you.”

A flash of something flickers over Kane’s face. I could swear it’s pain, but I don’t care right now. It’s not even a fraction of the torment I’ve been living with the past month.

His jaw ticks as he watches me. “Temperance, please—”

I want to believe him. I want to believe him more than I want to take my next breath, but I can’t be stupid. I can’t be naive. I can’t trust him again so easily.

“You lied to me! Why should I believe a goddamn thing you say? I want proof. Proof of life. Proof that this isn’t just one more elaborate scheme to get me to trust you so you can make a half-million dollars by putting a bullet in the only family I have left.”

Kane’s expression goes blank, then he pulls out a phone and enters a passcode before dialing a number. He taps the command for the call to go to speaker as soon as it starts ringing.

I wait with the most excruciating hope as it rings four times. Just before I give up hope, he answers.

“What the fuck you need? I’m busy.”

“Rafe?” My voice shakes as I say my brother’s name.

“Saxon? What the fuck?” It’s my brother’s voice, his tone sharp, but my faith in believing what I see and hear is shattered.

“I made an executive decision. Your sister needs to know you’re okay.”

Rafe curses before he replies. “Tempe? That you?”

“Yes,” I whisper. I rack my brain to think of a question to ask him that no one else would know the answer to, but Rafe’s tone changes.

“I didn’t want you to find out this way. Saxon shouldn’t have—”

I interrupt him. “How old was I the first time I ate catfish?”

“What?”

“I need to know it’s really you. I don’t trust him.” I glance up at Kane. “I don’t fucking trust anyone anymore.”

“Fuck. I’m sorry, Tempe. So fucking sorry.”

Tears blur my vision, but I refuse to let them fall. “Catfish, Rafe. Answer the fucking question.”

“You hate catfish. You got something else you need to ask before you believe it’s me?”

A ray of hope cuts through the dark skies that have lined my world for a month.

“Where did you hide Daddy’s belt?” I whisper, still scared to trust, but able to let that brightness break through a little more each second.

“I burned it with gas from the extra tank for the boat. Well, I tried, but the metal wouldn’t melt, so I gave the buckle to you, and you made something out of it after you learned to solder.”

I release a ragged breath.

My brother is alive. My entire body starts to shake as my knees give way and I hit the floor. Kane tries to pull me back up, but I bat his hands away.

“You’re alive.” My voice breaks and tears rush down my face. My sobs turn to heaves. “Why the hell would you let me think you were dead? How could you do that to me?”

Kane drops to his knees beside me, but I wrap both arms around my middle, holding myself together as though I fear I’ll shatter any moment.

“I swear we didn’t have a choice,” Rafe says. “We had to keep you safe. It was the only way we knew they’d believe it.”

“Who? Who had to believe it? What are you talking about?”

Kane answers before Rafe can. “The traffickers. We needed them to think Ransom and I were both dead. We had to take the pressure off so we could eliminate them and keep you safe.”

My brain works overtime to comprehend what I’m hearing, piecing together their logic, but it still rips me to shreds when I think of how I’ve been drowning in grief for weeks.

“It was the only way,” Rafe says. “I would never put you through this if it wasn’t the only way. You know that.”

Rationally, I know my brother wouldn’t intentionally cause me pain, but I’m not completely rational yet.

“I could’ve acted. I’m a good actress.”

“I’m so sorry, Tempe. I fucked up.” Rafe sounds just as destroyed as I feel. “I should never have taken the job. Never. I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you.”

“Where are you?” I whisper. When Rafe doesn’t answer, I whip my head toward Kane. “Really? More secrets?”

“It’s safer this way,” my brother says.

“No. No more fucking secrets. I’m done with them. Done with all of it. I deserve to know.”

“Tell her, Ransom.” Kane joins the conversation again.

After a pause, Rafe answers. “I’m hunting down the last threat. Then we can live free and easy again.”

My blood, which was finally simmering rather than boiling, goes ice cold.

“You’re hunting a human trafficker who wanted you dead?” I jerk my chin toward Kane. “Why didn’t you go? You’re the killer for hire.”

Kane’s lips flatten, but Rafe is the one to reply.

“It’s my mess, Tempe. Saxon helped more than I deserved. I started this, and now it’s time for me to end it.”

“Please tell me this isn’t some kind of suicide mission. Please tell me you’re coming back to me. I can’t get you back only to lose you again. Don’t do that to me. Not now.” My voice cracks and another wave of tears trails down my cheeks. I wipe them away, but I can’t help being an emotional basket case right now. I’m entitled after this roller coaster of a month.

“I’m coming back. I swear it on Mama’s grave.”

The ice in my veins warms a few degrees.

“You better mean that, because if anything happens to you, I swear I’ll find you, bring you back to life, and then kill you myself for putting me through hell. You understand me, Rafe Ransom?”

My brother chuckles into the phone. “It’s a deal. I gotta go, Tempe. I’ll be hugging you in person soon. I’m so fucking sorry for all of this. I’ll make it up to you. Don’t be too hard on Saxon. He saved my ass. I’d be dead for real if he hadn’t thought this whole plan up. Love you, girl.”

He ends the call with my echoing I love you hanging in the air.

I push off my feet and stumble toward a wall. Kane’s large form comes toward me, and I wave him off. I’m not ready to deal with him yet.

“I wanted to tell you . . . but this was the only way.”

“Bullshit!” I explode. “It wasn’t the only way.” I drag my gaze up to meet his.

Kane opens his mouth to speak and then closes it again.

“You lied to me. You made me think . . .” I don’t even want to say it again. “How could you do that to me? I’ve been one step up from a corpse for a goddamned month because you couldn’t trust me enough to tell me anything.”

“Temperance—” He steps toward me, and I hold up a hand to keep him back.

“All you had to do was tell me.”

His fists clench at his sides as another stream of tears sneaks down my cheeks.

“It had to look real.”

“Well, fucking great. I’m so glad it looked real for you. And guess what? This is real too. How much I fucking hate you for this is real! How dare you?” I’m shrieking and I don’t care at all. I’ve been through hell, and I told myself I was to blame for every single moment of it. “You made me think I betrayed my brother and got him killed!”

Kane squeezes his eyes shut and dips his chin before drawing in a breath and staring me down. “You can hate me for the rest of your life, and I’d still do it all the same again.”

I suck in a breath. “You fucking—”

He interrupts me with a roar. “Because now, you get to live! That is the only fucking reason I did any of it. For you. Because I love you.”