Chapter 3

I turned around. Looked Quinn straight in the eye.

She was leaning against the pool table, head tilted, watching me. That smile on her face.

I'd seen it too many times. Every cold war. Every fight. Every near-end. That same look.

A breezy "she's always like this." Turning every ounce of my pain and resentment into a sideshow.

Our eyes locked.

She didn't flinch. She lifted her chin a fraction, wearing that arrogance of someone cradled in everyone's palms her whole life.

Hunter shifted sideways. Put himself half a step in front of her.

That one motion said everything. The person he wanted to protect—wasn't me.

Quinn's smile deepened.

I smiled too.

She thought she'd won. She didn't know my feelings for Hunter had already died. On some late night. Along with that whole bottle of pills I swallowed.

The next day, a headline detonated across the Upper East Side financial pages.

**Anonymous Confession Exposes Kensington Group's Dark History: Thirty Years of Blood Money. How Many Families Destroyed.**

The letter listed every family Kensington had ruined.

Including the Aria family. Their only daughter, Aria—rumored to have been pushed to the edge. But no one could find her anymore.

While the story exploded, I was at the cemetery. Visiting my parents. My fingertips brushed their photo.

My mother in her faded lab coat. My father in his navy suit. Standing side by side. Facing the camera. Smiling.

That smile had the stubbornness of the lab and a kind of idealism that was almost naive. Rare for their age.

"Dad. Mom."

I set down the white chrysanthemums. Dew still on the petals.

Ten years ago today. The same damp cold. I watched the fire take them. I couldn't do anything.

Three days later, the creditors came. I pieced the truth together from their filth. Core data stolen. Massive funds missing. My father was about to be impeached by the board. Then he died. An accident.

I was nineteen. I tried to shoulder Aria Pharmaceuticals. Everything my parents had poured their lives into.

Eight months. I failed.

Then the debts were sold off. Me included. Priced and tagged.

The day I met Hunter was the most desperate day of my life.

I smiled at their photo. "You taught me to have a heart. To honor my debts. He pulled me out of hell."

"So I gave him ten years. My youth. My life. My dignity. My heart."

"I have no regrets."

The oaks along the cemetery path rustled in the wind.

I stood. Walked slowly down the stone path. My phone buzzed in my pocket. Remy's messages kept coming.

**Aria. Look at the news!!!**

**The Kensingtons. Fuck them. Her parents killed your parents. She wrecked your relationship. Is everyone in that family diseased?**

I stopped in the middle of the path. Read the article word by word. The details matched my memories. The days before my parents died. This wasn't baseless.

My head was chaos. My steps unsteady going down the stairs.

Near the bottom, a figure stood under a streetlamp. Tall. Lean. A cigarette burned red between his fingers. Hunter's face came clear out of the light and shadow.

He was on the phone.

"…kill the Kensington news. PR blackout. Quinn? Her parents' mess has nothing to do with her. Yes. I'm protecting her…"

He saw me. Hung up. Walked over.

"You saw the news."

"The Kensington thing is blowing up. People online are throwing everything at her. She's in bad shape."

He looked at me. Steady. Direct.

"So I need you to make a statement. Aria's bankruptcy had nothing to do with Kensington Group. It was your father's mismanagement."

Wind tore down the hillside. My blood went cold.