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I took care of them.

Jordan knew about the Brotherhood in the vaguest terms. I’d told him enough to explain why I needed the money in college, but he never grasped the full extent of what they did or my involvement with them.

I planned on keeping it that way. I refused to drag him into the seedy underbelly of my life.

“You took care of them,” he repeated. “Do I want to know how?”

I shrugged.

“Right.” His grimace told me he had his suspicions, but he’d rather not confirm them. “Ayana came by this morning. She told me about you two.”

My eyes flew to his.

“Don’t worry. I’m not pissed or anything,” he said with a wry smile. “We had a long talk. It was…helpful, so I’ll tell you the same thing I told her. Getting shot really made me reevaluate my priorities. Like, if it didn’t involve the risk of death, I’d recommend everyone try it because the clarity you get is unmatched.” His joking tone fell away with his next words. “I don’t want to pretend to be someone I’m not anymore, Vuk, and I definitely don’t want what happened before the ceremony to come between us.”

This time, I was the one who grimaced. We had to talk about what happened eventually, but I looked forward to it about as much as I looked forward to a root canal with no anesthesia.

“I was blindsided by, you know, the whole Ayana thing.” Jordan sighed, and a pang of guilt prickled my skin. “You should’ve told me earlier, Vuk. All those months we were engaged, you never said a thing. I made you take her to California for our cake tasting, for Christ’s sake.”

It wasn’t relevant at the time.Because I thought they’d been in love and that I could bury my obsession beneath avoidance. What a fool I’d been.

“It was relevant enough for you to try to buy me out an hour before the wedding. One hundred and twenty million dollars. That’s a hell of a commitment,” Jordan countered. “I was angry you’d kept such a big secret from me. I felt like an idiot, pushing you two together all the time when you…” He sighed again and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. The truth is out. The real question is, what happens now?”

A rock pressed right against my ribs.

He said he didn’t want to pretend anymore. Did that mean…I didn’t dare hope…

“I’m tempted to keep you in suspense, but fuck it.” Jordan reached for something in his bedside drawer. When he uncurled his hand, a familiar diamond glittered in the cradle of his palm. “I ended things with Ayana. Officially.”

My breath exploded out of me in a rush. The boulder collapsed, dragging a heavy ball of dread and anxiety away with it.

He’d ended things with Ayana. No engagement. No wedding. No sneaking around behind Jordan’s back. They were both single andfree.

If I weren’t sitting, I might’ve floated to the ceiling like Mary fucking Poppins.

“It was a long time coming. We made the pact so long ago, and neither of us was into it when the ceremony rolled around. We’d just invested too much into the sham to call it off at the last minute,” Jordan said. “I admit my ego also got in the way. No one wants to feel like a charity case, and it felt like you were just throwing money at me to make me go away. Like an amount that was such a big deal to me was nothing to you.”

A thread of guilt tethered me back to earth.

That wasn’t my intention, but I know I wasn’t particularly tactful during our conversation.I hesitated.I asked Ayana to call off the wedding a few weeks before the ceremony. She refused. Up until the last minute, I thought I could respect both your wishes and bear it anyway. Pretend it wouldn’t kill me inside to see her get married to someone else. But I couldn’t. In that last hour before the ceremony, I panicked, and when you told me about the arrangement, I thought I saw a clear way out. I wasn’t thinking about anything except stopping the wedding. That was my fault. I’m…sorry.

I wasn’t big on sharing my feelings or apologizing. I did what I did because I felt like it, and no one dared say a thing.

But this situation with Jordan and Ayana was different. They both deserved more from me.

“Jesus.” Jordan gawked at me. “I don’t think I’ve seen you express so many words at once, ever. Not even in college.”

I snortedDon’t get used to it. I’ve almost reached my word quota for the year.

“Good thing the year’s almost over, huh?” He tossed a small smile my way. “I appreciate the apology, and I accept. I’m sorry too, for letting my ego dictate my actions. I shouldn’t have tried to push through the wedding. It wasn’t fair to any of us. So.” Jordan cleared his throat. “I guess there’s no need for a long, drawn-outthingnow that we’ve both apologized, right? We’re cool?”

My mouth tipped up.Yes, as long as you put that ring away. I never want to see the damn thing again.

“Hey, this ‘damn thing’ cost a shit-ton of money.” But Jordan did as I asked.

When do you go home?

“The doctors want to monitor me for a few days. After that, I’m outta here.” He glanced at the door, his expression clouding. “Once I’m home, I’m going to tell my family everything. I’m dreading it, but maybe they’ll go easy on me considering I almost died. My grandmother is the one I’m most worried about. She fell on Friday, and that’s on top of her diagnosis. I hope our conversation doesn’t make things worse.”