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Then a voice cuts through the air.

"What the hell is going on?"

I tense instantly, my head snapping toward the entrance of the café.

Ryan.

And Nate.

And Ava.

Fucking hell.

Vanessa, to her credit, doesn't even flinch. She just tilts her head, her smirk growing as she sips her drink, her gaze flicking between Ava and me like she's delighted by the interruption.

Ava looks frazzled, her gaze locked onto Vanessa like she's barely resisting the urge to lunge across the table.

Ryan, on the other hand? His temper is already at a rolling boil, fists clenched, nostrils flared, livid. "I swear to God, if you're making deals with her?—"

"I'm handling it," I cut in sharply.

Ryan glares at me like I just spat in his face. "Handling it?" His voice rises. "You're having drinks with the psycho who's been targeting my sister!"

Vanessa sighs dramatically, setting her glass down with a soft clink. "Oh, this is precious." She glances at Ava, feigning concern. "Darling, are they always this emotional?"

Ava doesn't answer.

Because Ava is looking at me.

And she has the guilty look on her face that tells me she was the one who told her brothers. Either to keep them safe, or to protect me from Vanessa. Knowing her, it's probably both.

Goddamn it.

"Ava—" I start, but she shakes her head, stepping back.

Ryan steps forward, his jaw tight. "I don't know what the fuck you're playing at, Carter, but you'd better start explaining."

Vanessa smiles sweetly, pure poison. "Yes, Liam. Do tell."

And just like that, everything I've been building—everything I've baited Vanessa into admitting?—

teeters on the edge of falling apart.

23

AVA

Liam has always told me to stay put and leave the messy stuff to him.

And like an idiot, I actually tried this morning.

I paced the loft for twenty minutes, chewing my nails, jumping every time my phone buzzed. I made tea, then forgot about it. I turned on the TV but didn't register a single thing that played. And then I started imagining the worst.

Vanessa is ruthless. Liam knows that. She plays games with people's lives and smiles while doing it. And I might have put on a good show at the gallery, pretending to be vulnerable, but Vanessa? She's been doing this her whole life. She doesn't just manipulate people. She dismantles them.

And Liam, with his wholeI can handle itattitude, was walking right into her trap.

That thought? That was my breaking point.