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“Sometimes I wish we would have broken up years ago. Then it wouldn’t hurt as much.”

“It would have hurt regardless of when it happened. For the record, if you’d told me about the two of you from the beginning, I would have advised you on all the issues of falling in love with a liberal-leaning, dominant technology billionaire turned real-estate tycoon. After all, he is my adopted brother.”

“Why can’t a woman have her ambitionandthe man?”

“She can, but not without compromises.”

I glanced at Sam. She had a hand on the delicate swell of her belly. She and Devin had gotten their second chance because they had met in the middle. Never would I have ever thought my ultra-driven brother, who’d gained a position as a federal judge by the time he was thirty, would step down from the judicial bench to let Samina pursue her political career.

“Maybe one day you’ll find your way back to each other,” Sam added.

I shook my head. I couldn’t pretend. “No, we won’t. He wants the family he’s always dreamed of having. He’s a marry-once-and-forever kind of guy.” I turned toward Sam. “Do me a favor.”

She looked up at me. “What?”

“Don’t set him up with anyone I know. He’ll come to you to help him find the right girl.”

With Veer’s looks and money, he could find the wrong girl all day and night.

“You’re the right girl. Anyone else is just a consolation.” Sam wrapped her arms around me. “I promise. Why don’t you go sit outside while I make some tea and then I’ll join you?”

With a nod, I grabbed my cup from the counter and headed out the door leading to the patio.

* * *

As I mademy way down the wraparound deck of the house, I came to a halt. Ashur paced back and forth as he dialed someone on the phone. His face was in a hard scowl.

It was too early for Tara to have done something to piss him off, and as far as I knew, she wasn’t awake yet. She’d told me she wanted one more day of sleeping in before she had to return to Seattle and take on her new caseload.

“Where the fuck are you? We were supposed to talk this morning.” Ashur cupped the back of his neck. “I don’t care if it is the crack of dawn. We have shit to discuss.”

It was probably business. It took a force of nature to get him to step away from his many business endeavors. Ashur had a head for finance and technology that had allowed him to create one of the top private equity firms in the country.

A little less than ten years ago, he, Kevin, Veer, and Devin had started mining bitcoins. In the beginning, it was all for fun to see if the tech skills each of them had could get them some pocket change but quickly it had turned into more, netting them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Once huge bitcoin farms became commonplace, the market became too volatile. So the group decided to sell the cryptocurrency for stocks and real estate. This led all of them to become independently wealthy. Ashur had used his funds to help technology startups as an angel investor, leading him to earn a return ten times his initial contribution.

Ashur set the phone on the railing and hit the speaker button. I was about to let him know I was there, when he said, “Veer, I’m in. No more exploring. Now you need to do your part.”

This was about the big secret Veer and Tara had been keeping. No one would tell me what it was when I’d asked, so I guessed snooping was the next best option, and I had no guilt whatsoever.

“Ash, you need to calm the fuck down unless you want to make an official declaration. Someone is bound to hear you.”

Declaration?What were they planning?

“No one’s up, so stop your worrying.” He glanced at his watch. “Fuck. It’s seven. I thought it was earlier. Samina will be up, and if she learns our plan before I talk to her, she’s going to castrate me, and whether or not Tara agrees won’t matter.”

Then Ashur picked up his phone and began to scroll through some pictures. Over his shoulder, I could see that he’d stopped at one of Tara. She was lounging by the pool with shades covering her eyes. It was from two nights ago. He traced her face with his finger.

I shook my head. He had been such an ass to her and now he was longing for her.

“Why did you convince me to come down? We haven’t settled anything, and Tara can barely stand to be in the same room with me, much less want to be the mother of my children.”

Veer laughed over the line. “So, no thawing the glacier of ice between you two?”

He set the phone back on the railing and gripped it. “That would be an understatement. I’ve avoided Tara for over a decade, pushing down the hurt, and now a few days in her presence and my mind is all jacked up, and all I can think about is everything that kept us apart for a decade. I wish one of us had stayed away.”

“In her defense, Tara had no idea you were coming. She is Samina and Jacinta’s friend. She planned the trip months ago. Besides, she needed a break from all the media attention she’s gotten recently because of the misogynist in the Oval Office.”

I internally shook my head. Veer always had a knack for throwing in a jab at the president.

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