Page 539 of Lodestar

Lorelei carefully replaced her cutlery on the table. “I understand how difficult it is for you to find your place in this world. You’re the daughters of a man who’s internationally renowned, you’re the siblings of a star who puts your father’s career in the shade, and Savannah’s reputation in her field is just as solid as Camden’s.

“But you’ve used your family enough to find your footing. No more, girls. No more. We’ve humored you long enough. Your father has been more than generous with his time, but if your show is still performing poorly, then that’s something you’ll have to face without leveraging us anymore.”

“But Mom?—”

Lorelei whipped her head to the side. “No, Paris. No. Our family has been through enough tragedy as it is. I won’t compound that by letting you try to weasel your way into getting what you want. How could you even think we’d—” A sob bleated through her words, freezing them forever on her tongue. “—after all the problems we’ve had because of drugs and gambling and alcohol!”

“Lorelei,” Dagger rasped, jerking to his feet and moving around the table to reach her side. His hand fixed on her shoulder the moment he was at her back, and something about the picture they made had me sucking in a breath.

Thiswas love.

What they had.

They’d survived several tragedies and they were still standing.

Stillthere, fighting together, persevering, and striving.

My hand blindly sought Conor’s, and though he didn’t realize the epiphany I’d just had, his fingers knotted with mine immediately. Like always, he squeezed twice. Just two pulses, but they were our code.

I love you.

God, I wanted what Lorelei and Dagger had—with Conor.

No one else.

Suddenly, it made sense to me why I’d never needed another guy for anything but fucking and why I’d used men for sex and had abused their eagerness to screw me to get what I wanted.

I’d been waiting.

For my Dagger.

But someone who was uniquely meant for me.

Conor O’Donnelly.

“Look what you’ve done,” Savannah spat at her twin sisters, breaking into my epiphanic moment.

Paris doubled down on that by releasing a sob and shooting away from the table, Aspen scuttling after her, leaving us in their wake.

Lorelei had turned her face into Dagger’s belly, but I still heard her loud and clear when, in the deafening aftermath, she hissed, “I bet that makes you happy, Star. Seeing our family torn apart?—”

“Mom!” Savannah and Camden argued at the same time.

“Lorelei,” Dagger chided, but he continued petting her hair as if she were a dog that needed stroking to calm her down.

“That’s uncalled for,” Conor rumbled.

My brow furrowed at the blatantly unfair accusation. “Not particularly,” was all I said, reaching for my glass of wine with my free hand. “I take no joy in your misery, Lorelei. Not when I’ve always considered your family to be mine too.”

She sniffed and turned her angry gaze on me. “If that’s the truth, then why is this the first time I’ve heard from you in years?”

“Serving overseas and then being undercover in the CIA wasn’t conducive to weekly phone calls with my father’s girlfriend,” I murmured, aware my words had more of a bite than before. “Then there was the little problem of being locked up in a cage in Lebanon—my owner didn’t allow me to make phone calls back home either.

“And, afterward, when I was bought and was forced to fuck for food, Lorelei, you weren’t my priority then, either.

“And if you’re asking why I haven’t called in the years since I escaped captivity, then that’s probably because I’ve been focused on bringing down a global trafficking-slash-terrorist organization that has infiltrated every government on the planet.

“Throw in the fact that I knew you’d give me this welcome, it’s safe to say I didn’t feel like reaching out.

---