“Could have been due to exhaustion,” I said, unwilling to discuss Helen.

His winged brows seemed to throw a thousand questions at me.

“But someone lit up and I strengthened,” I added, giving him just enough info to pacify.

It worked, and he moved on to check out the others. Using everyone’s distraction to my advantage, I snuck out without another word. Well, almost snuck out.

“Hold up,” Veronica called.

I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her right now. She and her sister thought the world would be a better place without me. Already noted. Didn’t need a repeat.

“Where are you headed?” she asked, coming up beside me.

“Back to the tunnel.” I would stand guard, and woe to anyone who tried to hurt Cole.

“I’ll go with you.”

My new dilemma: hint that I wanted to be alone or flat-out say it?

I’d never been one for hinting. “Look, I don’t want—”

“Me to go with you? Yeah. I know. But that’s too bad. It’s happening. There’s something we need to discuss.”

“Pass.”

She flicked me an irritated glance. “I’d follow you into hell right now.”

Well, crap. There was no way to fight that kind of determination. “Fine. Whatever. Do what you want.”

“Planned on it.”

“Planned on it,” I mocked.

We reached the end of the tunnel. I sat at Cole’s feet, resting my head on the wall behind me. Veronica paced in front of me.

“Just say it, whatever it is,” I prompted. “I can take it.” Maybe. Probably. “Then you can go.”

She ran a hand down her ponytail. “Do you remember when I told you I had an ace that would break up you and Cole?”

No. I’d forgotten. “Veronica, I sincerely hope you take this the way it’s intended—an insult. That’s one of the dumbest questions I’ve ever heard.”

“Whatever. My ace was Helen.”

I stiffened, my back going ramrod-straight. “What do you know about her?”

“I know she’s... Look, this is going to be hard to take, but there’s no way to drop a bomb like this gently. I just have to blurt it out. Helen is... Ali, she’s your birth mother.”

Birth mother. The words echoed in my mind.

I wanted to laugh at her.

I couldn’t laugh at her.

I’d entertained the thought myself, yes. But to have Veronica state it so baldly, so confidently...

A bomb of anger detonated inside me. “You don’t know anything.”

Emerald gaze grim, she said, “I know a lot more than you do.”

“Apparently not. Her kid died.”

“Which is exactly what she wanted Anima to think.”

A punch in the gut. “I agree. But I’m not her.” I couldn’t be. “The ages don’t match.”

I’m grasping.

“You are.” She offered me a sad smile. “And they do. Your birthday is not your birthday. You’re Samantha.”

Samantha. Sami. Another punch, this one harder, stealing my breath. “Not me. I would remember.”

“Isn’t that what you’re doing?”

Was it? I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

“After Cole gave me his famous brush-off and got back together with you,” she said, “I started digging into your past, looking for something to bury you. The pieces fell into place, and I almost told him. I wanted to, so bad. Helen didn’t just betray his mother—she betrayed mine. They worked for Anima, were planning to leave together. Only, Helen turned on Erin, my mom. They fought, and Erin ended up with a concussion and no memory.”

No memory...

The words taunted me.

Veronica quickened her pace. “I’m not sure how it happened, but my family ended up on Cole’s porch. His family took us in, but my mom was never the same. Never remembered Jules or me. Never again cared about us.”

“Stop talking,” I said. This was too much. I needed time to process.

She ignored me, forging ahead. “For all I knew, you were exactly like Helen, a traitor. I planned to catch you doing something awful. But the more I got to know you, the more I realized you were completely ignorant of her, and you weren’t hurting the group. You were helping.”

I stood and swayed as dizziness swept through me. “Stop, Veronica. Please.”

“You don’t want to hear the truth?” she asked. “You, who abhor lies, don’t want to admit you’ve been trapped in one all your life?”

“For all I know, you’re saying this simply to break up Cole and me, as planned, thinking there’s no way he’d want to date the daughter of his mother’s executioner.”

I’m grasping again.

Her lashes lowered, as if she couldn’t force herself to look at me right now—couldn’t deal with seeing her reflection in my eyes. “I saw how he was with you tonight. He knows, or at least he suspects, but still he’s protective of you. Actually, he’s more than that. He’s adoring.” A beat of surprised silence. “I never really knew him at all, did I? He was never going to leave you. My ace never mattered.”

A tremor nearly rocked me to my butt. “What makes you so sure Helen is...that I could possibly be...?”

“Erin and Helen didn’t just work together. They lived together. Two single women with daughters about the same age. I remember playing trucks with Sami. We’d fill them with dirt and crash them. Sami was blonde, beautiful...with unforgettable eyes. Your eyes. But she was always sad, rarely smiled. Never laughed. We used to make up stories about our dads.”