"She what?" I asked my father as an all-white golf cart pulled up in front of the resort and stopped. Broadrick raised his hand to stop the driver from greeting us after he got out. "You don't want me at Vivi's graduation party?"

Vivi was my only sister. This was her only high school graduation party. How did they not want me there?

"Your aunt plans to help your mother set up and run the party. She needs something to take her mind off her..." He paused. "Unpleasantries."

I filled in between the lines for him. I was the unpleasantries. They didn't want to see my face. If I could go back and make different choices about turning over the information against my uncle to Anderson, I would. At the time, it sounded like the right choice. I had a duty to keep, but now my family had abandoned me. Why did doing the right thing feel so bad?

"So, I can't come at all?" I asked as Broadrick stood beside me, looking unsure of what to do.

Silence met my question until my father let out a deep breath. "It's probably for the best, pumpkin."

His words crashed into my heart and lungs, leaving it hard to breathe. "Right. Okay. Talk to you later," I said and hung up quickly before he heard my tears.

"Babe?" Broadrick asked as he spun me around and tucked me into his chest. "What happened?"

I wiped at my wet eyes, refusing to let an actual tear fall. "They don't want me at Vivi's graduation party."

"Oh..." Whatever else he wanted to say trailed off. Or he had nothing else. What did someone say in this situation?

I hugged him back quickly, stepped away, and turned toward our waiting golf cart. No. This wasn't going to stop me from seeing my sister. "He doesn't understand what he's talking about. They can't keep me away from celebrating Vivi."

"Vonnie," he said, following me with both bags swinging on his shoulder. "It's probably best not to crash the party."

I spun back to him at the side of the golf cart. "She's my only sister, Broadrick."

As an only child, he didn't understand. Vivi and I had a bond.

Broadrick greeted our driver, and I gave him a weak smile. We both sat in the second row of seats on the golf cart after Broadrick piled our luggage into the far storage area in the back. The only golf carts I'd ever seen were simple two seaters, but on the island, they practically had stretch carts. We'd seen a couple that had three rows of seating. They were the SUVs of golf carts.

"Why would your father not want you there?" Broadrick asked as our driver pulled the golf cart away from the curb.

I shrugged, even though I knew the answer to his question. He did too.

We passed the bakery with the crappy customer service policies and then Stitchin' Stories flew by our side a few shops later. My heart hurt more. We were racing back to Pelican Bay to attend an event I'd just been uninvited to. Pelican Bay had been my home forever, but it didn't feel homey at the moment.

Plus, now I'd never find out if Henrietta got kicked out of her family if she got caught with the gardener. Ragen promised everyone an update at Sunday's Stitch and Bitch, but I wouldn't be there to get it. Unlike Pelican Bay, they didn't have a Facebook group for sharing up-to-the-minute updates. Everything on the island ran through word of mouth.

Broadrick wrapped his arm around my shoulders and tugged me to him. I rested my head against him. We reached the end of the stretch of matching stores and turned toward the dock in silence.

At the dock, our driver unloaded our two bags to the ferry worker, and Broadrick held my hand as we walked on the small, bright-white ferry back to the mainland.

"Did he say why, Von?" Broadrick asked as we found seats toward the front of the boat.

There were more passengers today, but not many. A tall man wearing a tan business suit sat to our left. A woman in black yoga pants and an oversized T-shirt found a seat at the back of the boat and pulled out a book. That wasn't a terrible choice. You could get a lot of reading done on the long ferry ride.

"He didn't get into the specifics," I finally said, in answer to Broadrick's earlier question. "But more than likely, it has to do with me putting my uncle in jail."

I mean, it wasn't like he didn't have reasons. Maybe I should stay away from the party. The last thing I wanted to do was cause more drama. At least over this.

Broadrick and I stared out at the water as the boat moved away from the dock, and I laid my head on his shoulder while I ran through my options. Did I gate crash my sister's party or let them have it in peace, letting her believe I didn't care about her accomplishment?

**

Ugh. I groaned and dropped the shirt and hanger to the floor. That one didn't look good either. I had to dress perfectly for the event. I spent the entire ferry ride back to Florida in deep thought about what to do for my sister's graduation party. When I still didn't have an answer, I gave it deeper thoughts on the plane ride home. Then I barely slept as I curled up next to Broadrick and contemplated the right decision. The right answer hadn't come to me the next day either.

Lately it seemed like I'd been making wrong choices left and right. It probably made sense for me to stay home and let Vivi have her party with no distractions. But she was my only baby sister, and today was her big day. The biggest one-besides birth-that she'd had so far. I couldn't miss it.

A few phone calls that morning, and I had a compromise in place. Broadrick didn't love the idea, but he also hadn't expressly forbidden me from following through with it. So I took that as a win.

"What's wrong, babe?" Broadrick asked, poking his head in the closet where I had my head buried in the hanging clothes.

I popped my head out. "Nothing."

"That doesn't look like nothing," he said when I stuck my head back in.

The clothes muffled my words when I said, "I haven't adjusted from the jet lag."

Broadrick pushed the hangers and clothes away, forcing me to look at him. "We never left our time zone."

It wasn't that simple. I threw my hands up and shook my head. "I can still have jet lag. The human body wasn't meant to be thirty thousand feet in the air, Broadrick. It messes with our equilibrium."

Or something. I'm sure one simple Google search would find someone on the internet who agreed with me.

I grabbed my cat wearing a piece of pizza shirt, groaned at it, and then dropped it to the growing pile at my feet.

Also, my tight stomach might have something to do with my nerves. I'd broken into a lot of houses, but I'd never broken into my parents' house. I was normally trying to get out. But if I wanted to see Vivi on her big day, I had to find a way inside and hope my plan worked.

Broadrick moved out of the way, and I spotted a simple red T-shirt that felt like a freaking cloud. I'd wear that. I reached toward him and grabbed the shirt from the hanger. Comfort was important in these situations.

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it from my jeans back pocket to read the text while Broadrick left the bedroom.

KATY: The entrance is secure and I'm in position.

Shit. It was go time. My chest tightened in response to her message, but I hurried to reply.

VONNIE: Roger that. We're headed out now.

I hit send on the message as I walked into the kitchen where Broadrick had the treat jar open for NB. The little brown and white dog wagged his tail at double speed, waiting for his doggie biscuit.

KATY: Let me know when you're ready to move forward.

Broadrick dropped a tiny green dog bone on the ground for NB and handed me two crisp one-hundred-dollar bills.

I took the money-never pass up free money-but narrowed my eyes at him. "I thought we agreed no prostitute money."

It's the only reason I gave in with the credit card he forced on me. Well, that and... it was a credit card that I didn't have to pay each month. But that was beside the point.

He shook his head and tossed NB another small bone. "It's for your sister's graduation card."

"Ohhh. Right. I knew that." I found the card at the end of the counter and shoved the money inside it. "Thanks."

I tucked the flap in the envelope and tapped it on the counter before dropping it. We couldn't get there too early, but I didn't want to make Katy wait, either.

"How do I look?" I asked Broadrick, turning away from the counter.

Broadrick picked up the envelope off the counter and handed it to me. "Great, babe. She'll appreciate your presence. Just don't get caught."

"I know." I rolled my eyes when he turned his head. Not getting caught was always objective number one. "Let's get this over with."

The longer we stayed here, the more my nerves tightened the muscles in my stomach. I wanted to see Vivi and then get out of my parents' home quickly without being caught. If I managed, I'd reward myself with a cupcake.

"Okay, give me a second to say goodbye to my big guy," Broadrick said and lifted NB from the floor. He cradled him in his arms and gave NB a sweet kiss on the top of his head while mumbling sweet warnings to be a good boy. NB wiggled in his arms, eating up the attention.

I leaned against the counter and watched while my heart exploded. There was something sexy about a man being cute with an animal. It was double sexy when Broadrick did it. The man really was the love of my life.

How did I get so lucky to find him so early? How did I keep a hold of him forever?

We had a rough road in the beginning with our long-distance relationship and then break-up, but we finally ended up together.

Could I let him go to Florida and follow his dream without me? Did I force him to stay here while I fixed my mistake and busted my uncle out of jail? What about finding Emma's killer? We had a lot on the line right now, and I desperately didn't want to screw it up. We'd already spent so much time apart. I didn't want to lose him completely.

"I love you." The words simply came out of their own accord as I watched him spoil our dog.

Broadrick smiled and walked over with NB still in his arms. He gave me a kick kiss on the cheek. "Love you too, babe."

"You ready?" he asked as he placed NB back on the kitchen floor. The dog ran circles around him, begging for more treats.