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I ARRIVED HOME AFTERanother busy day at the office, and made some dinner before settling on the sofa to catch up on the newest episode of Bones. The end credits had just started rolling when there was a loud knock at my door.

I stared at it with knitted brows. The only person who knew where I’d moved to was Aaliyah, and I was hoping to keep it that way for a little longer.

The knock came again, and I started wondering if it was Caleb. The possibility of having him here gave me pause. I didn’t know how to be around him now, or if I would be comfortable having him in my personal space.

So what if it’s him? I reasoned. You can behave professionally when it comes to your boss.

Because that’s all he was now.

My boss.

Not my lover.

And I was just his employee.

Not his dirty little public secret.

We were over.

Simple.

Right?

I opened the door, and immediately wished I’d looked through the peephole. It wasn’t Caleb. Not even close.

“Hi, Kadence.”

I stared at my sister, and then looked at my ex-fiancé, Baxter, standing at her side.

Was this a bad dream?

It had to be. It just had to be.

“W-what are you doing here?”

I knew after having my ‘relationship’ with Caleb so publicized that my family would be able to find me, but I never expected them to show up.

“Aren’t you going to let us in?” asked Katrina. She looked so much like our mother with her long, dark hair, slender body, and flawless face. I’d always envied that about her.

Stunned speechless, I looked between the two of them, and when my eyes drifted further down, I noticed Katrina’s baby bump.

No.

No no no no.

“We decided to come see you in person,” said Baxter, his accent thick with his English twang. Five years and he still looked like the pompous asshole I was engaged to.

“Please, Kadence.” My sister was pleading. She never pleaded. For anything. She never had to. Everything had always come so easily to her.

“I’d rather not,” I replied. “I have nothing to say to either of you.”

I moved to shut the door, but Baxter stopped it with his hand.

“I realize this is sudden,” he looked at Trina, and she gave him a nod of encouragement. “But if it weren’t important, we wouldn’t have flown half way across the world to tell you.”

What the fuck? Was I in some kind of alternate universe? I knew the people standing in front of me, and they certainly weren’t the considerate type.

The possibility of them leaving if I shut the door in their faces was minimal, so I let out an exasperated breath and stepped aside. I had a bad feeling about this, the kind that made you want to vomit in someone’s face.