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"There's nothing we can do here," Sully says. "Let me take you home."

I lift my chin and shoot him a glare. "That's just it, Sully. I am home."

Sully's mouth flattens into a hard line, but I keep my chin high and my shoulders back. "The insurance papers are inside the house. I have to get them so Jas and I can start making calls."

"That can wait," he says.

A derisive laugh bubbles out of me. "No, it can't. This is my life, Sully. It's Jasmine's income. It's mine. It can't wait. Especially not when all of this is my fault."

"Maybe it wasn't him. It could've been something else. We'll have to wait for an arson report to come back to know for certain."

I shift my gaze back to the crowd and down the street. "Do what you need to do, but there's no need. It was him."

I know it was him.

Hours and three cups of coffee later, I drop onto a counter stool at the kitchen island inside my parents' home and watch as Jasmine's boyfriend comforts my younger sister.

"The insurance is going to take care of it once we get all the paperwork done," I hear him tell her again. "And now that you're off work, you can't say no to the vacation I've been wanting to take."

Jasmine's low teary huff of laughter is muffled by Corey's chest, but she nods as she pulls away from him to look at me.

"Would you be okay with that? I can stay in town, Vi, but if you're staying at Sully's⁠—"

"Go," I say in no uncertain terms. "Corey's right. Now's the best time to get away from here."

"You can come with us," Jas adds hopefully.

"Yeah, you're more than welcome to come," Corey agrees.

I shake my head. "No. I'm not running away. If I do, he wins."

Jasmine's eyes fill with tears once again before she comes at me, arms wide and then tight as she hugs me.

"Please come with us. Let's get you away from here and away from that maniac so you can be safe."

I release Jas and force her to look at me, lifting my hand to push her hair behind her shoulder. "If I'm here, you're safe. And right now, I need to know that. Go with Corey and try to put this mess out of your mind for a few days. Have fun. Make her have fun," I say to Corey. "Spoil her rotten."

"I plan to," he says, giving me a nod.

Shifting my gaze back to Jasmine, I try to glare her into submission. "Do this for me. So I don't have to worry about you."

"What about you?" Jas asks.

"I've got her, Jas," Sully says. "The guys and I will keep her safe."

I bristle at the statement, even though I'm not sure why, but go with it since it seems to reassure my sister. Jasmine nods and then after one last long and teary hug, follows Corey's urging to go pack her bathing suits and some sunscreen while he checks last minute travel deals.

The two make their way to Jasmine's bedroom, and Sully sets the sandwich he's been working on in front of me. "I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten anything all day."

"Because I'm not hungry," I say again, getting up and picking up the plastic bowl of water I put down for Havoc before Lawson arrived to take the dog home since Sully was now with me.

"Violet, stop. You can't shoulder the blame for something that isn't your fault," Sully says, following me. "You didn't start that fire or hurt Ty or any of the other things that have happened."

"Maybe not. But I brought him into our lives. That makes me responsible." I yank on my rain boots and know I look ridiculous, but I don't care. Sully's voice is a low drone behind me as I surge out of the house because I can't stand the walls closing in on me. I need to do something productive. Take action.

The air is tinged with the acrid smell of burnt wires and paint and whatever else made up poor Betty, and Sully's on my heels as I head toward the sodden bus like I can perform magic and twitch my nose to put her back to rights.