Footsteps in the hall.
Kei appeared in the doorway. Hood up. Coffee in one hand. He saw me standing there like an idiot, saw my face, and his expression shifted. Not angry. Just… knowing.
He stepped inside quiet. Closed the suite door behind him.
“You okay?” he asked low.
I shook my head once.
He glanced at the couch. At them. Back at me.
“You fucked up, man,” he said. Not mean. Just fact.
“I know.”
“Don’t make it worse by pretending it didn’t happen.”
I swallowed. “What do I do?”
Kei took a sip of coffee. Shrugged one shoulder. “Start by not running. You always run. From your dad. From the label. From feelings. From everything. She can’t run. That kid can’t run. They’re stuck here because of you.”
“I didn’t mean...”
“I know you didn’t mean to ruin her life in one night. But you did.” He kept his voice low. Steady. “You married her. Drunk or not. You said yes. She said yes. Now she’s hiding in your hotel with a scared thirteen-year-old because the world thinks she’s a gold-digger who trapped you. And you let them think that.”
I looked back at the couch. Hadley shifted in her sleep. Pulled Eli closer. He sighed against her.
“I sided with Sydney,” I said. Quiet. Like admitting it out loud made it worse.
“Yeah. You did.”
“It was easier.”
“Always is.” Kei set his coffee on the table. “But easy doesn’t make it right. She’s not Sydney. She’s not one of us. She didn’t grow up in the same mess we did. She grew up with nothing. And you just took the little she had left, her privacy, her safety, her peace, and lit it on fire.”
I rubbed my chest. Felt like something was stuck there.
“What do I say to her?”
Kei looked at me for a long second. “The truth. Whatever the fucked-up version of it is. No excuses. No ‘I was freaking out.’ Just… I hurt you. I’m sorry. I don’t know how to fix it yet, but I’m not running anymore.”
I nodded. Slow.
He picked up his coffee again. “And maybe don’t wake her right now. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days.”
“Yeah.”
He headed for his room. Paused in the doorway.
“She’s still wearing the ring,” he said quietly.
I looked. She was.
“So are you.”
He left me standing there.
I didn’t wake her.
