Outside, she met them by the door.
Jane’s brows rose. “Bonnie.”
Bonnie wrapped her arms around her waist. “Do you have a second?”
The older woman swallowed. “Yes. We, um, were actually coming to see you. We’ve been wanting to talk to you for a few days now.”
“Okay. You can go first.” She wasn’t being easy on them. After everything they’d both put her through, they didn’t deserve easy.
“We’re sorry,” Carlos said, his tone softer than he’d ever used with her.
“For what?”
“Everything,” Jane replied, tears building in her eyes. “The text I sent you. The way we both spoke to you and shamed you. We…we know what really happened that night, now. With Maisie, and then Damien not going to pick up his brother.” Her voice cracked. “But even if it hadn’t happened that way…we should never have put the blame for Dean’s death on you. Maybe if we hadn’t, none of this would have happened.”
“We were angry,” Carlos said quietly. “We needed someone to blame for our son’s death, and we unfairly targeted you because you were the easy option.”
“And not letting any of it go when you got back…it was wrong,” Jane added. “You being home dredged up our grief again, but that wasourproblem, not yours. We’re so sorry about what Damien did.”
“You’re right. It wasn’t my fault. And you shouldn’t have placed the blame on me. Not when I was eighteen years old and basically a kid. And not thirteen years later.”
The door to the gym opened and Zane walked out, his arm immediately slipping around her waist and tugging her against him. “Everything okay out here?”
Carlos straightened. “We came to apologize.”
“You think an apology is going to fix anything?” he asked.
Bonnie touched his chest before looking back at Jane and Carlos. “I appreciate the apology. I don’t want to hold on to any of this anymore. We won’t be friends anytime soon, but I also don’t want to be enemies. You’ve lost both your sons now. You’ve lost too much. We all have.”
More tears built in Jane’s eyes, and she swiped them away.
“This is my home,” Bonnie continued. “And all I want is to live in it peacefully.”
Carlos dipped his head. “You have our word that you won’t get any trouble from us.”
“Good.”
They were about to turn when Bonnie spoke again. “Have you heard from Maisie?”
Jane’s chest rose on an inhale. “Yes. Apparently—” She stopped abruptly, like her next words caused her physical pain. “Damien was quite controlling and abusive throughout their marriage. We missed it. We missed a lot.”
Carlos took his wife’s hand, and they walked away.
Zane stepped in front of her. “You don’t have to forgive that family for anything they’ve done to you.”
“I don’t want to hold on to any of it. Letting it all stay in the past is more for me than them. It will weigh me down otherwise.” She touched his chest. “And I think that them acknowledging they were wrong was the closure I needed.”
“Okay…but I’m not forgiving them.”
She cupped his cheek. “And that’s why I love you. Because you are my biggest protector.”
“Is that the only reason you love me?”
She pretended to think about it. “I also love to beat you in the ring. I get a lot of joy out of that.”
He growled before pulling her closer. Then, with one hand cupping her cheek, he lowered his mouth to her ear. “I loveeverythingabout you.”
A shudder rolled down her spine. “Even my overprotective brother and cousins?”
