“Now, gather up those papers, dear. You have a wedding to plan.”
Unless she agreed to marry him, Spencer would expose her secrets. It didn’t matter if she had been found innocent. Fallout from the press would be intense. Their foundations might not weather the storm.And what would become of their foster home project? And her career?
Thirty floors above, Ash slumbered. He’d written about insanity, not knowing the full depth of her complicated life. She didn’t want to lose him, but neither could she destroy everything he had built.
“Don’t hold my past against me, Skye.”
Her past was much worse.
But could she return to Spencer and live a life of fear?
She’d endured it once, and she couldn’t fathom living the rest of her life controlled by another. There would be consequences. She might lose everything. But she wanted to live free even if it didn’t include Ash.
Ash had opened a new world, a way of living in the moment instead of being trapped behind rigid rules meant to structure and protect her. She wanted freedom, and for the first time, she believed she deserved a good life.
She spoke in a steady tone, accepting the consequences of her decision and sealing her future, “Tell the press. Tell them about the beast who beat me, raped me, and whored me out when I was a child. You can’t hurt me any more than he did.”
And, if Spencer had read the sealed court records, he knew exactly what she’d done to her foster father.
Spencer's mouth opened, his jaw working.
She silenced him with an icy tone. “I don’t care what you do, but I will never be yours.”
He might still come at her. She half-hoped he would.
Backing away, she took two steps down the flight of stairs, heading to the door below. Spencer didn’t move, caught short by her declaration.
She made it down to the landing. Still nothing from her ex-boyfriend, ex-fiancé, ex-whatever. It didn’t matter what Spencer was, only that he wasn’t in her life anymore.
But Spencer was a vindictive bastard, and he would follow through on those threats. She and Forest would face them together, head-on,like they had with their foster father. Together, they would get through whatever Spencer threw at them.
Spencer's voice stretched out, damning her future. “He’s going to leave you, Skye. He signed the papers once, and when he finds out you’re a murderer, too, he’ll sign them again.”
His words cut like a whip because they were true. She had killed even if the courts had decided otherwise.
She took a step and then another until her momentum carried her through the doorway and away from the toxic morass that was Spencer McAdams.
Spencer would cost her Ash. He’d make certain that Ash knew every sordid detail. But Ash would always be a part of her life even if he wasn’t in it. He’d taught her about the power of love and that love could exist without pain.
She wanted more of that.
She fumbled in her pocket, looking for her cell phone. Her fingers stabbed at buttons, selecting Forest’s name for a text. She pressed the tiny microphone icon, not trusting her fingers to type. She could barely hold the phone as it was.
“Ran into Spencer. He’s going to the press. He mentioned Clark Preston. He knows I killed him.” The phone converted her words into text, and she hit Send.
It was time to say good-bye to Ash.
Her phone beeped.
Ash responded to her text.
Who’s Clark Preston?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Skye staredat Ash’s text. Her stomach sank with horror as she realized she had sent the text to the wrong person.
Who’s Clark Preston?
