“Sorry, little man.” She winces, peeling herself off me, then bounces him on her hip. “This is your Auntie Delilah but remember I’m your favorite auntie, okay?”
“You’re not corrupting my baby,” Ruby argues. Her partner leans up, taking the boy, then sits him on the table. There’s nothing other than love in her eyes as her daughter stands next to her dad and she looks at the family she’s managed to create despite the toxic one we came from. Even her terrifying partner thaws slightly. Their daughter is definitely worse than Scarlet as she throws herself onto his thigh, nearly smacking him in the face in the process. But she’s sweet too as she tickles the little boy’s side and lightly wobbles his chubby cheek with the tip of her finger. “Say hello, Micah.”
He shyly waves at me, mumbling around the thumb still in his mouth, “Hello.”
Kane has been gone too long so I excuse myself from the disconcerting normalcy. “Is the bathroom upstairs?”
“Second door on the right,” Ruby says.
I have to count my steps to stop myself running as their stares heat the back of my head.
“I thought she was dead.” The man’s voice carries through the house as I slowly walk up the stairs, feeling my calf twinge.
“Daigon,” Ruby says low in her throat. “Don’t say that.”
“How did she get here?” he asks.
His daughter answers, “I opened the gate when they buzzed. I thought it was you with Auntie Scar.”
“What have I told you about opening the gate, little demon?”
“Don’t do it without checking the cameras. It’s not a big deal. Mom’s happy so it’s not like you’d care about anything else.”
78
KANE
The person I need to kill to get to Helene is Delilah’s other fucking sister. Scarlet’s here with the little girl she was on the phone with while I hide in the bathroom like a bitch. How the fuck do I keep my wife after she finds out I tried to murder one sister and I’m going to kill the other?
I run the cold water to wash my face, but my limp sleeve falls into the flow, yet again reminding me my hand isn’t fucking there. It’s horribly ironic that I needed pain to survive without Delilah, yet now I have an abundance of it, I still can’t cope.
The voices downstairs turn to a hushed murmur.
“Scarlet’s telling them how you tried to kill her and fucked it up.”
“I’m going to lose her again,” I whisper as I stare into the mirror, directly at Asher.
“Not if you kill everyone in the house.”
“There’s a little fucking girl here.”
“So? You let Kid die to have more time with her. What’s one more?”
“That’s not?—”
“Kane?” Delilah says softly as she knocks on the door.
Leaving my reflection, I quickly pull her inside. “Tell me you love me.”
“I love you.” She doesn’t even pause. “Who were you talking to?”
“No one. Working through the plan.” I close the door, wrapping my arm around her as my wet sleeve drips on the tile. Resting my forehead on hers, I whisper, “I’ve missed you. I spent all this time imagining what I’d do when I saw you again, but now you’re in front of me, I’m scared to blink.”
“You wrote your name on my leg,” she whispers.
“I needed you to know it was me.” I nod, brushing my nose against hers. “I was going to find you, no matter what it took, Delilah.”
Do I tell her how much blood is on my hands?
