I scoffed. “He was an idiot to choose her. I can show you all her faults.”
“But was she bad enough to die? Come on, Julian.” He jumped off the bed. “Being a bitch or an asshole isn’t a reason to kill someone.”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t regret it.”
“No, of course not. You regret nothing, right? That’s the unprincipled part of the model.”
“She treated you badly.”
That seemed to make him speechless for a minute. Then he whispered, “You killed her because she was rude to me?”
“Wynn.” I took two steps, but he held up his hand.
“No!”
I froze.
“This is who you are, but it’s not who I am.”
“No, it’s not, but do you know who you are to me?”
He shook his head, a tear falling down his cheek. I didn’t move closer but I wanted to feel him, and it was making me shake.
“You’re the quiet when it’s loud. You’re the balm every time the itch under my skin gets to be too much. I’ve never connected with anyone until you.”
He swallowed and swiped away his tear. “I’m also someone who you’d kill for even if that person was just rude to me.”
“No.” I took a step and since he didn’t stop me, I took another. “Okay, yes. But I’d do anything for you.”
“Anything?”
“Yes.”
“Then you don’t kill people.”
“Wynn, I?—”
He held up a hand. “Wait. Before you came in here, I was reading an articlePsychology Weeklyposted. I wasn’t the author, but they interviewed a man who was in prison for killing like seventeen people. One thing the man said was that if hehad someone steering the car in his mind, maybe he wouldn’t be where he was.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, I can’t unmake who you are. But if I decide to stay—and it will be my choice, Julian, not yours—we do this my way.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but he wasn’t done.
“Oh, and I want to meet your family. I need to see where you come from.”
“That’ll be easy.”
“Will it?”
“Mmhmm. Earlier in the basement, when I got upset, that was a text from Edward, informing me that my parents and siblings will be arriving tomorrow.”
Wynn’s eyes widened. “What!”
“Get your questions ready.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
