She seemed to deflate, her shoulders slumping. “I’m just…I’m so sorry, Roman.”
I swiped a tear away with my thumb. “Don’t. Don’t be sorry. You had nothing to do with it.”
She bit her lip, her eyes darting away.
I waited, sensing that she had something else to say, but she just took a big, shuddering breath.
“I’ll go with Hailey to the safe house.” She said it so quickly and unexpectedly that I didn’t react right away.
“Are—you sure?”
“No,” she admitted, sniffing. “But I’ll do it for you, and I’ll take care of Hailey.”
Relief washed over me, so potent it almost took me to my knees. I cupped the side of her face in my palm. “Thank you.” I meant it with my entire soul.
She let go of me and stepped back. Something about the way she wrapped her arms around herself made me want to pull her back.
After a long beat of silence, I said, “I’m sorry for unloading all of that on you.”
“Roman.” She breathed my name with so much underlying sadness that it almost broke me down. “Roman, I—”
She hesitated, shifting on her feet. “I should probably start packing.”
I frowned, unsure that was what she had truly intended to say, but I wasn’t going to push her. I was already exhausted, and it would be a long night of driving ahead of us. The fact that she was willing to go to the safe house was enough for me.
“Let me help you.” I glanced at her hands.
She opened her mouth, her expression already telling me she was going to argue.
I put up a hand. “I’m not taking no for an answer. I will help you pack, and then we will leave tonight.”
She blushed, my favorite color of pink, and then she nodded.
24
Palmer
Iwascrumbling,collapsingunderthe weight of guilt.
We’d been driving for a long time and it took all my energy to keep myself together. It was dark, and Hailey had fallen asleep in her booster seat, head tilted back so far I worried she’d get a sore neck. She’d been surprisingly accepting of leaving for the safe house. I think she was excited to see the family she’d desperatelymissed. But she’d almost lost it when she found out she’d have to leave Phantom behind. Roman said it was safer to leave the kitten in Ember Hollow so he wouldn’t get lost in an unfamiliar place.
Roman and I hadn’t spoken much at all since he’d confessed what had happened to his wife. I swallowed the nausea thinking about it. Roman had been at the dorm fire that night. The rush of memories came over me: the fire, the smoke, the moment when I knew I was probably going to die…and then the firefighter who came and dragged me from that hell.
I remembered his voice.
It had been Roman. That was clear to me now. He had left his wife that night—and he had savedme.
It was so much to process myself that I hadn’t been able to tell him. He had already seemed so shattered as he told me about Jessica, that I couldn’t bring myself to let him know the truth.
Everything was wrong, and I didn’t know what could be done to make it right. I hadn’t been with Roman for long, but he was already too important to me. So much so that the thought of losing him now was a gnawing ache in the pit of my belly.
My heart rate climbed at the thought of the serial killer alongside all of this. The Shadow Stalker had been on the forefront of my mind since I came to the bed-and-breakfast, a constant thing to learn about and ponder as I did chores around the house. Truth was, I didn’t expect him to return to Ember Hollow. I hadn’t thought he’d come back to the town he ran from after escaping imprisonment.
But I supposed the man was more controlled by his impulses than his common sense. That much had become clear in my weeks of research about the killer.
“We’ll be there soon,” Roman said, taking me out of my thoughts.
I glanced at him. The tightness in his expression was barely visible in the darkness as he focused on the road. Both of his hands gripped the steering wheel.
