Then I whip my gun up, angling it at his head.
“Woah, woah!” His chuckle grows nervous, but he’s still nottaking me entirely seriously. “What’s it to you, man? She’s my wife!”
“But she’smygirl.”
He opens his mouth to protest again, but before he can, I pull the trigger.
He falls to the ground in a thundering crash, his last chuckle dying in his throat.
“Well, that was quick.” Damien nudges the lifeless body. “I wasn’t expecting it to happen so smoothly. Maybe wewilllive through the night, huh?”
Then he turns to me, his eyes flickering with pain as they take in the gun that I’m now pointing at him. Though he doesn’t look all that surprised. “Well,youwill, at least.”
“Damien.” My voice is heavy with everything I can’t say. “Why did you do it?”
“Why did I dowhat?” He pauses. “No, don’t answer. I know. I knew the second you walked in. Go on, pull the trigger, man. It’s fine. I can’t think of a better way to die than at your hands.”
His own voice comes out choked, and it’s hard to keep the gun pointing at him when all I want to do is hug him. Hug him, and ask him to fix it, the way he always does.
But he can’t fix it. That illusion has shattered. He can’t fix it, because he’s the one who fucked it up.
“I wish you had told me, Damien. I just wish you had.”
He nods. “I get that. I did try to warn you, though, didn’t I?”
I think back to the conversation in the car. “She denied it. She told me it wasn’t true. That he’d never done that to her.”
“Yeah.” He lets out a sigh. “Well, I guess that figures. She loves you, and her dad is all about that purity shit, you know? I’ve been in the family long enough to know him. You’ve always done your best to avoid anything and anyone related to her, but I’ve worked with the bastard and I understand him. I’m not surprised his daughter shares some of his ideas. It’s prettyobvious to me she’s always loved you, no matter how much of a—well, you know—she was to you. It was obvious to everyone, except maybe to the two of you. You sure wasted a lot of time, didn’t you?”
Yes. So much time. And now, it’s too late.
Bitterness twists at my heart, and I open my mouth to speak, but he continues, his eyes averted from me.
“You know, her dad said… well, he didn’t exactly say it. But like I said, I understand him. I understand that apart from him, she had no one. And honestly, I’d rather take no one overhim. He’s capable of a whole lot worse than forcing her to marry her rapist. I guess she got off easy in a way. She must have grown up terrified and alone. She probably never even realized how terrified and alone she was. Maybe that’s why she acted the way she did. She was protecting herself, you know? And you were that way too—terrified and alone, I mean. I saw it in your eyes the moment we met in first grade. I tried to be family to you, Logan, I really did. But I’ve been thinking a lot about all that these past two years. About her, about you…”
“You were family.” My throat tightens. “Youarefamily, Damien. Myonlyfamily. I’m a lot luckier than Lia.”
He nods sadly. “Family who makes your girl eat garbage.”
“Well…” Why the hell am I trying to cheer up the guy I’m about to kill? “You didn’tactuallymake her eat garbage. You only stuffed her face in it.”
“Right.” He chuckles softly. “Maybe you should’ve killed me right then and there. You probably wouldn’t have suffered so much after.”
I shake my head. “I just wish you had told me, Damien.”
“I did try to warn you. Carmelo told me about the tape. I wasn’t able to get it from him. But I did watch it. Not all of it—just enough to understand what happened. But I had a feeling I wasn’t going to live long after that.”
I pause, my hand on the trigger, trying to digest this new, painful information.
“I can only imagine how I’d react if you’d seen a tape of someone I loved,” he continues. “Even just a few frames. It’s a good thing I’m not capable of love, huh? I don’t believe I have it in me to care about anyone but you, Logan. And maybe Everest, on a good day.” He smirks at his own joke, then freezes when he sees my expression. “What is it?”
“You…” I blink fast, trying to calm my breathing. “You saw the tape?”
“Didn’t you know?” He frowns. “Isn’t that why you’re going to kill me?”
“I…” Something is wrong. Something is very wrong. I wipe away the sweat beading up at my temples. “You didn’t tell me she was raped.That’swhy I’m going to kill you.”
He looks just as confused as I feel. “I did try to warn you, though.”
