I was breathing hard. “You took that from me.”
Frank coughed and a bubble of blood came up at the corner of his mouth.
“You raised us to hate cops to keep us from ever going to one. You self-serving prick.”
“I did it for you,” he wheezed. “Always for you.”
Rage blazed through me, and I stood so fast my vision went white at the edges. I wanted to put my boot through his face. One stomp for every name he’d called me. One stomp for the army. One stomp for believing I was the failure he’d told me I was.
He looked up at me, and his eyes were almost peaceful. Like he wanted me to end him. Like dying by my boot would be the last bastardry he ever pulled, turning his own son into a killer just like him.
Footsteps echoed through the gravel behind me.
“Kayden,” Sapphire’s voice filtered through my rage.
I didn’t turn. I couldn’t. My boot hovered an inch from Frank’s temple, and the muscles in my leg were locked.
“Kayden, calm down.”
“He sabotaged my army application.” My voice didn’t sound like mine. “He let me believe I was useless.”
“I know.”
“He stole my dream.”
“I know, Kayden. He’s not getting away with anything. I promise you.”
She wrapped her hands around my arm, holding me, leaning close enough that I could smell her sweat and the dust on her clothes.
“He wants me to end him.” My voice cracked.
“Yes, he does. Don’t give him what he wants. That’s too easy for him. He needs to pay.”
The whole of my chest was trying to come apart, and Frank was watching me with his fucking bloodshot eyes, knowing that he still controlled me.
“Kayden.” She cupped my chin. “Look at me.”
I swept my gaze to her.
“You’re not him,” she said. “You never were.”
My body shook hard.
“Hey, he hasn’t taken everything from you. You still have me.”
Her hair was matted with dust. Sweat had cut clean tracks through the dirt on her temples. She looked wrecked.
And she looked at me like I was the answer to the worst day of her life.
Christ. She needs me to get my shit together.
I swallowed hard and sat down on a sandstone rock, put my head in my hands, and tried to breathe.
Sapphire crouched in front of me, her hand resting on my knee. “Hey, talk to me.”
“Did you kill Bob?” I asked into my hands.
“He got away. There’s a back exit. By the time I got through it, he was gone.”
