Page 357 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘All right.’

Lachlan gets up, leaves the book.

Kade has to hold back the words he wants to say so hard it hurts.

He lets Lachlan leave, exhaling carefully when the door clicks shut. For a few minutes after, he strips off, checks his injuries in the mirror and then studies the face he sees there.

Dark auburn hair and amber eyes.

Kade.

Julian.

Cascade.

Who was he, really?

Kade’s curiosity delays his tiredness.

In bed, he opens the journal.

‘Just one page,’ he tells himself.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

When the parole board granted my release, it didn’t feel real. The guard said he couldn’t return the clothes I wore the night they arrested me because they had been kept as evidence, so he gave me fresh sweats, a T-shirt and old sneakers. At the desk, they returned my personal effects. Most of it was junk, whatever they hadn’t destroyed or kept, but inside one plastic bag was the leaf necklace.

I nearly broke when they handed it to me.

Everything else that mattered had been left at the Estate. I put the necklace on and walked out of prison, leaving behind seven years of hell.

All I could think about was revenge, no different from every other day I spent in that place. I knew I needed to regroup and cash in some favours. I meant to drive out of Varrow City and get my bearings away from here, but I turned back before reaching the city limits. I couldn’t leave without honouring the loss of you both in blood.

I began making plans and scoping out Iron Star’s headquarters, but it was radically different from the last time I saw it. I recognised Jolene’s work. I knew her style. What I didn’t realise was that you were inside, making the Tower into everything we once talked about on Sable Key.

After a few days, Blaire found me.

She came to return the things I had left at the Estate. Everything from that little box. I’d never needed a box for keepsakes before, but after three and a half years with you and Mimi, I had lived a life worth remembering. She gave me your journal too. We talked for a while.

She tried to explain, but I didn’t want to hear any of it. All I wanted was revenge.

Justice for you and Mimi, nothing more.

I knew I would never get far enough inside the Tower to reach the man responsible.

That was when she gave me the book.

The rest you know because you were part of it.

I don’t know which memory I surrendered. I suppose it was something nice. A happy day, but we had hundreds. You, me and my little girl. Bee, Danya, Silly. Savannah, even.

We were a family. We had sunshine, ice cream, cookies, stories and cartwheels.

If the price was losing one happy day, I paid it gladly.

I don’t regret the deal I struck. It brought me back to you, and seven more days with you are worth a lifetime without. You are so special, Kade.

Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise.