Page 33 of Hard Heart

“What do you remember?” I asked. I’d brought a legal pad with me to make notes, and I wrote down “Fingernails?” but I could barely tear my gaze away from Levi.

“It was just a normal Saturday. Most of us worked on the house at the weekends. That was the deal I came up with—cheap rent in return for help with the renovation. My funds were limited, and the rent money gave me enough to buy building materials, plus a few bucks to live on.”

“Everyone was happy with that?”

“The first year was tough. The house used to belong to an old couple, and for the last few years of her life, the lady was living there alone, and she only used three of the rooms. Bedroom, bathroom, kitchen. The rest was closed off. Did you know I won the place in a poker game?”

I burst out laughing. I’d wondered how Sykes came to be living in that giant house, and I was starting to realise nothing about his life was conventional.

“Are you serious?”

“The asshole who inherited it was a freshman at Georgetown. I knew he had a shitty hand because every time he bluffed, he tapped his foot under the table. So I went all in and ended up with the mother of all rehab projects.” He managed a half smile. “Blackjack is more my thing, usually. When I was eighteen, I got banned from the Black Diamond for counting cards.”

“So you are a little grey around the edges?”

“I’ve never claimed to be whiter than white, but I’m not a murderer. Anyhow, I digress. We were coming to the end of our second year at Blackstone, and for the most part, the house was in good shape by then. We’d turned our attention to the yard.”

“I saw a big hole. A swimming pool?”

“We already had a pool—an aboveground one, although fuck knows what happened to that after everyone left. The hole was going to be a pond. Ruby wanted fish in there.”

“And you were happy to do that? Build a pond for a tenant?”

“Firstly, it wasn’t that type of arrangement. Yes, the house was in my name, but it belonged to all of us, and we worked as a team. Secondly, I was in love with Ruby. I would have hung the stars if she’d asked me to.”

He’d gone back to that cool, detached tone, but I still jolted at his words. He’d loved Ruby? The trial records had suggested a far more casual affair, not a serious relationship.

I kept my voice light. “Did she reciprocate?”

“I think so. There were no heartfelt declarations, although I wish now that I’d put my thoughts into words. Maybe things would have turned out differently? But you have to understand that we were two messed-up twenty-somethings, both trying to work through past trauma and find our way out of situations we’d rather not have been in. And ultimately, we were planning to move on together.”

My mind worked overtime to process everything he was telling me. He’d promised me the truth, but I hadn’t been prepared for it. For the raw, unfiltered Levi Sykes. He’d loved the woman he’d been convicted of killing, and now he had a lifetime to reflect on what might have been. He talked about past trauma, but his was ongoing.

My heart ached for him.

Even though I knew he could just be an expert con artist, I wanted to offer comfort.

“She came from a broken home?” I asked.

“Calling it broken would imply it was whole in the first place. When I said some parts were off-limits, that’s one of them.”

“Okay. But you found solace in each other’s company?”

“Yes.”

I swallowed hard and tiptoed into a potential minefield, recalling his irritation at this line of questioning during the trial.

“Although your relationship wasn’t exclusive?”

“Yes.”

“What if one of those other men⁠—”

“They didn’t,” he snapped. Then as quickly as he’d got riled up, he deflated. “Sorry.”

“I have to ask. It might be relevant.”

“They never came to the house.”