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Owen and Leigh-Ann?

The woman who approached me at the fight?

What the hell does she have to do with all this?

I shake my head. “Dalton, I still don’t understand.”

“We have video evidence of Owen and Derek together at a bar and in the parking lot, getting into the same dark blue sedan that tried to run us off the road.” He squeezes my hand tighter, his brows pulling together. “Owen rented the car but Derek was driving it.”

Oh.

Oh my god.

The implications of his words crash down on me as the last few weeks spin through my mind.

“Is he behind what happened at Voodoo?”

Dalton shakes his head. “I don’t know for sure but I don’t think so. I don’t see what he stood to gain from that.”

“Unless it was just about hurting you,” I add and he sucks in a breath, his gaze drifting over my shoulder before he nods.

“Unless it was just about hurting me.”

I chew on my bottom lip, my mind turning. “What role does Leigh-Ann play in this?”

“Baby,” he whispers, his eyes finding mine again. There is so much pain and guilt in those blue depths that it steals my breath. “You were attacked by a woman.”

I blink at him.

Then, my jaw goes slack and I suck in a breath.

“She did this to me?”

He nods. “When I left, I went to confront her and get some answers. Her knee is all fucked up, she has a nasty cut on her arm and she knew you were in the hospital. When I taunted her and pissed her off, she told me I should get back here to you.”

My hand shakes in his and he presses it to his lips again as I remember the attack, remember the feeling of that bat slamming into my body again and again.

Now, I picture the woman from the fight instead of a masked attacker.

My chest heaves as I struggle to catch my breath and tears fill my gaze.

“Why?” I croak out, looking at Dalton. “Why would she do this?”

“Because of me, baby,” he whispers, laying his head back against the pillows, agony all over his face. “She did this to you to get back at me for ending things with her and I can’t…”

His voice breaks.

“I can’t fucking tell you how goddamn sorry I am.”

“Dalton,” I say, shaking my head as tears drip down my cheeks. “This isn’t your fault.”

He shakes his head, taking a deep breath as he squeezes his eyes closed. “This happened to you because of me. I brought all this shit into your life.”

“You can’t know that, Dalton,” I whisper, laying my hand against his cheek. He opens his eyes and meets mine, sure.

“I do,” he says, his gaze dropping down as he swallows hard. “I love you and they all did this to hurt me because of that. I can’t… I can’t apologize for loving you, though. I won’t.”

I stare at him as his words slam into me.