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“You have to let her go,” I say softly. “Do right by her, man. I’ll get her outta here and keep her hidden.”
Didi suddenly enters the doorway, her hair parted down the middle and damp from her bath, looking much more alive than she did an hour earlier. “What’s happening?”
Remy’s face contorts with emotion, and I grab his shoulders and pull him into me. Emotion bubbles into my throat. This is a goodbye for us, too. Everything is different now. “I promise, you can see her whenever you want. But we need to go. Your old man is going to kill her if he finds her here. She’ll go down for everything.”
Remy walks over to Didi, who’s wearing nothing more than a simple white nightgown and has a bandage over her eye. He grabs her hand and pulls her into him. “You have to go with Tommy. He’s going to keep you safe.”
Her brows furrow and her eyes grow panicked. “I don’t want to leave… This is my home. You promised me I could stay.”
He moves his thumb around her wrist at the same moment the house phone rings again.
Didi latches onto him, and he holds her tightly. “I can’t leave you, Remy.”
He swallows hard, trying to be strong, but the emotion is evident all over his face. “You have to, little lamb. I’ll find you as soon as I can.”
She kisses him, hard and deep. She’s never kissed me like that, not once. But I plan to dedicate the rest of my life to her, regardless. She’ll love me the same way she loves him…I’ll make sure of it.
“Don’t you ever forget who you belong to.” He turns to face me. “You better take care of her.”
“I will.”
Didi collapses into my arms, her eyes vacant. The blisters on her eye are vicious, and I wonder if she can even see out of it. Remy and Lucy gave her first aid when we got back here, so that will have to do for now. But she’ll have scars for the rest of her life.
“I will. I swear, on our friendship, I will protect her with everything I have. We have to leave now before it’s too late.” I start pulling her toward the door. There’s no time to pack. I’ll get her anything she needs once we settle.
“I have one condition,” Talia says darkly, and I pause just before I reach the threshold of safety.
I turn toward the girl who used to have my heart, now nothing but the purest of evil. Her eyes…they’re like the depths of hell.
“What is it?” I say through gritted teeth.
“You need to come home…eventually. You both do.”
“No fucking way,” I mutter.
“Someday, when you have a child—and I know you will—you will bring that child home. Their soul belongs here. The Order of the Shadows will continue. You don’t get to end it.”
“What the hell are you talking about? You don’t own anyone’s soul, you crazy bitch.”
She lets out a laugh. “Oh, but I do. He or she will be part of the Order, and they will continue the next generation. Make no mistake, that child will belong to me.”
I think back to the night Remy and I both came inside Didi a few weeks ago. We did it with such ferocity, both wanting to claim her. She wouldn’t even know who the father was.
Didi’s hand roams to her stomach. There is no way… Could she be? Didi sucks in a long breath but doesn’t say a word. I turn away, pulling her with me. Talia’s outta her mind if she thinks I’m coming back here.
“There’s only one way out of this, Tommy,” she yells after me. “The only way to break your oath is death.”
I don’t look back as I gently place Didi in the passenger seat of my Camaro and kiss her forehead. “Everything is going to be okay, firefly,” I tell her.
I jump in the front seat and speed out in the opposite direction of town, never planning to set foot in Kinsmen again.
DIDI
1984 (SIX YEARS LATER)
If I could have envisioned a perfect life, this would be it. We live in a quaint house, just outside the small town of Mystic. A quiet life, where no one knows us or cares about us, living just on the edge of society where my only interactions are pleasantries at the grocery store and appearances at church on Sunday.
I open the door to Kevin’s room and tiptoe over to his bed, streaks of light hinting in the early morning filtering through the curtains. He opens his eyes and his tiny arms wrap around my neck. “Happy birthday, Kevin.” I kiss him on the forehead.
