And there she was.
Danger all around.
I refused to let something happen to her. Refused it. This world would be the darkest place without her light in it, and this black, mangled heart would beat its last beat for her.
For my son.
This little family I couldn’t keep.
My mother. Nathan.
It all crashed down on me. The lives I’d stood for. The ones I’d lost. The ones that had to burn on.
No matter the cost.
No matter the cost.
Fury and fire singed through my being, my hands grappling to take Cutter down.
The man was a meaty fuck. Full of his own wrath and rage. “You spit in the face of everything I offered you. Everything I gave you. Ungrateful prick of a kid.”
But I didn’t want it. I never had. Had been manipulated.
Molded.
Exploited.
I was just a kid. Just a kid.
We struggled, banging into the car, the workbench, the wall. While I felt Eden’s chaotic spirit rushing through the space.
Punches were thrown, our teeth clenched, one hand around the front of his neck.
He ripped his arm free, the gun cocked.
In a flash, he had it pointed at my chest.
Hatred flared in his eyes. Ruthless victory. “Not even ghosts are immortal.”
Then those eyes rounded.
Surprise.
Fear.
Anguish.
He dropped to his knees. Slumped over. Fell to the ground. Blood poured out, and a puddle gathered quickly around his lifeless body.
The screwdriver Eden held slipped from her trembling fingers and clattered to the concrete floor.
Shock filled the air, and Eden stumbled in horror. In the gutting realization of what she’d done.
She lifted her hands that were soiled by my father’s blood.
The girl tainted by me.
Those autumn eyes stared and blinked and tried to process.
“Eden…baby…Eden.”
“You need anything else?” My words were a low grunt as I hovered at the doorway of the master bathroom.
Didn’t want to step out. Like maybe if I remained rooted, I could hold onto her forever.
Wrapped in a huge towel, Eden shifted on her bare feet. Water pelted the floor of the massive shower, the air misting with vapor and heat.
That quiet intensity that was this girl banged against the walls and hammered against my heart.
That’s what she’d been since the police had arrived on the scene.
Quiet.
Restrained.
Horrified.
Withdrawn.
Girl couldn’t even look at me.
Didn’t blame her a bit. I’d sucked her into this sordid world. Tainted her with who I was.
Bloodied this girl’s pure hands.
“No, I don’t think so. Thank you.”
My face contorted as my hands fisted in shame. “Don’t thank me, Eden.”
“Trent—” That gorgeous face pinched in something I didn’t recognize.
“I’m going to take a shower downstairs.” I cut her off before she said things she likely felt obligated to say.
I knew she’d say I shouldn’t feel bad. Claim she would be okay. Tell me not to worry about her when she went back to her safe life where I should have left her in the first place.
Or maybe she’d just give it to me straight. Tell me she was disgusted.
Violated.
Say she finally saw me for the monster that I was.
A savage who’d brought injustice to her door.
It’d only taken about thirty seconds after Cutter had crumbled to the ground for the police and paramedics to show. Apparently, Eden had called 911 as she’d raced to my house.
They’d wrapped her in a blanket and brought her in to sit on the couch while they’d gathered evidence.
While she’d shaken.
Cried silent tears.
Stared out into the space.
While they’d taken Cutter’s body away.
He was dead.
No question this time.
We’d also gotten word that all three of Cutter’s men had been arrested.
The threat was finally silenced all because I’d drawn this innocent, pure girl into the darkness. Into the corruption and degradation of this life.
Whole time, I’d itched to take that precious frame into my arms and mold her to my shape. Promise her we could fit.
“I’ll get rid of these.” My throat was thick as I glanced at the pile of bloodied clothes discarded on the floor.
She hugged the towel tighter to that body, still shivering from the shock.
From the strain.
From the thousand questions the investigators had asked, all while telling her she would need to come down to make an official statement tomorrow.
Warily, she nodded. “Okay.”
She dropped the towel, peeked back at me once, before she stepped into the spray.
Had to fucking tear myself from the lure of it, this girl my demise, my hands shaking like mad as I gathered up the soiled fabric from the floor and stuffed it into a black garbage bag.
Swore, I could actually hear the shape of her body under the fall of the water. Way it drummed and danced across that lust-inducing flesh.
I backed out, hurried downstairs, and stripped myself down to my underwear, shoving my things into the bag before I tossed it out into the garage.
The garage probably just needed to be burned.
Whole fucking house.
Set to ash.
It wasn’t like I could bring my kid back here. To the place where I’d been so close to losing everything.