Falling into You (Falling Stars 3)

They shoved him at her when they were finished. “Your turn, pussy.”

He fell to his knees, crawled to her, gathered her broken body in his arms. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Oh my god, Lily,” he wailed, choking on the sobs that ripped from his bleeding lungs.

Lily shrieked the second he touched her. A guttural, unhinged fear. She scrambled back into the corner and curled into a shivering, shaking ball.

“Lily.”

“Don’t touch me,” she whimpered. “Don’t touch me. You monster. Don’t touch me.”Thirty-SevenRichardFuck.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

I punched the steering wheel like it might be able to dispel some of the rage and disgust pummeling my insides from where I’d pulled off the side of the road. Trying to find a way to get air into my lungs.

Not a chance of that.

Not when every organ in my body had caved. Crushed under the magnitude of the sickened outrage that Violet had looked at me with. Under the weight of the betrayal that she’d finally realized the full immensity of.

Only she’d had it all fuckin’ wrong.

I knew what it looked like.

Of course, I knew.

Those pictures that had been all over that table.

How the fuck had that private investigator gotten ahold of them?

Hadn’t needed a close-up to know they were copies of the same ones that Karl Fitzgerald had tried to use on me to get me to do his bidding.

Ones that had remained secret all this time. Pictures of me and Lily.

What were missing were the ones of me and Gianna. Ones of me and Danica.

Those were the ones Cory Douglas had shown my sister. The ones he’d manipulated her with.

Terrorized her with.

My sister thinking she was protecting me all while trying to reach me. To get answers. To understand because she couldn’t believe I would do something so vile.

I wouldn’t.

I fucking wouldn’t.

But no matter how true that statement was, those pictures were incriminating.

That was the thing about a picture. Sometimes clear evidence wasn’t clear at all because the eye couldn’t see what was hidden underneath.

Buried.

My debt going so fuckin’ deep.

Pain flayed through my insides with a blunt, dull knife.

Tearing and ripping and cutting me open wide.

Violet.

Could still feel the burn of her on my hands. Could still feel the heat of her touch on my skin.

My wife.

My sweet, innocent wife who’d gotten caught up in these atrocities.

Girl unaware she was a victim of the fallout.

Promised her I wouldn’t let her go. That I would protect her. Take care of her.

How the hell was I supposed to drive away?

Needed her to understand. Listen.

But what did I expect? That she would stand there and allow herself to be fed more lies?

I’d wanted to fight her on it.

Force her to hear me out even when I didn’t want her to have to hear what I needed to say.

And sure as hell not when that precious little girl was standing there.

Scared and confused.

I had to walk.

I should have just told her. Fuck, I should have just told her.

But what then?

She still would hate me in the end.

When she knew what I’d kept from her.

When she knew what I’d done.

Why I’d kept it from her.

Six fuckin’ years, and the whole time, it’d just spiraled and spiraled.

Piled up until it was nothing but a shitstorm.

A car went blazing passed on the narrow road, honking as it swerved around me. I hadn’t even realized I was still halfway out in the road.

I jerked two fistfuls of hair.

Trying to get myself the hell together.

I eased back onto the road, glancing in the rearview mirror like I might still have a view of her farm. Last thing I wanted to do was drive away.

Let her out of my sight.

But I knew she was too raw to allow me within five miles of her right then.

I fumbled to dial the number, anxiety racing through my veins while I listened to it ring and ring. Doubted Royce was gonna be all that excited to get this wake-up call from me on the morning after his wedding.

Finally, his voicemail came on.

“Royce, man. We’ve got a complication.” My voice cracked on it.

Complication?

It was a fucking travesty.

And I was the fool who’d come to hope for a different outcome.

“The private investigator Violet hired somehow dug deep enough to find the photos. The ones of Liliana and me. She lost it, man. Lost it. Didn’t want to hear a word I had to say.”

Couldn’t blame her.

“She kicked me off her property. Said the authorities had already been notified.”

Which was just fine. I’d always known I’d burn for this. Their safety was well worth the cost. But the one person I didn’t want to pay for it was Violet.

“Know you guys are supposed to be leaving for your honeymoon this afternoon, but I need you to go over to the farm. Watch out for her. Talk her down and let her know we’re trying to keep Lily safe. Think that’s what she needs most right now. I’ll stay with Emily and Maggie until we see this thing through.”