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Then I realize. She wants to know if Kristy got to witness his murder before she died. If Cain granted her a moment of peace before he took her life.
“Before,” he whispers. “I figured it was the least I could do.”
“Why’d you have to kill her?” Her face contorts in agony and for a moment I think she’s going to cry, but she keeps it together. “You could have let her go to jail. You didn’t have to—”
“I couldn’t take that risk.” He releases a long sigh. “I had no idea I’d end up falling in love with you, Eden. I suppose it’s my karma.”
No, his karma’s going to be hand delivered by me.
Eden laughs…so hard she shakes. “God, I don’t even know what to say to that.” She looks at me then. “What’s next? You go
“None.” I hold her gaze. “I wasn’t sure Cain killed Kristy until now, I only suspected. I couldn’t prove it.”
“But you obviously knew Kristy was my mother.”
“I did, but to be honest, I didn’t start putting the pieces together until Cain married a lawyer named Karen from Black Hallows. That’s when it mattered to me.”
I’m not some white knight. Far from it. At the end of the day, I’m just as selfish and manipulative as Cain. Only difference is, I don’t deny or hide it.
Pressing my knee to Cain’s back so he stays put, I light another cigarette. “After the guilt started settling in, I tried to look for you on social media, but you didn’t have any accounts. I hired someone to check the local high school for me and found out you were no longer enrolled.”
The tightness in my chest is back again. “I couldn’t find you, Eden.” I take a long pull off my cigarette, let it burn my lungs. “I stalked Karen for a bit, even sent her some anonymous notes warning her about Cain. I thought she wasn’t getting them until she went on a business trip and I watched her rip one to shreds with my own eyes. She was getting them all right, she just didn’t give a fuck. Now, I know it’s because she was corrupt, too.”
I swallow my rage. “After Karen died suddenly, I started to get worried. I figured if he hadn’t killed you yet, you were next on his chopping block. I knew Cain wanted to run for mayor, and the last time he had a big goal.” I glare at him. “He went on a murdering spree.”
I stub out my cigarette. “By then, I had found an email address for you, not that it mattered at that point. You were still a minor and Cain was your guardian. I had no choice but to wait until your eighteenth birthday so I’d be in the clear.” I gesture to my computer. “I had to be meticulous though. If I struck too soon, you might slip up and tell Cain about me. If I waited too long, I could lose my window, and I needed to know everything about you before I made physical contact.”
My breath catches, just like it did the first time I saw her. “I ended up getting a copy of the local paper when you did your first interview. They put your picture in it. You’re not identical, but you do look like Kristy…so much so I’m certain it was a big part of Cain’s sick fascination with you.”
“Pot meet kettle,” Cain grits through his teeth.
I cast him a dirty look. “Anyway, a few weeks before your birthday, I contacted you on the Temptation app. You fell for the bait. I was positive you were messing around with Cain after our first conversation, but I also needed to find out other things about you.” I slap Cain’s shoulder. “So, I hired Katrina’s stepdaughter, who wrote for the gossip column, to conduct another interview and report back to me. The rest as they say…is history.”
“When did you contact my therapist?”
“After you mentioned him on the temptation app. Contacting him led to me finding out everything else about your past.”
Her forehead wrinkles. “I gu—”
My phone rings, cutting her off. I’m pla
I answer my cell when it rings again. “This better be import—”
“Something’s wrong with the governor. He collapsed on the dance floor. I’ve already called an ambulance, but I think you need to get up here now,” Geoffrey says out of breath before he hangs up.
Shit. “I have to go.”
Cain perks up. “Leaving so soon?”
I pull out a stretchy band from my pocket. “Get on the floor.”
“Absolutely not—”
I kick him in the nuts. “I don’t have time for your shit. There’s an emergency upstairs.”
“What kind of emergency?” Eden asks as I maneuver Cain to the floor and hogtie his ankles to his cuffs.
“The governor collapsed.” I walk over to the couch and get some more rope before fastening Cain to the base of the fish tank. If he squirms too much, he’ll have a few hundred gallons of water and a piranha to deal with. “An ambulance is on the way now.”
“Shit,” Cain mutters. “This is go
I survey him, wondering how someone with an IQ of a hundred eighteen fails to realize what’s blatantly obvious.
“Don’t worry. I’ll do you a solid and kill you before then.” I point to the tank when he starts twisting against the restraints. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
His body goes slack.
I take hold of Eden’s elbow and steer her out into the hallway, ignoring the feeling rising like a tidal wave in my chest.
The one telling me not to let her go. I have to. It’s time to set the butterfly free. God knows she’s earned it.
“I’d ask if you’re okay, but—”
“It would be a stupid question.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “Why didn’t you?”
If I was ever going to tell her how I feel about her—this would be the time. But I’m not. Eden doesn’t need an anchor. She needs to fly.
The hardest part of loving someone is knowing it won’t last forever. Sooner or later, one of you will have to let the other go. Because all things, good and bad, come to an end at some point. That’s the way shit works.
I point to the pocket of my jacket she’s still wearing. “There’s a check made out to you for twenty-five million. There’s also a first-class plane ticket to Spain. Your flight leaves tomorrow.”
I could walk the planet a thousand times and back again, but I’d never find someone like Eden. Kristy was right, she is perfection on earth…and I want her to get out there and explore it.
She looks at me like I’ve sprouted another head. “Twenty-five million? Spain?”
“If you want more money, it’s yours. If you don’t want to go to Spain, I can have Geoffrey book you a flight to somewhere else. The tropics are beautiful this time of y—”
The sting from her hand slapping my cheek is well deserved.
“You drop this bomb on me…and now you’re leaving when I need someone to help me pick up the pieces?”
“Technically you’re the one who’s leaving. And you don’t need anyone’s help, Eden. You can pick up the pieces yourself this time.”
“Fuck you.” She jabs her finger in my chest. “Fuck you for making decisions for me without asking. Fuck you for not even giving me a second to wrap my head around everything that’s happened tonight before sending me packing. Fuck you for making me have feelings for you and then abandoning me. Fuck you, Damien.”
She needs to understand the road we walked down was never an ongoing one. And for once, I’m not hurting her because I want to…I’m doing it because I have to. Because it’s the right thing to do.