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“Don’t apologize to me,” he says as he sits down at the computer. “Apologize to him.” He turns his back to me as I hang in the doorway for a moment, his words sinking into my brain. “You have ten minutes to go talk to him. If you are back by then, I will delete the footage so no one will see your indiscretions. If you’re not back within that time frame, well, I think you know what will happen then.”
The bile rises in my throat and I nod at the back of his head before sprinting out of the room. My feet move without my direction, heading in the direction of where Killian is. I don’t slow down as I push through the main door or as I sprint past the nurses’ station.
When I make it outside, I break out into a run, racing through the gardens to find him. Killian isn’t lurking in the shadows or hiding from me in the maze of hedges. He’s sitting on our bench by the water fountain with a bright purple flower in his hand.
He lifts his head as I pause in the clearing, my face wet with tears. Killian’s eyes narrow as he takes in my expression. I watch his face fall as the flower leaves his hands, drifting to the grass by his feet.
This is the end.
TWENTY-THREE
KILLIAN
I’m cemented to the bench as I stare back at my beautiful, broken girl. I can see the anguish on her face, the torment swimming in her brown irises. Ainsley stands in the opening of the hedges, watching me as tears spill from her eyes. My hands curl into fists as dread fills the pit of my stomach and anger runs through my veins.
This is it. It’s over.
Ainsley takes a step toward me, her small feet moving her closer and closer as she walks unsteadily across the grass. She stops by the bench as she reaches me, but she doesn’t take a seat next to me. She hovers above me, staring down at me, but her eyes aren’t really looking at me.
“What happened, baby girl?” I ask her quietly, swallowing back the anger. I’m the only one who is allowed to make her cry.
Ainsley reaches out to me, running her dainty fingers through my thick black hair. “Nolan knows everything.”
I narrow my eyes at her, digging my fingernails into my palms as I clench my fists tighter. “What do you mean that he knows everything? How the fuck does he know anything?”
“He saw the security footage. He saw every moment between us.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, my chin hitting my chest as I drop my head. “What the fuck.”
“I know,” she whispers, her voice shaking as she shifts her weight on her feet.
Lifting my head, I meet her eyes, feeling the rage boiling. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
Ainsley’s brow furrows, her brown eyes swimming in tears. “Wait, what?”
“Who the fuck does he think he is to get between us?” My voice is louder than I intend and she instantly flinches. I rise to my feet, clenching my fists at my side as I tighten my jaw. “Where is he?”
“Killian. No,” she says, her voice firm as she reaches out to me, wrapping her hands around my wrists. “We’re the ones who broke the rules. He was just doing his job.”
I inhale a ragged breath as her eyes bounce back and forth between mine. “What happens now? If you lost your job and your treatment because of this, I fucking swear…” My voice trails off.
Ainsley shakes her head, pulling me closer to her as she releases my wrists and wraps her arms around my waist. She turns her head, resting the side of her face against my chest as her tears soak my shirt. “I didn’t lose my job and you’re not going to get kicked out. He’s not going to tell anyone, but…”
“But what?” I demand, giving in as I wrap my arms around the tops of her shoulders. It’s a contradiction to how I’m feeling inside. Inside, I’m ready to rip his fucking intestines out and hang him from a ceiling fan with them. Feeling Ainsley close calms my nerves, to a certain degree. But there’s more than she’s telling me.
“We can’t see each other again until you’re discharged.”
My heart falls out of my fucking chest. The ground is pulled out from under me in a goddamn rush and I’m suspended in time, in air, with no fucking viable thoughts. “What?”
“I only have a few minutes and I have to go.”
Panic washes over me. “Why? No.”
“This has to be the end for now. After you get discharged from the halfway house, he can’t do anything. No one can. But while you’re in there, it’s one of the rules.”
“Fuck the rules,” I growl, burying my face in her hair. “Fuck the fucking rules, baby girl.”
“No,” she says calmly and quietly. “This is what we have to do, Killian.”
