Page 129 of The Quiet Witness

It had been a reckoning.

“I saw things, things I won’t repeat. It doesn’t deserve to see the light.” His eyes bored into hers. “Had you been there. I think you would have done the same.”

She shook her head, refusing to accept his words. “No. You can’t say what I would have done.”

“Don’t you think I know?” Her head snapped up as he stepped closer. “The way you nearly attacked the man for raising a hand, you could barely contain yourself. If I hadn’t been there, what would you have done?”

Kate leaned away from him, bracing her hands on the counter. She didn’t want to have this conversation, did not want to look at the darkness present within her. Because what would she have done? Give him a taste of his own? With the all consuming rage as it had been, as it still felt every time her mind strayed there. She couldn’t tell.

Lucien’s voice lowered, sensing full well the turmoil that was waltzing through her. “In the end the truth is, all of us have a killer buried inside. The line blurs, it differs for everyone. But push us over the edge, and we’re all capable of the act.”

It’s what he had told her before.

And there was this smoldering part within her vicious heart, that whispered it wanted to get things done his way. While her brain fought for what it meant. Killing wasn’t right, no matter how right you could make it sound in your mind. But she knew, if she saw something bad enough, she’d snap too.

At least now she understood his earlier behavior. The flirtation, the lack of control.

The leash on that shadowy part of him had broken tonight.

Just like it had when he’d sat behind his piano, when he’d looked so weighed down by the world’s pain, the music so… right so raw.

Wood creaked under her feet as she drew closer to him, hand trembling she let it rest on his forearm. His focus snapped to her arm, but he didn’t pull away. Ever so slowly, almost reverently he lifted her hand into his, slowly folding his fingers over hers. Both were still covered in blood.

His own tainting hers. She would have saved his life, if it had been necessary. And he’d just taken one. The irony of it didn’t go lost on her.

Noting her trembling body, Lucien whispered. “Maybe you and I would have been different.” He went still, a silent war raging in those green eyes. She saw his throat bob and he went on, murmuring quietly. “Maybe we would have been spared from living the nightmares that haunt us.”

Kate’s breath hitched, the blur over her mind lifting. Could it be?

“You and I?” She questioned him hesitantly.

His jaw tensed, it cost him to force the words over his lips, but when they did, it was like a dam had broken. “I did it for you, for the child who was thrown in a family where nothing but hate reigned. I did it for Ethan, whose life will be changed forever bearing the scars of his youth, but now he has a chance at life, at love.” His breath faltered, his swallow loud in the silence of the house. “And for myself, for the kid that saw too much, and changed because of it.”

His words were vague, but the pictures they conjured up were vivid. Born out of her own misery.

“For the children who don’t deserve to be treated like we were.” Kate needed to strain her ears and lean in to catch his low whisper. His gaze trailed over every line carved in her skin. “Shouldn’t we get to change it, make it better?”

The world around her tilted as realization dawned on her. What she’d missed all this time, so caught up in her own past and the pains that lingered. She should have recognized the fellow victim of abuse.

His hand steadied her, cradled her. “I saw it written in you when you joined me by the piano. You want it to change, same as I do.”

Throat aching she got out. “Is it so obvious?” Because it was true, she wanted change. But whether his way was the right way… that was what made her insides clash.

His face twisted into a pained smile. “It is for me. I see the sadness swimming in your eyes, the way your shoulders tense.” A light squeeze followed. “The way you flinch at a loud noise or when I make an unexpected movement. Each time it happens. I want to reach out and tell you everything is okay. But it’s not, I took choices from you, scared you many times. I shouldn’t be the one to catch you when you fall.”

Her heart ached, thoughts whirling through her mind at a million miles an hour. Everything he had shared with her, a part of the truth she’d so dearly needed. That told her what she felt was right. He wasn’t like them, the people who had hurt her, scarred her beyond belief. She wasn’t crazy for the draw between them. They were just two people who had seen too much.

“I’m so sorry.” Kate’s voice broke. “I should have seen it, what you’ve been through.”

Her eyes fell to the floor, a lone tear racing down her cheek.

“No.” A finger forced her chin up, making her look up at him. “It was a long time ago, sweetheart. There is no reason to linger in it.”

She laid a hand on his chest, felt his heartbeat ramp up beneath it. “Some of the things you do aren’t right. But I don’t know if I would have done the same, somewhere I hope I never will. But I know you’re not like them, you have good in you.”

His green eyes zoned in on her with an intensity that would make her step back. Were it not for what he’d just chosen to share with her. “Would it bother you? If I put my effort toward removing such… specimen?” He spat out the last word.

She shook her head at his question. “I don’t know, Lucien, What do you want me to say?”