Page 123 of Tempest’s Torment

"Yeah. Go ahead."

She's careful with her words as she explains that Marcus' cooperation, along with everything recovered from the farmhouse and the storage unit, and my original testimony, gives them enough to formally name Evan as the person responsible for Lucy's murder.

I sit there with the phone pressed to my ear and listen.

When she finishes, I don't know what I'm supposed to say.

"Okay."

"I'm very sorry for your loss."

"Thank you."

She tells me they'll send everything through once the paperwork is complete, and after another minute or two, the call ends.

I lower the phone to my lap.

Kai is in the living room. I can hear the television, while I sit here trying to understand why hearing something I've known for three years hurts this fucking much.

Lucy was murdered by Evan Calloway.

It's official now. Written down somewhere with his name attached to hers and the truth beside it.

No more missing woman. No more questions about what happened to her or whether she simply disappeared.

I know what happened.

I watched it happen.

But now everyone else knows too.

My phone slips from my hand onto the bed and the first sob comes before I can stop it.

Kai appears in the doorway a few seconds later.

He doesn't ask what's wrong.

He takes one look at me, crosses the room, and sits beside me.

I lean into him and cry until my head hurts.

He stays where he is with one arm around me, his thumb moving slowly against my side.

Eventually, when there isn't much left in me, I wipe my face against his T-shirt.

"She would've hated being called a victim."

Kai looks down at me. "Yeah?"

"Absolutely hated it."

"What would she have preferred?"

I think about that.

"Inconvenient."

His eyebrow lifts.