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“No, you fucking don’t.”

“Then enlighten me.”

Rafe’s stare held mine. “What she’ll think of you when she knows.”

Everything stopped.

No.

“That’s not⁠—”

“Yet it is.”

“No.”

“You can lie to yourself. Don’t fucking lie to me.”

I turned away.

Theresa.

Lily.

Blood.

Rooms I hadn’t entered in years except in nightmares.

Men I’d killed.

Men I’d ordered killed.

Things I’d done long before grief gave me an excuse to become monstrous. The Revenant hadn’t been born the night my family died. He’d already existed. Waiting.

Rafe’s voice came quieter behind me. “You think she sees the worst of you now?”

I didn’t answer.

“She doesn’t.”

I closed my eyes. “I know.”

“And you’re terrified that when she does…”

He let the silence finish it.

She’ll leave.

I couldn’t fucking breathe. “She should.”

The words escaped me before I could stop them. Rafe went quiet. I stared toward the window. “She should leave.”

“But you don’t want her to.”

“No.”

Barely a sound.

There.