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“Lana.” Rad reached his hand out toward where Hunt lay next to the wailing baby.
Cyn sank into a crouch and stared down at Rad’s pale face, the gun still in her hand and trained on him. “She’s not yours anymore. You treated her the way you treated my sister, like she wasn’t important enough for you to hold on to and love more than you loved yourself, you selfish, arrogant, stupid asshole.” She pointed at him with the gun. “You could have been kind. You could have chosen to be happy with my sister, who for whatever reason found it in her heart to love you. She tried so hard to please you and you killed her because you couldn’t control your temper and wanted to possess her instead of love her. She wasn’t yours to own. She wasn’t yours to punish for all the bad in your life that you took out on her.” Cyn shook her head. “She was yours to love and you didn’t.”
“I did... love... her.”
Cyn expelled a frustrated sigh. “You don’t know what love is. And you’ll never know what it is to be a father. The only thing you get that’s worth anything right now is to know that Hunt and I will love Lana the way you couldn’t and didn’t. We will all be happy while you’re burning in hell for what you’ve done.”
The sirens outside grew louder.
Rad coughed up more blood. “I... want... to... s-see... her,” he pleaded.
Cyn rose and came toward Hunt, kneeling beside him and putting her hand over his on his chest. “Don’t you die on me.”
He squeezed her hand. “Not happening. I’m fine.” He’d finally gotten his breath back and his chest didn’t feel quite as ferociously painful as it had moments ago, though he didn’t attempt to sit up.
Cyn touched her forehead to his and closed her eyes. “Thank you for saving me again.”
“I need you. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too.”
“Cyn.” Rad’s voice grew weaker. “Please.”
She kissed Hunt softly, set the gun next to him, picked up Lana and turned toward Rad, who stared at his daughter and expelled his last breath.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Cyn managed to make Lana a bottle even with her hands shaking and her heart racing while a female officer held Lana and questioned Cyn.
After telling what happened for what seemed like the thousandth time, she couldn’t help but ask, “What was the point?”
The officer handed Lana to Cyn. “Of what?”
“Of all of it. Of any of it.” Cyn put the nipple in Lana’s mouth. “Why kill my sister? Why come after me? Why go after Hunt? All it got him was dead.”
The officer leaned forward. “In my experience, some people get things into their heads and it becomes a gnawing need despite all the reason in the world that tells them what they’re thinking is wrong. Some people just can’t let things go. Even when they see doom coming, they race headlong toward it because they need to satisfy that thing inside them.”
“Did he really think he could take Lana and that they’d have a good life after all this? He died for nothing.”
“He died because he couldn’t let it go and he didn’t accept the consequences of his actions. He had a choice.”
Cyn saw him in her mind’s eye, dead on the floor. “He didn’t give me one. He would have killed Hunt, and then me. I saw it in his eyes. Nothing but rage that things hadn’t gone his way.”
Lana finished the bottle.
Cyn put her up on her shoulder and gently patted her back. “I didn’t want him to touch this little girl ever again.”
Shelby put her hand on Cyn’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Numb, she looked up at Shelby, wondering where she came from and who called her. Cyn frowned. “I’m so sorry about your house... What are you doing here?”
Shelby squeezed Cyn’s shoulder. “The police called us right away. I came here as soon as they said it was safe, and I’m just so relieved that you’re all okay.”
Cyn looked past Shelby to check on Hunt again. “Where’d he go? Is Hunt okay?” She tried to stand, but Shelby held her down. “I need to see him.”
Shelby patted her shoulder. “Chase is with him in the ambulance. They’re taking him to the hospital. I’ll drive you there as soon as you’re allowed to go.”
Cyn nodded, trying to make her mind work in some kind of order. “Okay. Let’s go.” She tried to stand, but Shelby pushed on her shoulder to hold her still again.
