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“Señor—“
I whirl to face a janitor with his cart. Whatever he sees on my face has him backing down, hands lifting as he disappears toward the parking lot.
Sweat beads at my brow, my neck.
My jacket is the next victim. I drag it off, then throw it in the dirt.
My knees buckle as I brace against the side of the building.
I yank my phone out of my pocket and stare at a picture of the four of us at the villa. Leni, Ash, Raegan, and me. Plus Barney’s head stuck between Rae’s legs.
I’ve hurt them all by knowing them. They’ve all stood by me.
Until Raegan’s words last night.
“I am doing you a favor.”
In my quest to punish the man who caused me pain, I’ve punished everyone I love. I wanted to protect them, and I hurt them instead.
My eyes burn.
An object on the ground glints at my feet. I bend to pick it up.
My mother’s ring.
I’ve been carrying it around. Through everything.
Those words inscribe themselves on my heart with a blade duller than the one Mischa used back in boarding school.
I thought I was doing the right thing. Maybe she did too. Maybe they both did. They thought they were doing right by Ash and me. By people who worked for them.
I need to fix this. If I lose everything I’ve built, every damn penny, I need to make it right.
I hope it’s not too late.
I pull out my phone and type out a text because I can’t speak.
Harrison: Leni’s hurt. Someone attacked her outside Debajo. At the hospital now.
The ring back in my pocket, I stare at the photo once more. The woman I love looks at the camera with an amused smile. Before we took the picture, she asked if this was some kind of family portrait.
Leni said, “It’s as close as we’re going to get.”
It is.
Once, I knew how to look after my own. Raegan was my most stubborn challenge—she wouldn’t let me love her, wouldn’t trust me or rely on me. Somehow, I was given the most exquisite fucking gift of being the man by her side while she figured that out.
Now, she’s the person who called me out when I stopped being that man.
I’ve never prayed, but my gaze finds the sky.
Forget destruction. I need redemption.
I will do anything to make this right. Leni, Ash, Raegan. Everything.
