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Their life.
The ultimate price paid for my sins.
And now he was out there, lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike.
“What can I say, I’ve had my fill.” I managed to sneer it. The sound grinding from my throat was genuine enough, supplied by the hatred that boiled me in a vat of venom.
Paisley laughed a hollow sound, and her head slowly shook, that fall of white swishing around her gorgeous face as she watched me with a disappointment so severe it cut me in half. “You’re such a coward, Caleb Greyson. A coward and a liar. You think I don’t know what’s going on here?”
“You don’t know anything.”
“Oh, I know plenty, and I know you’re terrified right now. We’re supposed to be in this together. Don’t you dare push me away. Whatever has happened, we’ll figure it out together.”
“I can assure you I’m not pushing you away. I’m simply letting you go. Evelyn and I will be moving out of state tomorrow, and your services are no longer required.”
Pain speared through her at the words I spat. I saw them penetrate. Strike her so deeply I wasn’t sure she would ever recover from them.
But at least she would be safe.
Disconnected from me.
No attachment.
Tomorrow, I would take Evelyn to safety, away from this place, and find somewhere to leave her where she would be protected. Then I wouldn’t stop until I’d put an end to this threat. The attorney already had the paperwork that would give Paisley custody in the works.
In time, they would be reunited.
“Don’t you dare do this, Caleb Greyson. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere, just like I told you before.”
I lifted my chin, my frozen-over soul that she had lit cracking down the middle. “You don’t have a choice in the matter, Ms. Dae. Pack your things and get out of my house.”
Hell, I’d do it for her.
I turned and began to drag open the drawers, stuffing everything I could into the duffle before I ripped open the closet door in search of a suitcase.
“Stop it, please, just stop this,” she cried out, trying to get me by the wrist. “Please, stop.”
I wrenched out of her hold and tossed a suitcase to the bed next to her duffle. I flopped open the lid and began stuffing more of her things inside.
“Stop it, Caleb, please.” Her voice turned frantic, low and desperate as she kept trying to take hold of my arm. “Stop and look at me. I don’t care what is happening or what you think you did. What you think you do or don’t deserve. The only thing you need to know is I love you, and I love Evelyn, and I need you to love me back. Love me today. Right now. Please. Please love me back. You can’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.”
I squeezed my eyes closed and forced out the words, “I warned you that you kept trying to see something that wasn’t there, and it’s not. It’s time for you to go.”
She held me for a moment, trembles rocking her through, her sobs contained.
Waiting for me to change my mind.
For me to take it back.
When she realized it wasn’t going to happen, she let go.
She let go.
And I thought she must have been holding me up from going over a ledge where I’d been teetering. A lifeline that had been severed. And I was falling backward into a black hole.
Flailing.
A scream of the truth locked in my throat, forever forbidden from coming out.
Death waiting to consume me when I hit the bottom.
She slowly backed away.
Energy howled.
The tether ripping between us.
Heartbreak cracked in the room.
Banged and thrashed and battered the walls.
Then she turned on a stifled cry and rushed to the dresser where she snatched the keys to that monstrosity and grabbed her purse.
“Take the Range Rover,” I growled, facing away from her as I continued to pack her suitcase, unable to look at her, knowing I would falter if I did.
“Screw you, Caleb Greyson.” She didn’t take her things. She ran out, her boots pounding on the stairs as she went. Below, the door slammed shut behind her, and the old truck grumbled to life when she started it.
I choked over the gnarl of torment.
Misery curdling my blood into venom.
But I’d known from the beginning.
I had no right to love.
I had one goal.
One fucking goal.
And I’d almost lost sight.
FORTY-FIVE
PAISLEY
I forced Maybe to the limit as I barreled down the long dirt drive. Agony blurred my eyes, and I swiped at the tears, but they fell as fast as I could wipe them away.
I choked over the knot of torment in my throat.
He was leaving. With Evelyn.
Oh my God.
I couldn’t breathe.
My spirit ached, howling for a way to go back.
I swiped over my runny nose as I tried to see through the haze of misery as I drove up the high hill. When I crested it, the ranch disappeared behind me, and with the way I felt my heart crack down the middle, I knew I’d left half of it there.
