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“It’s my fucking fault!” I sobbed into my palms. “The secrets, the lies, all of it. I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I didn’t know!”
“Girl,” Amber soothed, rubbing my back in a circle, “no one is blaming you at all.”
Tears plunged down my cheeks as I looked up through my blurry vision. “Yet!”
“Jade,” my name rolled off Nico’s tongue like a poem. His accent was calming. “None of this is your fault, no matter what you tell yourself.”
“You guys know all of this wasn’t some freak accident!”
“Shhh,” Nico tapped my knee, “we can’t be loud out here.”
But I couldn’t contain the emotions bubbling inside me any longer. “You guys know!” I whisper-yelled, my tone laced with anger and regret for all that had happened.
With a frustrated sigh, he stood and retrieved his phone from his pocket. His fingers tapped on the screen for a moment before slipping it back into its place.
Amber’s concerned gaze met mine. “None of us will ever blame you for any of this.”
“I’m going to kill him!” I seethed.
“We’ll handle it,” Nico assured me.
I looked up at him, then darted my eyes between them. “You guys have known me for years. You know I don’t get frazzled like this. I’m supposed to be the tough girl. I’m?—”
“Human.” Amber laid her head on my shoulder. “You’re human, and that means regardless of your past, you can’t control the actions of other people.”
“But—”
“No,” she squeezed me a little tighter, “there’s no but. People break up all the time. Shit happens. You didn’t force him to hire someone to hurt you and Maddie. You’ve been a great mother, only ever trying to protect her. No one will ever fault you for this. That… family will pay when the guys get ahold of them.”
Before I could reply, Ian rounded the corner and headed straight toward us. “Great,” I mumbled.
He came to a stop in front of me, his expression grim. “Nico, take Amber inside.”
Without protesting, Amber stood.
“What about being out here without security?” Nico asked.
“There are cops all over the place,” Ian replied firmly, gesturing to the patrolling officers nearby. “Go inside.”
Nico gave a single nod before disappearing back into the hospital with Amber by his side. The moment they were out of sight, Ian sat on the bench next to me. Sighing, I leaned my head on his shoulder.
“I told Luke to stay inside and take care of everyone so I could come talk to you.”
“I know it wasn’t an accident,” I stated the obvious, my hands twisting together nervously.
“Of course, it wasn’t,” he stretched his arm around me. “But that doesn’t mean it was your fault, either.”
I let out a defeated breath. “Is it gruesome to ask what exactly happened? I only know a little bit.”
“Yes,” he tapped my shoulder a few times with his thumb, “but besides what I already told you, she was dumb.”
“What?” I lifted a brow.
“Jake said the call came from a burner phone. She didn’t tell Ty that, but Jake took her phone at the scene and immediately took it to his guy, just in case.”
“Shit,” I breathed, my stomach dropping. “Is he mad?”
“Not at all. My sister now understands we’re just defending ourselves at this point.”
