He held my gaze, watched me with those dark eyes that told me everything I needed to know without him uttering a word.
I pressed myself closer to him, his arms pulling me impossibly closer as I looked up at him in shock.
“…Is he really gone?”
“…I told you I’d keep you safe, doll,” he muttered, low, the vibrations from his voice riding through me.
I should have been terrified of Tristian in that moment. Afraid of the things he’d done, the lengths he took to keep me safe. But my heart only beat harder for him. The feeling of being held, kept, safe… loved made me feel warm inside, it felt like something I was finally allowed to have.
Darragh was gone.
My father was in prison.
Camila was back home safe.
The worst of it was behind us… well… most of it.
Somewhere across the city, in a hospital room filled with the quiet beeping of machines, Tristian’s mother lay still.
That was the one thing neither of us could control.
Chapter forty-seven
Tristian
It had only been less than twenty-four hours since I’d dealt with Darragh, but life had already been looking brighter. The adrenaline that had carried me through the night had settled into something softer by morning.
Camila had left the apartment just after sun-up. She needed space, a chance to experience freedom, to scrub the scent of Darragh and The Obsidian off her skin, and it was taking Ingrid a little while to adjust to the silence she left behind.
My little doll was anxious. Restless.
Terrified, probably, that the world would reach out and swallow Camila whole again, or that someone would fill the gap Darragh left. I did what I could to reassure her. Truth was I didn’t know what came next either. We could only take it a day at a time.
Eventually, unable to settle herself or stop ruminating on what would happen next, Ingrid suggested we go see her—my mother.
I said yes. Darragh was gone. I felt lighter in some ways. Heavier in others. He’d been right about one thing… howwasI going to pay for her hospital bills? The money I could have made running his operations was gone with him. Working for Noah wasn’t an option. That man was just a different version of Darragh, only he used my mother’s healthcare instead of a belt.
I was going to have to find my own way, somehow.
That or hope for a miracle.
Seeing her would settle me, give me some sort of idea for how to proceed.
As we drove, part of me wondered if Ingrid was afraid of me after what I’d done. Yet she held onto my forearm the entire way to the hospital. And when I parked my car, I turned to find her looking at me with all the love I had come to expect from her.
“It’ll be okay,” she reassured me. “We’ll figure this out.”
I nodded. “I hope so.”
As we approached the hospital room, my steps slowed, my heart pounding in my eardrums.
I was afraid to see her.What if those soulless eyes looked at me again, asking me for something I couldn’t give? Something I wasn’t ready for? What if they pleaded with me to finally let her go? To let her rest?
What if this was one of the last times I’d visit her?
Feeling her hand squeeze mine, I looked over to see Ingrid gazing up at me.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
