Page 124 of Tempest’s Torment

"Lucy would've wanted to be remembered as inconvenient."

"That's specific."

"She was very good at making things difficult for people who deserved to have things made difficult."

The corner of his mouth lifts. "I think I'd have liked her."

I smile because I know exactly what Lucy would make of the man sitting beside me.

"She would've loved you."

"Yeah?"

"Within thirty seconds, she'd call you my brooding biker boyfriend. And then she'd call you that for the rest of your life," I add. "Birthdays, Christmas cards, probably our wedding."

Kai's eyes flick to mine. I realize what I've said, and he definitely notices what I've said.

I clear my throat. "Anyway."

His mouth starts to curve.

"Don't."

"Didn't say anything."

"You were about to."

"Wasn't."

I give him a look.

He laughs, and I shove at his chest with my good hand.

"She would've been worse than you."

"Sounds like Venom."

I gasp. "Don't ever say that at her grave."

That makes him laugh harder.

Somehow, I end up laughing too, sitting there with tears still drying on my face while I tell him about the time Lucy got barred from a pub for climbing behind the bar to pour her own drink because the bartender was taking too long.

This is what I want to keep from today: Lucy making trouble, Kai laughing, and me getting to talk about my sister without the worst thing that happened to her being the only thing I remember.

Marcus is still in custody. I haven't asked for every detail, but Ghost keeps me updated on the things he thinks I should know. Marcus got himself a lawyer and started talking almost immediately, giving them everything he had on Evan, including information that helped close Lucy's case and several others they'd never been able to connect to him.

He's cooperating, but he's also facing charges of his own. Kai asked me once if I wanted to see him.

I didn't answer straight away, but for the next day or so, the question kept coming back at odd moments: while I was making coffee, standing in the shower, trying to fall asleep. I thought about what I'd say if Marcus was sitting across from me, whether I'd ask him why he helped Evan for so long, or if he ever thought about me when he was following me through Boston.

I even thought about thanking him for what he did in that room. In the end, none of it felt like something I needed.

"No," I told Kai the next evening.

He looked over from the couch. "You sure?"

"Yeah."