Page 297 of Vicious Temptation

“Kai Cain. Feisty little girl you’ve got there.” The playful edge disappears from her voice. “I was hoping you’d show up.”

Kai watches her, his eyebrows knitting together as if there’s something familiar about her he can’t quite place.

The gunfire outside grows more distant, leaving Elena’s voice clear amid the commotion in the building.

“You probably don’t recognize me. It’s been a long time.”

Kai keeps his weapon trained on her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course. How rude of me.” She smiles. “I’m Elena Duvall, though you might know me better as Hannah.”

Kai says nothing.

“Getting there?” she asks.

“Kai?” Amalia keeps her gun raised. “Who is she?”

“Did you ever tell your little wife about my mother?”

“Kai,” Amalia says again.

He shakes his head. “I don’t know you.”

Elena’s amusement fades. “Maybe you’ll remember Gloria Elena Duvall.”

Kai freezes, the name landing differently.

Amalia notices it too. “What the hell is she talking about?”

“Papá?” Remi asks.

“Tell them!” Elena shouts. “Tell them how you killed her. Tell them how you drowned my mother in that fountain while I stood there and watched.”

Kai remains silent.

“I had just made my birthday wish.” Elena’s voice breaks despite her attempt to control it. “Do you remember me now?”

Amalia turns toward her husband. “Gloria?”

Kai closes his eyes briefly, then looks at Elena again. “I do. I remember.”

“But that was a long time ago…I didn’t know you were there,” he says. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry,” Elena repeats with a bitter laugh. “That’s exactly what you said to me the day you found me.”

Kai’s expression tightens.

“You crouched in front of me afterward like that was supposed to mean something. Like saying you were sorry could erase what I’d just watched you do.” Her breathing grows uneven, but she keeps the gun firmly under my chin. “I spent years in therapy because of you. Years waking to her screams. I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing her fighting to keep her head above that water while you held her under.”

No one interrupts her.

Even Kai has nothing to say.

“I watched my mother die on my birthday, and then I grew up knowing the man who killed her walked away and built himself a beautiful fucking life.” Her attention moves to Amalia and then Remi. “A wife. Children. A family who loves you.”

Kai lowers his weapon slightly. “You were a child, and you never should’ve witnessed what happened that day.”

“But I did. You took everything from me.”