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“And did he tell you that he saved our daughter’s life?”
Ronan’s eyes snapped to his husband. “What?” His gaze came back to me for a moment. “I…I hung up on Reese after he told me about Levi. I didn’t answer when he tried to call me back. Is Nicole-”
“She’s fine. She and Jamie are with Tristan and Reese. I asked Reese what he was doing there and he told me you’ve been having him shadow me for weeks. When you wouldn’t answer your phone, I called Memphis and told him what had happened. He knew what you were planning and tracked your phone.”
Ronan glanced over his shoulder at the dark-haired man before looking back at Seth. “What happened?” he asked.
“There was an accident with some construction equipment near the spot the kids were waiting with Tristan for me. The chain holding some culvert pipes snapped and the pipes rolled down the hill towards the pond. Nicole was feeding the ducks so she didn’t see what was happening.”
I heard Seth’s voice crack and Ronan’s free hand immediately came up to grab one of Seth’s.
“Tristan was too far away to reach her. If Levi hadn’t…if he hadn’t gotten to her in time, we would have lost her, Ronan,” Seth whispered.
Ronan swallowed hard and then he pulled his husband against his chest. They held on to each other for a long time before Seth stepped back.
“He’s still a threat to you, Seth,” Ronan said. “I saw the footage of him and his friend from a couple of days ago. Right before he went back to your old house.”
I stiffened at that. They knew I’d gone back to the Nichols house?
“Levi,” I heard Phoenix say and I was surprised to find him just a couple of feet behind me. I hadn’t even heard him move. “Tell us what you and T talked about at the store the other night…the night you got the bruises.”
I was so confused that I nodded and said, “T’s been trying to get me to help him. First he wanted me to help him steal prescription drugs from the pharmacy of the store I work at. A couple of days ago, he told me he wanted me to help him steal money from Betty. She owns the store and a lot of other ones just like it. He wanted me to go to her house and get her to let us inside. She’s got a lot of money so he wanted to rob her.”
My throat felt tight as I realized what I was saying. I shot Seth a glance and saw how pale he’d gone.
I dropped my eyes and said, “He had his brother, Gun, hurt my friend Hank in prison to blackmail me into helping him. He said…he said if I didn’t help him, Hank would be killed.”
“So he never talked to you about going after Seth?” Phoenix asked.
“What? No!” I said, completely stunned. Was that what they’d thought? “No! Why would you think that?” I asked as I turned to look at Seth and Ronan.
“You’ve returned to the house on Mercer Island four times,” Ronan said, his voice carrying an accusatory edge to it. “The house Seth grew up in. The house you and your brother and Jed broke into seven years ago.”
I felt like I was going to be sick. I shook my head in disbelief. “You thought I was going there to…to case the place or something? So I could try again?”
“Why else would you return?” the dark-haired man asked. Seth had called him Memphis. I had no fucking clue who he was or how he fit into any of this.
“Because I…”
I realized what I’d been about to blurt out and snapped my mouth shut.
“Because you what?” Ronan asked.
I felt Phoenix’s hand on my back. I wanted to shrug it off because I felt too raw inside to deal with it. To deal with any of this.
“Because I wanted to go back, okay?” I admitted as tears stung my eyes. “I wanted to go back to that night and try to find something, anything, I could have done different. I wanted to pretend that you” – my eyes fell on Seth – “and your parents were asleep in your beds and that everything was fine and that fucking night had never happened.” I dashed at the tears that fell. “I imagined you graduating from high school and your parents throwing you a party. I imagined you getting ready to leave for college and your mom…” My voice broke as Corinne Nichols’s screams rang in my ear.
My knees buckled. Phoenix caught me as I sank to the floor. “I imagined your mom hugging you goodbye over and over again and crying and then watching you drive off.” I was dimly aware of Phoenix’s arm going around my shoulders, but it did nothing to ease the cold that was starting to seep through my veins.
