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“I wasn’t born yet when Talon was taken. Rather, I was born while he was gone, and—”
“Look.” I gripped her shoulders. “If this is too much for you, trust me. You’re safer not knowing.”
She shook her head vehemently. “No. I’m in this now. Tell me.”
“You owe me a sentence first.”
“Are you kidding me? What you’re hiding is so much bigger than me cutting myself, Bryce. I fucked up. I let the guilt get to me. Talon was taken because my mother got pregnant with me. No me, no Talon being taken. It’s that simple. And yeah, I had issues. I tormented myself to the point where I needed a release, and physical pain gave me that. I only cut myself in one place, and I thought I had it under control until…”
Her gaze shifted away from me.
The words she didn’t say echoed around me as clear as if she’d uttered them.
Until you, Bryce.
I’d driven her to this.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“It’s not you. It’s me. I’m responsible for my own actions, no matter how much pain I’m in. Melanie taught me that.”
“Melanie.”
“She’s the only person who knows.”
“Not Jade.”
“Only Mel. And now you.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
“I know it is. Please give me the same benefit of the doubt. Anything you tell me is safe with me.”
“I just hate to think of you hurting yourself.”
“Is it really anything worse than what you’ve done to yourself? You wallow in the guilt about your father when you had nothing to do with anything he did.”
“It’s not that,” I said truthfully.
“What is it, then?”
“It’s that…he spared me. He never touched me. I remember him as”—I winced before saying the words—“a good father.”
“Is that so horrible?”
“Of course it is! He was a monster. A demon. He raped and murdered children. He tortured your brother. He killed my cousin. He wasn’t human.”
“He was a sick man.”
“He was so far beyond a sick man, Marj. You and I both know that.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“I never physically injured myself.”
“I don’t recommend it.”
“I never even thought about it. Maybe it would help.”
