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“I know that!” I growled, glaring at her for putting me through this. Why couldn’t she just let me avoid it for a little while longer? Damn.
Except I didn’t want to yell at Gabby. I glanced away, immediately upset at myself for snapping. “I know it was the right thing. Fuck, it was basically the only thing I could do. But it doesn’t feel—”
She caught my face between her hands and waited until I met her gaze before she said, “It feels sucky. I know.”
“Yes.” I shuddered in relief. She understood. Thank God. “It does.” A tear trickled down my cheek. “It really fucking does.”
“I know, baby,” she repeated, her eyes filling with pain as she wiped my face dry for me. “I hate that you have to go through this. The right thing doesn’t always feel good. And it’s rarely easy. But it’ll be worth it. Eventually. After you work through the guilt, you’ll remember that you’re free now. I’m free. Brick and Kaitlynn, everyone at JFI. None of us will ever have to worry about her again. Because of you. You saved us.”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I buried my face in her hair and hugged her tight. “But why did she have to do what she did in the first place? Why did she—?”
I shook my head, unable to finish the question.
“I don’t know.” Gabby stroked my hair and let me continue to hide against her. “She wasn’t going to stop, though. We do know that. She was going to keep hurting people. Hell, you probably even saved that lawyer guy’s life. She was trying to get him murdered, remember?”
“You mean the guy who fucked Kaitlynn over and helped steal her inheritance from her? Yeah.” I snorted bitterly. “Saving him was a real service to humanity.”
“Hayden,” Gabby growled, gripping the front of my shirt and shaking me hard. “I know you want to think you’re a bad guy for getting your mother arrested, but you’re not going to convince me. Right now, all I can see is a freaking hero when I look at you.”
Sniffing, I pulled back far enough to peer into her eyes. “How the hell can I be a hero to you? I helped get you stuck as her maid. I—”
She smiled softly and set a finger against my lips to shut me up. “You let me help you seek justice for your father’s death. For Kaitlynn’s father’s death.” Shaking her head, she wiped at her own eyes that were beginning to glisten. “I couldn’t do that for my mom, you know. She always suffered from a little depression, but after Miguel was born, it hit her hard, and she sliced her own wrists, bleeding out on our living room floor. I was the one who came home from school and found her. And…”
When her voice went hoarse, I reached out and touched her shoulder. “Gabby?”
She covered my hands and gripped my fingers in gratitude. “I wanted a sense of justice for what happened to her so badly, but…” She shrugged helplessly. “Who was there to punish? She took her own life. It was just a sad, tragic thing that never felt vindicated to me. But this—helping you find your father’s murderer, saving Kaitlynn’s inheritance, and getting a hitman, a crooked lawyer, and an evil woman off the streets—” Touching my face, she shook her head to keep me from talking over her when I opened my mouth. “We got justice served. And no matter how she was related to you, you know it was better that she was caught and stopped. You gotta feel that somewhere in you, at least.”
I slowly bobbed my head up and down before softly admitting, “Yeah, I do.”
She smiled sadly. “Then you’re going to be okay. Someday. After getting over the unpleasantness of what you had to do, you’ll realize it is okay to be relieved that she’s gone.”
My jaw tensed because she was right. Under the guilt and horror, I was relieved. And that right there was my biggest, secret shame, the one thing I didn’t want anyone to know. Except Gabby had realized it all along. And here she was, still looking me in the eye as if I was worthy of her.
That's what I needed most. Acceptance despite my flaws.
“I think I love you,” I whispered, pressing my forehead to hers.
She grinned and touched my face. “Well, I know I love you, so ha! I win.”
Chuckling, I pressed my mouth to hers, thinking she must be right about everything. Once I accepted the guilt and shame and relief, things were going to be okay. Maybe even better than okay.
Because I had my beautiful, dark-eyed accomplice by my side now. And whatever life threw at us from here on out, we’d handle it. Like badasses.
Epilogue
GABBY
I looked down at the ring on my finger and sighed happily.
Married. I couldn’t believe I was freaking married. For a full twenty-four hours now. To the man who pissed me off as much as he made my heart pound in double time with love.
“Your first book club meeting is today, right?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and kissed the top of my shoulder.
“Yep,” I answered, smiling as I leaned back against him to feel more of him against me. “And yes, Kaitlynn will be there. So…” I turned to face him and fluttered my lashes dramatically as I silently asked for permission to—
“You want to tell her,” he guessed. “Don’t you?”
“I mean, if you want to tell her,” I started on a wince, “that’s fine by me. She’s your stepsister, but…?”
