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“Starlight, it’s not your fault.”
I wanted to shake my head, but it was pounding fiercely. The machine tracking my heart beeped quickly in rhythm with my escalating pulse.
“It is. Atlas, I—I’ve done a horrible thing. I didn’t tell you because I was so scared. But I should’ve told you.”
Atlas pulled back, looking at me with a mix of worry and confusion. “What are you talking about?”
I drew in a deep, uneven breath, my chest protesting against the strain with a spike of pain. “Tony. I knew him, sort of, back in Chicago.”
Atlas’s lips tightened. “How did he know you?”
He didn’t sound surprised.
I blinked, pausing. “He was dating my friend, Jay. The friend who had helped me get out.”
I started to feel lightheaded, but I fought it. I needed Atlas to know the truth about everything. “The night I left Chicago, I was at Jay’s apartment before I went to the bus station. He was my neighbor. When I…came out of the bathroom, Cain was there. I don’t know how he knew where to find me, but he did. He knew. And he’d—he’d killed Jay.” A sob ripped through me, laced with agony. “And then he came for me, Atlas. I tried to calm him down and I tried to come up with an explanation, but he was high, and he was choking me and I—I had no other choice. I grabbed the knife he’d used on Jay, and I stabbed him. I stabbed Cain.”
Atlas grabbed my face in his hands. “It’s okay, Wren.”
I shook my head despite the pain. “It’s not. Atlas, I’m a murderer.”
Atlas’s eyes caught mine and they flashed with anger. “No, Wren. You are not. Cain was a murderer. Tony was a wannabe murderer. You, my sweet, sweet starlight, are not like them. You did what you had to do to survive. And I am glad you did. I am glad you were brave enough to fight for yourself because if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t be mine.”
My heart seemed to stop for a moment, a brief quiet pause in the dim hospital room before it kicked into a frantic flutter.
“I’m…yours?” I asked, surprised that those words didn’t infuse terror in me like they had when Cain used them.
Atlas pressed his lips together, his eyes softening. “Only if you want to be.”
I stared at him. The guilt and anguish I’d felt mere moments ago morphed into excitement, even joy. After everything I’d told him, after knowing the very depths of my secrets, he still wanted me.
My lips pulled up into a wet, wobbly smile. “I do.” I nodded. “I so very much want to be yours, Atlas.”
He pressed his lips to my forehead, kissing me gently. “And I want to be yours. I love you, starlight. I’m sorry I didn’t have the guts to tell you before, but I loved you then and I love you now, and I don’t see that changing.”
Part of me wondered whether I actually had died and this was heaven. But I doubted heaven would hurt so much.
“I love you too, Atlas. I love you so much it terrifies me.”
“Then we’ll live in terror together,” he said, a half smile gracing his full lips. “Because I don’t plan on letting you go.”
He grabbed my hand again, and I squeezed it back as hard as I could. “Thank you,” I breathed, meeting his eyes. “Thank you for everythi—”
But my words were cut short by his lips as he claimed mine with a kiss so soft and gentle and passionate that I lost all my words. And that was okay. I didn’t need words anymore. I didn’t need anything but this. I needed nothing else in this world but him.
