“Because the police don’t do shit. I gave them descriptions. The best I could. They put out photofits on the news. Canvased the area. Brought in a few suspects. Never the right ones though. Time passed. Interest in the case dwindled.
“So, I decided to do something about it myself. It was the least I could do for Haley and her family. She died because I took her in there that night. So, I was going to do the only thing I could. Wipe those three pieces of scum from the earth. It took me a long time to find them. But when I did…” Pained eyes come over to me.
“When I killed Foster…I threw up afterward.” He lets out a sad-sounding, derogatory laugh. “But I also felt good. Like I was finally doing something right for Haley. Killing Betts…I wouldn’t say it was easier, but to know I was ridding the world of those motherfuckers felt good. But Doyle…he’s the one I want more than anything. He was the driving force in what happened that night.”
“He’s the one who raped Haley first? The one who thanked you for letting him…it was him who stabbed you over and over?”
He nods slowly. “I just need to kill him…and then everything will be right.”
I feel like he’s not even talking to me right now.
“I kill Doyle, and I’ll have paid my debt back to Haley.”
I take a tentative step toward him. “Haley wouldn’t have wanted you to do this.”
He looks at me, and the pain in his expression cuts right through me. “I owe her, Daisy.” He looks away from me and to her picture. Tenderness spreads through his expression. “She was mine to protect, and I failed her. I won’t fail her again. I will kill Doyle. I’ll get my revenge for her…if it’s the last thing I do.”
Something inside me breaks.
Watching him stare at her picture, I feel like a voyeur. And I realize in this moment that whatever Kas feels for me will never be anything compared to what he felt for Haley…still feels for her.
I can’t even be jealous because she deserved to be loved. And, after what he lived through, he deserves his revenge.
But I can’t be a party to it. I have too much to lose.
“I understand your need for revenge, Kas. For what he did to you and Haley—”
“And you.” His eyes snap to mine, anger flaring in them. “He put you in prison. He stole eighteen months of your life. Because of him, you lost Jesse. This isn’t just about Haley anymore, Daisy. It’s about you, too.”
My heart constricts painfully.
I take a step toward him. “I don’t want you to do anything for me. I made my peace with what had happened to me a long time ago.”
But I do want that bastard to die for what he did to Kas. I just don’t want Kas to be the one to do it. Kas has endured and suffered enough. More than anyone ever should. I don’t want him to suffer anymore. I want him to be free of this.
“I don’t want you to go after Damien. I want you to stay here with me. I want you safe.” I wrap my arms around myself. “I understand your need to do this, but I can’t be a part of it. I won’t stand in your way, and I won’t ask you to choose. But”—I pull in a strengthening breath—“if you keep on your path of revenge, then…this is where we end. I can’t risk Jesse. I love you. I honestly do. But I love Jesse more. He will always come first. I have to protect myself to protect him. I need him back home with me, and I can’t…I won’t let anything jeopardize that. I’ll keep your secret. You can trust me on that. But I can’t be here anymore. I can’t be with you.”
“Jesus.” He squeezes his eyes closed, tipping his head back.
He stays that way for what seems like forever when, in reality, it’s seconds. Jaw clenched, eyes tightly shut, his body is so still that I’m not even sure if he’s breathing right now.
Please, Kas. Don’t go after him. Let it go. Stay with me.
He exhales a breath that sounds a lot like a decision made. And I watch as he opens his eyes and lowers them to mine. I read his answer there, and my heart sinks.
“I never should have started anything with you. I knew it was wrong. I’m sorry—”
I cut him off with my hand. “Don’t…”
His eyes stare at the floor. “I have to finish what I started…what they had started seven years ago. I have to put Doyle in the ground for what he did. I’m sorry, Daisy.”
He looks back up to me, and the apology in his eyes guts me.
And that’s when it hits me.
This is it.
Kas and I are over.
Over before we really got a chance to begin.
Pain, the likes of nothing I’ve ever felt before, lances through me.
If I had ever questioned how much Kas meant to me, I just got my answer.
More than I knew possible.
“Okay.” I blow out a fortifying breath, holding myself together when all I want to do is fall apart. “I guess there’s nothing left to say. Except for…good-bye.”
His eyes flicker with regret. “Good-bye, Daisy.”
Those softly spoken words splinter my heart, gutting me.
Putting steel in my back, I curl my fingers into my palms until my nails bite into my skin. I start to walk away.
As I pass him, I breathe him in, and the scent of him is almost enough to stop me in my tracks.
Almost but not quite enough. Because there’s someone out there who needs me more.
“Daisy…”
Kas’s voice touches my back, and it’s agony, stopping me in my tracks. Misery lodges in my throat.