Page 13 of Twisted Empire

“No.” I gritted my teeth and clutched at her shoulder. “I should’ve fucking listened to you. I should’ve known from the second I saw you that you weren’t a killer.”

She sighed deeply. “It’s not your fault. Like you said before, your father is a manipulative snake. He probably would’ve said and done anything to make you believe I was guilty.”

What she did next shocked me more than anything else I’d witnessed in the last few hours. She leaned in and slipped her arms around me in a tentative hug.

I closed my eyes and pulled her even closer. Breathing in the scent of her, all I could think about was how much I fucking loved her. How much I didn’t deserve her forgiveness. How desperate I was to save her and spend my whole life with her, away from all the psychopaths of Crown and Dagger.

“I’m so fucking sorry,” I muttered, my voice turning hoarse as I burrowed my face into her sweet-smelling hair.

“So am I,” she said, her voice muffled against my chest. “I’m sorry for not believing you when you said you loved me and wanted to help me. I should’ve listened. I shouldn’t have waited so long and made it so difficult.”

I set my jaw. “After the way I treated you in the past, why would you believe me? I’m a fucking asshole.”

She moved back and stared at me. “You genuinely thought I killed Ben. It made sense for you to hate me.”

I leaned forward, putting my head in my hands again. “I don’t know… maybe I never really hated you,” I muttered. “Maybe I was just projecting my own shit onto you.”

“Hm?” Her brows pinched together in a puzzled expression. “What do you mean?”

“Remember a few minutes ago, when I said it’s hard to really know another person?” I said slowly. She nodded, and I kept going. “I want us to be different from that. I want us to tell each other everything, no matter what.”

She smiled shyly. “I’d like that too.”

“Good. So in the name of total honesty, there’s something you should know.”

“What?”

I sat up straight and looked her in the eye. “I know you’re not a killer. But I am.”

She shook her head vehemently. “It’s not your fault Camille and Sylvie died, Elias. You were just a baby, and they were trying to get you away from your psycho dad. You can’t keep feeling gui—”

I planted an index finger on her lips to cut her off. “I’m not talking about that.”

“Then what are you talking about?” she said, pulling her face away from my hand.

I let out a deep, juddering breath. “Tatum, I killed someone,” I said. “I fucking killed a guy.”

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