Page 100 of Burning Your Lies

But I wasn’t about to let it go so easily. I follow behind her. “Is there no part of you that feels guilt? He did nothing to us.”

Savannah finally shows courage to look at me. “He had nothing left to live for.”

“That wasn’t for you to decide! He was a father! He has children that deserve to have him alive and present!”

“Xavier already took that from him! You heard it with your own ears. What kind of life was he living?”

I step closer. “It wasn’t your choice! You do not get to decide who lives and dies!”

Staring directly at my eyes, she bursts into a fit of laughter. “That is exactly what I said when youmurderedmy father.”

“That was different.”

“How? He too was a father.”

“Don’t stand there and pretend you cared about that man. They were not the same. He was a rapist. He was a deadbeat who had no wish to be there for his children. Henry was hoping that one day…” I shake my head, unable to believe how heartless she has become.

Her eyes narrow and her lips curl into disgust. “I did what needed to be done in order to protect Elise. The police needed an actual reason to look into him. A woman that went missing fifteen years ago isn’t going to be enough!”

No words come out of my mouth despite how loud the screaming is inside my head. A part, deep inside me, breaks the longer I stare at her. “In your desperate attempt to hold him accountable, you have become him.” I hold my hand up to silence her when she opens her mouth to dispute my statement. “There were a million other ways to do this without murder. How many people have died for the sake of this game you and Xavier started?”

Unable to tolerate the truth, she walks out of the room. “I don’t need this lecture from you, of all people.”

“Emery.” I follow behind her. “Elliot. Henry. Mia. Jordan.” Grabbing her arm, I stop her from running away and force her to face the consequences of their actions. “Their lives are not a game. You don’t get to reset the table and shuffle all the cards back into the deck. They are dead.”

Savannah pushes me away from her. “I know that! But that video wouldn’t have been enough, and you know it. For every second we sit around, he is out there covering his tracks! Soyeah, I paid for the cost of one life in order for so many others to find closure. It’s not just Caitlyn that deserves to find peace, but her family too. A family that has been waiting for answers while he paraded the fucking world on his high horse.”

I close my eyes and step away from her. Despite already knowing the answer, I ask anyway. “Who did you pay?”

“Rowan.” Her answer instils confidence back in her.

Desperation chokes me. “How did you pay him?”

Please say with money.

I know Rowan; he has no need for her money. Rowan takes payment in the form of information, and he knows Savannah is the easiest vessel to extract that from me. My chest tightens as I recall spilling details about Chase’s escape to Savannah in my most vulnerable state.

When I speak again, even I can hear the waver in my throat. “Savannah? How did you pay him?”

Tears gather in the brim of her eyes. Her chest rises and falls. We stand in the middle of this hallway in silence. And the silence says it all.

“Hux.” Her tears burn me.

Betrayal stings in my blood. “Don’t.”

She steps closer when I back away. “I had no choice.”

“Itrustedyou. I told you that when I was at my weakest. And you used that asleverage?”

She shakes her head. “No! I took the money to pay him. But he didn’t want it. He said all I had to do was find out where…” She wipes her tears. “He said if I didn’t, he would kill Elise.”

“What were you expecting when you signed a contract with a hitman?” Unable to bite the urge, my fist slams into the wall.

Savannah’s eyes are frozen with surprise. “Hitman?”

Somehow, despite the reality before me, I laugh. “What did you think he was, Savannah? A fucking business man?” I rub my hands up and down my face. “I have done everything to protectyou from him. And you walked straight into his fucking arms because you were so desperate for Xavier’s attention.”

She brushes past me and stops me from walking out of the house. “Okay. So he knows where you smuggled them out to. It wasn’t you that killed them.”

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