Page 24 of Crimson Flames

“All of my choices seem to be taken from me. I said I wantedtogether, and you ran awayagain,” she seethes, looking at the old fella.

Then, her pained gaze turns to me.

“And you promised to be my killer and stay by my side, but you left me to watch from the shadows. I keep choosing, but everyone keeps choosingforme!”

It’s my turn to shake my head.

“You would have hated me forever if I had tried to save you from your father.”

Boris leans in, trying to help her see reason. “I could not watch the two of you hurting while there was nothing I could do. I needed space. I needed to think, my little fox. I may have been running, but I came back.”

Nessa laughs sarcastically. “The two of you are just like my father, always calling the shots. I am so done with having the choice taken from me. I am done with the two of you.”

I know exactly what she’s doing right now, but I won’t call her out. If she needs to push us away in order to process her emotions, I will let her make me the bad guy here.

“Get out,” she says so quietly that Boris and I look at each other before responding.

“What?”

“Get out!” This time she yells, pointing towards the door. “You don’t get to be here and kiss it better this time. Nothing will fix this, nothing will fix me!”

“Love, you’re not broken.”

Tears track down her cheeks as she continues to point to the door.

“Out.”

She’s seconds from passing out, her eyes already drooping. I don’t want her to hurt herself or make any of this worse. So, without a word, I get up and leave the room.

Don’t worry, I’m not going far.

The second I’m outside of the door, I sit down beside it. I can hear Nessa yelling, and all too soon, Boris follows, taking up the spot on the other side of the door.

“Has anyone figured out who did this?” I ask Boris.

I haven’t been in touch with anyone, and no one has come to the room yet besides Kai.

“Lev followed the heat signature for a minute, but they disappeared. Everyone was so focused on getting Nessa into the ambulance that by the time they could get back, any trace of them was gone. Lev found some old underground tunnels, but no one was in them.”

I put my arms on my knees as we speak quietly, hoping Nessa falls asleep soon. “This had to be Donovan. Who else would do this?”

“We are missing something, or someone.”

I agree. But who?

Chapter 9

Kai devours his sandwich, doing everything he can to avoid eye contact with me. Blimey, I’m not sure why so many people act like if they look at me, I’ll be able to see inside of their soul.

It’s a gift I wish I had but definitely do not. Sure, I can see if someone’s sad or upset, but even those emotions have limits. They can be masked and placed behind so many façades that knowing them all, for even one person, would be impossible.

“Why won’t you look at me?” I ask him, curious if he will be honest or just try and placate me. These types of questions help me figure out where to start with people. If they don’t trust me,then I can’t help them. I have to figure out where our trust lies and build from there.

“I don’t know what to say to you.” His head is down, but he slowly lifts it. “And I get this feeling that you have the power to take things away from me. I don’t like that.”

Honesty, but also admitting distrust. I can work with that.

“What are you afraid I’ll take away from you?”

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