Page 84 of Hidden Memories

At the sound of our past creeping into our space, she stills.

I trail my fingers under her jaw, tilting her face to mine. I need her to see it. “Tell me anything. I’m on your side.”

She searches my gaze as if trying to figure out what she can believe.

I brush my thumb over her lower lip, still swollen and red-stained from crying. I’ve wanted to kiss away those tears since the second I saw them.

“I’m on your side,” I repeat, softer this time.

She inhales sharply, her fingers dragging down my arm. Electricity crackles in the wake, setting every nerve on fire. When her hand reaches my fingertips but drops away instead of holding on, I have to clench my fists to keep from grabbing her.

A tear slips over the curve of her cheek. She licks it off her lips, and fuck, I’m gone.

“It’s not that I’m surprised,” she says, voice shaking. “Nic was exactly the kind of guy who would be doing shady deals and unethical things. But… What are we going to do? Me and Theo… I have a few bits of jewelry to my name. I don’t even have a car anymore…”

She teeters on the edge of something too dark to name.

I grip her waist. “I’ll take care of you.”

Her lashes flutter. “You can’t…”

I ease in even closer, hips locking with hers, so she understands exactly what I mean. “I want to.”

Her lips part. “Why?”

Why?

Because this is how men ruin themselves.

I already have one life to protect; I can’t afford to gamble with two more. Owen is my priority. My future. But Kat…

She’s my greatest regret. My eternal temptation.

Before, she was a memory I could lock away. Now, she’s something else. Something volatile. Something I can’t ignore.

Taking her back means inviting the storm. It means putting everything—Owen, the safety of Monarch Hills, the life I’ve clawed my way toward—on the line.

But if I walk away now, I’ll never get another chance. And the truth is, I don’t think I can live with that.

She repeats her question, this time with less doubt and more hope. “Why would you help us?”

A fire burns in my chest. I can’t hold it back.

“Because I’m not done with you.”

Her breath snags in her throat, the sound tight, unsteady, a tremor between us.

It’s dangerous admitting it, saying it. But it’s the goddamn truth.

Her fingers curl into my shirt. She pulls me closer even as she fights it.

Her words slip out, hushed and unsteady, as if speaking them might break her. “I’m scared… I don’t want to bring danger here. To Theo, to this town… to you.”

I swallow hard. She’s right. There is danger in this. In us.

But the second she looks at me like that? Like she knows this will burn us both, but she still wants the fire?

I’d rather burn alive than walk away.

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