Page 11 of Burning Bridges

"What?" The way she looks at me, it’s like that scared little girl running away from home. Her mother's death must have really done a number on her. I haven’t seen this look in her eyes since that night. The two of us on the side of the road, her with a life-changing decision to make.

"I want to know something. Why do you hate me so much? Why are you putting me through hell to jump through hoops to pay you when you know I can't afford it? What did I ever do to you that was so awful?"

I look at her like she has to be joking. How could she not know? "Your family destroyed mine."

"What do you mean?"

"Your father killed mine, leaving me with an alcoholic mother and two little brothers to take care of. I don’t hate you; I hate who you stand for."

"You knew it was him?" she stutters out like she didn't realize I knew.

"From the night it happened. And by the look on your face, it's no surprise to you."

She pulls me farther behind the tree with her, and God knows why, but I let her. This is a conversation that has been years in the making, and I, for one, want to know what she has to say. "That’s why I was leaving town that night. I couldn't stay and be a part of what they were. I always had my suspicions, but that night I finally knew what a monster my father was. At least I thought I did, but it turns out I knew nothing yet."

My heart is racing, and I don't even understand why. For years, I have had so many unanswered questions from that night, and since she's bringing it up, I want my answers. "Why did you get in the car with him if you knew?"

Her eyes meet mine, and they're haunted with the past. Scared. "He would have killed you if I didn't," she says like it's something she has been dying to tell me for years but didn't know how. And from the way she's looking at me, I know she's telling me the truth; I can see it written all over her face. I also know he was the kind of man that would kill a teenager just to prove how powerful he was.

Regardless, she still left with him instead of me. Why is she telling me this now? There have been so many times over the years when she could have explained why she left me for him that night. For years, I thought it was because she didn't give a shit about what we were starting, and her family was more important. I offered to save her, and she chose them. At least that's what I thought. I don't even know what she wants me to do with this information now.

"What happened when you went home that night?" I demand.

She drops her head, and I know for a fact that if the man wasn't already dead, I would fucking kill him for whatever he did to her. "It's not important," she says sadly, but I know it is because whatever he did to her changed her.

"It's important because it changed everything, and you know it," I reply. I want to push her to tell me because I still feel guilty. I went straight home instead of following her and making sure she was all right. I knew what kind of a monster he was, but she chose to go with him, so I figured she knew what she was doing. Now I know I was wrong.

"Leo, you can't control everything just because you want to. What happened is in the past," she says, looking back at the others. Axel is glaring in my direction as he pulls Jasmine into his side.

"Anyone would think he's still in love with you," I say, insinuating something that isn't true.

She looks his way, rolling her eyes. "He's protective of me because we have a child together, nothing else. You don't need to worry about him," she says, trying to put my mind at ease.

"I'm not. Axel knows as well as I do that if I wanted him dead, he would be."

Her eyes narrow in on me like she's trying to bring my attention back to her. "The other night when you held me, I know you felt it too. It was like I was transported back in time to before all of this. It made me think about how different things could have been. You shouldn't be this hateful man, this isn't you."

"But it is. We all have to live with the choices we made that night. When your father decided to kill mine, he set off a domino effect that altered all of our lives forever. I signed away the life I had always dreamed of that night, and you made your decision to pick your family over me. I would have taken care of you. I could have given you a better life. But you picked them, and now we're both paying the price."

"He would have killed you," she says with absolute certainty. Her eyes meet mine, and I see the fear she still harbors there when she thinks about her dad. She takes my hand in hers, and in a moment of weakness, I let her. I want to feel her touch. "Leo, I did it for you." Her voice is almost a whisper, and I can see how much that decision still weighs on her. At the time, we had no idea just how momentous that night would be, but it has shaped who we both are—the good and the bad. And we can't go back.

I brush the hair out of her eyes and tilt her chin up so she is forced to look into my eyes. There have been so many times over the years that I've wished to be this close to her, to touch her soft skin and feel her silky hair in my fingers. "You don't give me enough credit, Princess. Even back then, I was more resourceful than you know," I say, dropping my gaze and removing my hand from hers. Whatever moment she thinks happened the other night was just us caught up in the panic of the situation. I was reliving my own mother's overdose, and she was in a hell of her own. There is nothing more between us.

She looks hurt by my sudden change. "Bet you regret your decision now," she says. Now I'm on top, and he's the one who ended up dead. Now I have all the power, and she is looking up to me, wishing things were different. But it's too late for that. There's too much water under the bridge, and we have both done unspeakable things to get by. There is no going back from that.

"You have no idea," I say, giving her one last lingering look as she turns and walks away. She goes back to her daughter and Axel, leaving me to get my feelings for her under control. I can't be the person I need to be if I fall victim to her pretty face and the emotional pull she has over me. I have to be stronger than that. There is too much at stake.

Chapter 7

PIPER

MyeyeswidenasI pull into the driveway and catch sight of a fire-engine red Ferrari parked right out front. I sigh, feeling my shoulders tense. What asshole will I have to deal with next? I’m still feeling a little wounded from my conversation with Leo, and emotionally drained from everything I've had to do for Mom this week. I can’t process the fact that she’s gone. I keep thinking I'll pull up here and see her sitting on her deck chair in the garden, reading, a glass of wine on the table next to her.

But she’s not there. She’s gone forever.

As I drive past, I sweep my eyes over the car, searching for its owner, but find no one inside. After using the fob to enter the garage, I park my mother's old Jaguar and retrieve the gun I stowed under the seat, feeling wary and ready for any potential threats. I’m not in any mood to be messed with today. With my eyes wide, shifting around the perimeter of our property, searching madly for the owner of the vehicle, I exit the garage. After a quick sweep around the front of my house, I realize I’m alone. I approach the car and try the driver-side door; it’s not even locked and opens, revealing a cell phone with the name Piper written on the front on a yellow post-it note.

I pick it up and look back over my shoulder, thinking I might have heard something, but the space behind me is empty. It must have just been the wind or my paranoia. The phone rings in my hand, making me jump and nearly drop it. I fumble, catching it, staring at the screen. For a split second, I contemplate putting the thing back in the car and walking away, but curiosity gets the better of me, and I want to know what the fuck is going on.

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