Page 105 of Give Me Redemption

“It’s going to be okay,” Bryce tells her. “Don’t worry, baby.”

He looks at me, and I get it without him saying. I got Harrison, man. No worries. I give him a reassuring nod.

“Don’t worry,” he repeats as they push him up the staircase. I turn back to Harrison, who looks like she’s about to fall apart. The cops shove Bryce forward, and Harrison goes to walk.

But I hold on to her arm, keeping her from going after Bryce. Her jaw tightens, and I feel the shake in her bones.

What do I do?

I pull my phone out of my pocket and search for Dalton’s number. It goes straight to voicemail.

Bryce had a plan for this. I know he’ll be all right. We’ll call Pops, but the fact I can’t find Dalton has my head spinning and my heart constricting.

Shit, Simon, one of Bryce’s right-hand men, is getting handcuffed. Harrison’s head whips back to me. She looks worried. I am, too, but not for Bryce. He’ll be fine. I’m worried about my fucking girl. Why isn’t she answering the goddamn phone? I’ve called her three times now. I put my phone back into my pocket, looking down at Harrison.

“Did Dalton come down from the bathroom?” I ask her, but she looks away from me, staring up, watching as Bryce reaches the top of the stairs.

His all-black suit stands out against the red carpet. My brother is a powerful man. He has all kinds of connections, and I know this is just a little speed bump.

I hope anyway.

The alarm stops and I reassure her. “He’ll get out of this, Harrison.”

She blinks back to me. “How? How will he get out of this?”

“He just will. I know…” I look up, and my spine straightens. Ice crawls down my back, chilling me to the core. Our eyes collide. Hers in utter agony and mine in utter confusion. Dalton stands in a green dress, holding on to the stair railing.

And the hair on my neck stands up.

I look down as the light above her reflects off of something metal around her neck.

Is that a badge?

I shake my head, and then my mouth falls open as realization drops down on me like a cement block. My eyes bounce around as my mind plays catch-up.

Conversations, memories, details about our time together.

The uneasiness, the fight she always had, the struggle behind her eyes.

“I wish I could forget you.”

All the times I tried to get close to her and she stopped it.

This is why?

My heart rips in two like a piñata, pieces scattering inside my chest.

My eyes go back to her, but this time there’s no confusion.

I lift my chin and stare at her. The woman I love more than anything has shredded me.

She looks so hurt.

She should feel what I’m feeling.

That’s a checkmate.

She knew this was never going to go anywhere. This whole time, she knew.

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