Page 111 of Second Sin

"No."

The word barely leaves my mouth before his shoulders tense. Like it physically hits him.

"Why?" he grinds out, still not looking at me.

I swallow hard. "Because I want to help you."

That’s what tips him over.

He laughs—a short, ugly sound that scrapes up from somewhere hollow.

"There’s no fucking help for me."His voice cracks around it. He’s shaking now. Not just his hands. His whole body."You heard the kid. It was all fucking true, Olivia. Wasn't even the worst of it."

He finally looks at me—and it’s not just broken.

It’sbare.

"You want to know how fucking twisted I am?" he bites out, voice low and ragged.

"Yes," I say softly.

His mouth flattens into something between disgust and defeat. Eyes dark, jaw clenched so tight it looks painful.

"I fucked someone’s wife."

The words land like a punch. Sharp. Final.

"Over and over. After I knew. After she told me she was married."

He lets out a sound—low and cracked.A laugh, maybe. If you ripped the soul out of it.

"And when her husband begged me to stop? I didn’t. Because I wanted what I wanted, and I didn’t care who it hurt."

His hands twitch, fists curling like he’s trying to break his own fingers.

"And I'm the one who fucking found her."His voice cracks open—no filter, no armor. Just grief, raw and bloody.“Shitty motel. Stale smoke, piss-soaked carpet. Needle still in her arm. Eyes still open—like she’d been waiting for me to stop her.”

Silence stretches, sharp and suffocating.

"I killed her. Maybe not with my hands, but with everything I was."

He stares at me like he wants me to flinch.

"I destroyed her. Destroyed her family. Her kids. Her fucking life."

I don’t move.I don’t speak. Don’t look away.

His jaw tightens like that hurts more than anything I could say.

He turns from me, voice lower now. Rough."I destroy things, Olivia. That’s who I am. I wreck good things. I don’t deserve?—"

"Me?" I step closer. "Say it."

He can’t.

I move around him, slow and careful, until I’m in front of him.

His eyes stay fixed on some point over my shoulder like looking at me might burn.

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