Page 182 of Ignite

He wipes his tears away like they’re not cutting him apart.

“You can’t. Just let me go. Not just from these woods. Pretend you never met me.”

He grips his hair, pulling at the roots.

“I can’t pretend I never met you, Hallie. Because the weeks I’ve known you have been the best time of my life. I can never let that go. I can never letyougo.”

I press my hand into my chest like I can stop the pain.

But it’s everywhere.

He didn’t just break me. He burned me.

“You need to forget me. For both of our sakes.”

He shakes his head, desperate.

“I know I won, but I don’t want your money. I want nothing from you. Give it to the girl who came second. I just want to leave now.”

His eyes beg me to stay.

“Tell me how I can make this right…”

“Unless you have a way to turn back time, beastie, that’s just not possible. Don’t waste your time trying.”

It hurts. Every word. Every step away from him feels like ripping my soul apart.

Heavy footsteps approach.

I glance past Conan to find Declan and Finn moving toward us. Grim. Silent.

Declan places a hand on Conan’s shoulder and pulls him aside.

“Dr. Quinn, please just take me home. I won’t tell anyone, you have my word. I’ll hand in my notice, I’ll move away. I don’t want any money. I just want my dog and a new start away from this…” I glance at Conan. “Away fromhim.”

“Hallie, I’m really fucking sorry,” Finn says.

My eyes widen and I step back.

Is he going to shoot me?

They all promised to protect me. But maybe I needed protection from them.

“I meant I’m sorry for what’s happened. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Relief nearly takes me to my knees.

Finn stays cold, unreadable. But then he shrugs off his jacket and places it over my shoulders. I wrap it around myself like armor.

“I—I can go home?”

He nods, hand shoved deep into his pocket.

Finn steps closer.

“Just turn around and walk away, don’t look back. Just let him go. We will look after him, don’t worry,” he murmurs.

I glance back once.

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