Page 34 of Toxic Salvation
“I don’t. All I can do is try to undo what he did. Try to do enough good to balance out the damage.”
I study his face, searching for something I’m not sure I want to find. “Is that what this is? Taking me in, offering to help my mother—is this your way of paying it forward?”
For the first time since we started talking, Kovan meets my eyes directly. He looks weary. Uncertain.
“Maybe.”
The honesty stings more than a lie would have. But maybe it’s better this way. Simpler. There’s too much history between us now, too much pain and betrayal and blood.
Our fathers worked together to destroy lives. That’s not the foundation for a great love story. That’s the setup for a tragedy.
And I’ve had enough tragedy for one lifetime.
“I should go,” I say, moving toward the door. “Tell Luka I’ll see him when he gets back.”
Kovan nods, already turning back to his desk. “Drive carefully.”
As I reach the doorway, I pause. “Kovan?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. For trying to protect him.”
A shadow passes over his face before he exhales and nods. “He’s a good kid. He deserves better than what he’s been dealt.”
“So do you.”
We stare at each other for a long, taut moment. “I’ll see you later, Vesper.”
I leave him there among the broken glass, wondering if some things are too shattered to ever be made whole again.
13
VESPER
“Where are we going?” Mom stops dead in the hospital corridor, gripping her discharge papers.
I shoot Waylen a look. “Didn’t Waylen explain everything?”
“He said I’d be discharged today and that we’d be going home. I assumed that meantmyhome.”
“Well, technically, we will all be living together again.” I force brightness into my tone, trying to ignore how Mom’s hospital gown hangs off her shrinking frame. She’s disappearing before my eyes, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
“Sweetheart, I don’t need ‘round-the-clock supervision.”
“You’re still undergoing intensive treatment. The medications alone will wreak havoc on your system?—”
“I’m perfectly aware of that, honey. You may be a doctor, but I’ve been living with this cancer for over a year.”
I bite down hard on my tongue to keep from screaming the obvious:And you hid it from us for most of that time.Now isn’t the moment for that fight.
“Cancer isn’t something you fight alone. Like raising children, it takes a village.”
Waylen clears his throat and elbows me in the ribs. “Speaking of children…”
“Right.” My stomach drops. “Why didn’t you tell her where we’re actually going?”
“This is your mess,” he hisses. “Own it.”
