Page 100 of From My Past
“I know.” I breathed her in, kissing the top of her head.
“Is he,” she gulps, “is the body still out there?” I could see the fear and guilt in her eyes, her body tensing as she thought Garzino was out there.
“No. No, baby. Cillian got rid of it. Bryan cleaned up everything, so there’s nothing out there. Just our house and friends.” I hoped that it brought her a little bit of comfort. It was all I could do for her right now.
She looked up at me in alarm, alarm that I didn’t understand.
“I should’ve been the one to clean up. I…I did this.” She said, sobs in her voice that made my instincts go into high gear.
“Baby, no. We took care of this for you, no strings attached. Nothing will change, just like we said. There is absolutely no reason why you had to have done that.”
“But I did it!” She cried, “It’s on me! I killed him.” Her head cocked to the side and her eyes darkened.
“I killed him. Oh fuck, I killed him.” She started repeating over and over. Hysteria in her voice and tragedy in her eyes.
I grabbed her shoulders, making her look right at me. I needed to put a stop to this spiral.
“You did it to protect yourself. He wouldn’t have stopped and you know it.” I said carefully.
“I…why does this keep happening to me?” She whispered, her head falling into her hands. Wrapping her in my arms, I could feel her shoulders and chest shake with silent sobs.
“It’s not you, baby.” I rested my chin on the top of her head. “It was him, him and that other abusive motherfucker who wouldn’t stop beating on your sister.”
“My sister,” her eyes flash in fear “is she okay?”
“We haven’t gotten any updates from the guys watching her, so I’m sure she’s fine. We can call her, if you want.”
Her body slumps against mine, all her energy and the tension in her body gone with that knowledge. I wrap my arm around her waist, letting me take some of her weight and giving her some of my strength.
“Come on baby, let’s get you something to eat. I’ll have one of the guys call on your sister and then you need to sleep more.” I pull her through the bedroom door out into the living room where the guys are sitting awkwardly, pretending like I hadn’t just tore through the living room like a bat out of hell.
“Hi.” Talia says quietly.
“Hey, lassie.” Cillian says with an easy smile, wiping his hands from the sandwich.
Trent smiles at her softly, where Bryan stands up and stops in front of her, holding his hands out for her to take them.
She looked at him and slowly placed her hands in his.
“I’m so sorry.” He says. She nods and gives him a tight smile. She may be reeling from everything that happened, but I can see how much it means to her to have them there with us. It meant a lot to me, too.
“Did you guys save any of those for us?” I said after a moment, and tried to put a smile on my face, pulling Talia with me to sit on my lap.
“Had to fight these two, but yeah, we have one or two for you guys.” Trent joked, nudging Cillian with his shoulder.
“I’m hungry! Leave me alone.” Cillian says and I hear a small chuckle from Talia. It makes me smile brighter and gives me hope for our future.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Talia
Here I sit, a week or so after Luca… died, back in Kellan’s office. His armchairs in front of his desk didn’t feel as comfortable as they had been the last time I was here.
Kieron is standing behind me with his hands in his pocket like some kind of guard instead of my husband.
I give him a pointed look and move my head toward the empty seat next to me, indicating for him to sit down and stop pacing, but he is a stubborn ass and refused.
“You don’t have to look so nervous, Kieron. Everything is handled.” Kellan said, plopping down in his leather desk chair, unbuttoning his suit jacket, and smiling – not unkindly – at his son.
