Page 40 of Into Temptation

My stomach turns in anger and also, in sadness.

“Rory found me, and he called an ambulance. He saved my life. I owe him everything,” she says, still refusing to look at me.

I now understand what Cian meant when he said Babydoll worked until it made her sick. She was at the end of her tether because of me. I also understand why she and Rory bonded. He did what I could not—he saved her and kept her safe.

I failed her. I failed them all.

“I fell in love with him because, how couldn’t I? He saved my life.”

The break in her voice hammers away at my heart because the thought of her not being here is a life I don’t want to live.

“Yer not a coward,” I say when I think it’s safe to speak without my words betraying me.

“Then what am I?” she asks, turning slowly to face me.

Her desperation for validity wounds me. My world has been filled with nothing but darkness; Babydoll was the light I needed to guide me through the dark. Her light is now snuffed out because she is lost. So lost.

But now, it’s my turn to be her light and help lead her through the dark times.

“Yer human, Cami,” I say, using her name for the first time. “And yer a fighter. You being alive is proof of that.”

She bursts into tears.

Thankfully, the castle is near, and I turn into the drive, heading straight for the stable yard building. The moment I kill the engine, I drag her over the console and onto my lap. She comes willingly, weeping into my neck as she wraps her arms around me.

“Shh, it’ll be all right,” I assure, rubbing her back and allowing her to cry. “I’m sorry for leavin’ ya. But I had to.”

“W-why?” she stutters, her body vibrating with her shudders.

I never wanted to tell her this, but she was honest with me, so I will be honest with her.

“’Cause Brody threatened yer lives if I spoke to youse again. If I didn’t take the fall, if I didn’t give Belfast to him, he’d kill everyone I…love. I wouldn’t hurt youse like that. Better I suffer than yousens. I deserved the punishment for everythin’ I did. I just wish I could have stopped yer pain,” I confess, hating how many people I’ve hurt. “So, if anyone is a coward, it’s me.”

Babydoll’s cries cease, as do her breaths, and she becomes frozen solid.

“What?” she wheezes when she can speak, gently pulling from our embrace to face me. “He blackmailed you?”

I nod. “Among other things.”

She squeezes her eyes shut, the tears cascading down her cheeks. “That motherfucking asshole. I hate him. I hate them all.”

She opens her eyes, and what she says next has me barely holding on. “Hugh, he did things to…me.”

“What things?” I ask, dangerously low.

“He never, he never crossed that line, but he was…sick. He didn’t act like we were brother and sister.” She chews her lip when realizing what she just said. “I want Liam and Brody dead, just how Hugh is. Did he suffer?”

Nodding, I wipe away her tears with my thumb.

“What did you do to him?” When she reads my hesitation, she presses, “Please, I need to know.”

With a sigh, I reveal the real me. “I tortured him, and then I set him on fire.”

She’s silent, and I’m afraid I’ve said too much. But with the slowest of movements, she lowers her lips to mine, kissing me.

I refuse to give in to temptation because this isn’t about that. This kiss is letting go. “Thank you,” she whispers against my lips.

The kiss isn’t a lover’s kiss but, rather, a kiss filled with love. It’s the first chaste kiss we’ve shared, and I realize it’s because by telling me the truth, she has let go.

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