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“I couldn't stay after...” My voice cracked. I took a shaky breath. “After Tyler and Callie were killed, it wasn’t random. It wasn’t just a car blowing up.

Their faces paled.

“They were killed because Tyler and I knew what was going on. Senator Marcus Vance thought he had killed both of us.

“No,” my Dad said fiercely, shaking his head. “No, Jude. Don’t say that, it was not your fault.”

“It's the truth,” I said, my voice steady even as my soul fractured all over again. “I had gotten close to something... something bad. I didn't even know it at the time. But Tyler did. He tried to warn me. They died because of me. And Callie...

I couldn’t finish. I didn't have the strength.

Tears blurred my vision. I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes, fighting for air.

When I opened them again, my father stood right before me. His jaw was clenched so tight that a muscle ticked in his cheek. His hands—hands that had taught me how to ride a bike and how to bait a fishing hook—reached out and gripped my shoulders.

“You listen to me,” he said roughly.

“You are not to blame. You hear me, Jude? You did what you had to do.”

I nodded, even though I didn’t believe it.

Even though I wasn’t sure I ever could.

My Dad stepped forward. His voice was low and full of anger. “Who were they? Are they still out there?”

I hesitated. The answer was complicated.

Some were dead. Some were still shadows I couldn’t reach. And some... some might never stop looking.

“They're not your problem,” I said quietly. “They’re mine. They always were.”

“You should have come to us,” my mother whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

“I know,” I said, my heart breaking all over again. “I just couldn't risk it. Not after losing Tyler. Not after losing Callie. I couldn’t lose anyone else.”

The sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the empty street.

We all stood there for a moment, wrapped in grief, anger, and love so fierce it hurt.

“I’m going to sell the house,” I said after a long silence.

They turned to me, surprise flickering in their eyes.

“I can’t keep it. It’s not a home anymore.”

I paused, voice thick with tears.

“I need to say goodbye. I need to find a way to live again. Tyler and Callie would want that. They wouldn’t want me stuck here... trapped by what happened.”

My mother nodded through her tears.

My father squeezed my shoulders.

I finally let the tears fall freely, not hiding them this time.

Maybe for the first time in years, I didn’t feel completely alone.

And when I looked up at the darkening sky, I silently promised Tyler and Callie that I would keep living.