Page 150 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two

Shae sucks in a breath, moisture clouding her eyes.

“Say it,” she rasps. “You say you want more, but I’m still so damn confused. So, say it. Tell me the reason, Storm, because even though I moved on, my heart is stuck in your apartment eight years ago. And now you’re here, reminding me of that agony every single time I see your face. So free me from this hell you’ve created for me. If you ever loved me, you’d give me that.”

Her words are open and honest, and she’s right on every front. I’ll tell her the truth, not just so she can move forward, but sowecan move forward.

Hopefully, prayerfully, together.

“My uncle killed my parents. He did it right here in the driveway. I was there that morning, but I wasn’t supposed to be. I saw Mom and Dad, and…” I clear my throat and blink, looking away from her intense expression.

Lay it all out there.

“The last thing my dad said to me before he got in that car was, ‘Protect her and protect yourself.’ He was talking about you.I’d spoken to both of them about you, especially my mama. She was really excited to meet you.”

I turn toward her again, and her expression is unchanged.

“But my dad’s last words…he knew his days were numbered. He couldn’t have known there was a bomb in the car, but he was running from…everything. He told me he was giving me room to ‘survive this.’ This, meaning the fucked up shit he and my uncle were involved in.”

Trying to calm the fuck down, I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. It doesn’t work.

“Hey.” Shae’s soft hand lands on top of mine. “You don’t have to tell me all of it.”

But I do. I really, really do.

Shaking my head, I sit up straight when I say, “My father got tied up with some fucked people. Like, some of the worst humans on the planet, Shae. Axel, Riale, and I were trying to figure out a way to get him free from it, but… My dad was a human trafficker. He was involved in financing it, growing wealth for him and his friends on the backs of whatever unfortunate soul got caught by their handlers.”

Shae’s hand stays on mine, but I don’t miss how her fingers flex when I tell the story.

The truth.

“My dad was too far gone, and he knew it, so his hope was for me to be free and safe from this world. That’s why?—”

“That’s why he didn’t name you as successor for Stratos,” she fills in. There’s so much sadness and compassion in her gaze, I find it hard to breathe.

“He told me to take care of you, to protect you, and I thought I knew how to do that. I was so sure I was invincible. I was cocky and entitled and spoiled. But then their car blew up, and I heard the screams and saw their blood and my mother’s shirt flapping in the wind, and I knew I couldn’t protect you. I wasa weak, egotistical man, and I knew if you stayed with me, you would have died, too, and that thought—I couldn’t endure even the thought of you suffering,dyinglike?—”

I choke on the words.

She swivels my chair to the side, scraping the tile as she pulls the other seat nearly flush to mine. Then, Shae’s arms circle my body, my face pressing into her chest. Her heartbeat is steady and hard against my cheek.

The burning in my throat gets hotter, sharper, and I realize I’m doing what Ineverdo: I’m crying.

Gritting my teeth, I try to pull back and keep my face averted. I don’t want her to see my weakness.

But she doesn’t let me go. She just…holds on tighter.

“It’s okay, Storm,” she whispers, and the feeling of her soft lips against my temple is nearly my undoing.

“I knew the safest option for you was to get as far away from me as possible, Shae,” I rasp when she finally lets me go. I run a rough palm over my eyes, knowing that she’ll still see this bared, vulnerable side of me.

“I needed you to hate me as much as I loved you, because when I saw my uncle standing across the street, watching my parents burn, I knew he’d take everything I loved. Including you,” I finally say, my sore eyes searching her face. “Especiallyyou. That’s why I was so cold. That’s why I broke things off like I did. But I could never have expected that you were carrying my babies, Shae. If I’d known…shit, I don’t know what I would have done, but things would have been different. I know that.”

Shae cries now, and I hate the sight of her tears. Always have and always will. So, I put my hands on her cheeks, my thumbs wiping away the moisture.

I keep my hands there, and she lets me, and I take that as the best sign I could have ever asked for.

“I’m sorry, Shae. I’m so sorry, and I’ll be sorry until they put me in the ground. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I missed out. I’m sorry for every scrap of stress I caused you. I’m sorry. And while I pray for your forgiveness one day, I won’t ask for it, because I know forcing you to do anything only hurts both of us, and I’ve made you suffer enough.”

Shae nods, her hands going to my wrists near her face, but not pulling them away. I hold my breath while waiting for her reaction.