Page 89 of Like An Animal

THE GHOST

Imade a deal with the devil to protect my shadow. The deal was simple. If I killed David and Kathy and made it look like Jeremy did it, Jeremy would get to live, but the deal would only be complete if I let them bring me back to the compound as a permanent resident. I was given three days to get my affairs in order after killing David and Kathy. Then they came for me in the dead of night.

Everything changed when Charlotte was born. I had to protect her over everything else, including the wrath of her father. I thought Jeremy would want to kill me for what I did, but he didn’t. He just wanted to have me back and come through on the promises he made me five years ago.

He promised to bring me with him to New Jersey.

He promised to marry me the moment we got to Newark.

He promised to keep me safe.

He now has all the information. I didn’t intend to tell him that last bit, but he needed it to understand that none of this was his fault. He was wielded like a weapon by The Fathers to make me do what they wanted.

They used Jeremy to punish me and make sure I had no one I could run to. Turning on Jeremy also took away Massimo andXavi. They killed Missy. The only person they didn’t count on was Aunt Cheryl.

I kept my relationship with her carefully hidden and it ended up being my saving grace. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have made it as far as I did without being caught.

I stopped caring about living a long time ago so I didn’t care if Jeremy killed me. The only life I cared about was Charlotte’s.

She was innocent in everything, but for now, she’s safe.

What about tomorrow though? What if The Fathers come for her?

They know I’m here, but what about her?

“God,” Jeremy groans as he takes my face in his hand and presses his forehead to mine. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

My bottom lip trembles. “You were safer if you thought I was the villain.”

“I never thought you were a villain, baby. I never blamed you for making it look like I did it, okay? If either of us had to go down for anything, I’d prefer it was me. I’m the one who’s supposed to protect you and I failed.”

“If you’re always protecting me, who protects you?” He doesn’t have an answer for that. I run my fingers through his hair before speaking. “This is a two-way street, Jer. You have protected me where you could and so have I. You did the best you could with the information you had… However, I’m still mad that you put me in a box.”

The corner of his lip tips up as he wraps his arm around me, pulling me tight against him.

“I love you, Bron.”

My heart skips a beat, tightening my airway just a bit. “You’ve never said that before.” Granted, I’d never told him I loved him until a minute ago, but I figured since he didn’t say it back that he didn’t plan to.

“I should’ve,” he admits.

“Yes, you should have.”

He huffs. “You never make anything easy, do you?”

“Of course not. Why would I? You have a lot of grovelling to do, but do it for the right reasons.” Would I actually expect him to grovel? No. He has never so much as apologized for being a dick, but I figured it was a good thing to put out into the world.

Tonight was the first time Jeremy has ever apologized to me for anything and it was for something that wasn’t his fault.

“And, what would the right reasons be?” He smirks like a devious cat.

“Let’s see. You locked me in a box, left me behind when you moved, forced me to marry you, used our daughter as leverage, had your grandfather call me periodically to make sure I thought you were still in jail–”

“He what?” All of the sensitive emotions evaporate from Jeremy’s face and anger is clear as day in his eyes.

“You…didn’t know he was calling me?”

He growls. “I knew hecalledyou. Singular. One time. I didn’t know it was more than once.”