Page 94 of The Destruction You Desire

"That's not on you, Lib. What happened between the two of us is his fault."

"But if I never—"

"No, I refuse to let you take on the blame for all of this. You were a child, Libby."

"I was almost eighteen."

"And he was an adult who should have known better."

She blows out a breath and falls back against her pillows.

"He made me feel so… special. I know it's stupid but I just really needed that back then."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me." I refrain from telling her that it's because I've totally invaded her privacy and read most of her diary from that time.

Those pages contain everything that could destroy Brett Dunn, we just need to be smart and figure out the best way to go about it.

"What now?" she asks, sounding totally exhausted.

"Now, we focus on getting you better and we rebuild our lives.”

“And you and Luca?"

I shrug. "I'm not sure there is a me and Luca anymore."

"Bullshit, Peyton. I saw the way you two looked at each other, how you melted at what he confessed. He's right, you know? You're being stubborn."

"I'm protecting my heart."

"Yeah, same thing. It was always meant to be you two, Pey. Just give him a chance. He looked a mess and something tells me that has everything to do with you."

I open my mouth to respond but quickly find that I have no comeback for that, and when I look at her again, I discover that she's fast asleep.

"Well, thanks for that, Sis," I mutter to myself.

I sit there in her dimly lit room for almost an hour running everything around in my head before I eventually push away from the bed, kiss her brow and head for the door, more than ready to finally go home and get into my bed.

I call for an Uber as I ride the elevator down to the ground floor and instead of pocketing my cell, I pull up the chat that I've mostly ignored since Luca left Atlanta.

I stare at his words, his apologies for taking things too far, for pushing too hard. His concern for Libby. His demands that I reply just to let him know that I'm okay.

My chest aches knowing that he meant every single one. I know he did.

Without putting too much thought into it, my thumbs fly over the screen.

Peyton: Thank you. You have no idea what a relief it is not to have to worry about that debt. I'll forever owe you x

I hit send before I change my mind and fall back against the wall, closing my eyes for a beat.

My cell buzzes as the doors open and I ignore it until I'm safely in the back of the car I ordered and heading for home.

Luca: Anytime. Anything. I can think of a few ways you can repay me ;-)

With a smile, I lock my cell once more and rest my head back.

I don't realize that I fall asleep until the driver has no choice but to shout at me to get my attention to tell me that I'm home.

"Crap, I'm so sorry. It's been a long day."