Restitution (The Edge of Darkness, #3)

by Leigh Rivers

“Don’t you fucking dare close your eyes, Base.”

We aren’t together – haven’t been for a while – but Stacey is my girl.

Tobias Mitchell.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You’re okay. You’re safe with me,” he says softly as he strokes my hair, letting me cry into his chest. “I found you, little one.”

“What about Luci⁠—” “Sebastian Prince’s uncle won her auction.

“Just accept my gratitude. I know your children are your priority, but I appreciate that you’re here for me.” “You are also my priority. I would have always hunted for you to the ends of the fucking earth, little one. I know you didn’t have the best relationship with your father, your brothers are useless pricks, and my son is shackled to a bitch on an insane power trip, but you have me.”

I was alive when I was around Kade. And now I’m alive because of his father.

“You did not need to pull my hair.” “I like pulling hair.”

I accidentally forget to hold a branch, and it slaps Tobias in the face.

He broke his promise and, along with Kade, vanished from my life in the process.

“You die, I die.” “You die, I die,”

Do you think your dad will snap me in half when he finds out I’ve made both his offspring come?”

He’s like the sun shining into a ditch full of dead bodies.

“She was everything to me. I think she still is,”

“No, she is still everything to me.”

Do I ignore my own pain and focus on others?

“I’m going to fucking kill you, Freckles.”

I was in love with Kade Mitchell, and now he’s going to kill me.

I’m not going to kill the only person that’s kept me alive this long.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, the two words broken. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.”

“I don’t have anything to live for, but you do.”

Stacey Rhodes. My girl. My anchor that sank to the bottom of the ocean without me.

The one who shot at her. The ex-boyfriend who would burn the world down for her.

The piece of shit who could never fall out of love with her.

I’m so sorry, Freckles, I want to say. For everything you’ve been through. By my hand and others’.

Fuck, forgive me. Fucking please forgive me, Stacey.

“Please just shoot me and get your freedom, Kade. I can’t hear this – not when I’m ready to give up. Please don’t give me something to live for.”

“She couldn’t find out that I…”

“Find out what?”

“That I’m still in love with you.” “You’re not,”

“If you were still in love with me, we wouldn’t have just spent years in hell, Kade. If you were in love with me, you would have stayed by my side when I tried to tell you the truth a year ago. You don’t love me – I’m just someone you used to have in your life when it was normal, so you hold on to the thought of me.”

“That’s not even slightly true. If I could go back, I’d go back to the very beginning with you. I’d...

and hide you both from the ugliness of the world.” “There...

“Our girl is dead, and so is our relationship.” “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I love you.” “Please stop saying that, Kade,”

You don’t have to ever forgive me, but I want you to know that if I had all the time in the world, I would spend it trying to win you back. I’d prove myself worthy of you, Stacey. Because there hasn’t been a day that’s passed where you haven’t kept me going. My love might not be enough for you, but it’s all I have left. I

love you. I love you so fucking much that I want to live.”

“The first time I saw you, I was yours. I’ll always be yours, Freckles. Our girl will be proud of the woman you’ve become. You’ll both always be my girls.”

How can I leave her again?

Cassie comes running straight for us, but I roll my eyes and put a bullet in her skull before she can reach me.

“Of course she’s dead. Are your eyes working? Her brain is splattered on the ground, you fucking idiot.”

“I was just stating a fact.” “A useless fact,”

“Any others? You want to tell me the sky is blue whi...

“I need you to forgive me. I’ll do anything. Just tell me – I’ll do it.”

“I don’t think this is about forgiveness. I could have said something years ago about my brother, but I didn’t.”

“You were scared.” “And why didn’t you tell anyone a...

“Because you were scared, like me. This isn’t about forgiving one another, Kade. This is about surviving.” “But I...

“Just stand there, you useless prick.”

“I don’t want his dirty blood on me.”

“Don’t be afraid of me, Freckles,” he calls, spitting out blood that’s leaked into his mouth. “This is for us.”

“Despite our ending, we always had great trust.