Restitution (The Edge of Darkness, #3)

by Leigh Rivers

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

“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.”

“I accepted that I was going to die. I thought I was—” I stop, nearly choking. “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.”

“The world really has no idea who you are. You are a little bit nutty, but you care a lot about your family. You taught yourself to love – in your own way, yes – but that alone goes against everyone’s opinion of you. You aren’t heartless, Tobias. Who cares what the world thinks?”

“Stacey…” He inches forward, and my jaw trembles. “We can fix this. We can talk to him. I’m sorry I got scared. We can fix it. We can find out what happened last night.”

“Look at me,” he says, his voice closer. “Please, Stacey. I lost everything too.”

“I lost my fiancée, who’s probably already pregnant. I lost my brother. And I’ve most likely lost the rest of my family. If you jump, then you’re leaving me to do this on my own.”

“I lost my baby girl, and now I’ve lost him.”

Little did I know, when he helped me off the bridge and drove me home, that would be the last time I’d see him.

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

“We need to find them both before we die.”

“You die, I die.”

“You die, ...

“If it makes you feel any better, I love someone who’s never once loved me back, and I’d still die for her. Your sister, by the way.” He sighs into the darkness. “And when I find her, because I will, I’m not going to let her out of my sight. She’ll love me one day. She has to. Even if she just fucking told me she liked me, it would be enough.”

In another life, they would make the perfect couple, but in this one, they love each other so dangerously there’s no chance of ever being together. This version of Tobias is already cracking around the edges. He doesn’t have any of his meds, and adjusting to reality when he’s spent over twenty years locked up and controlled is hard for him.

“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.”

“I’m your Freckles, remember?”

“We have two dogs. Milo and Hopper.” They’re with the manor staff, waiting patiently for their master to return. “Do you remember when we used to walk them on the grounds, and they’d get us all muddy when they dragged us through the woods? You always held the leads because I let them go when they ran, and you’d need to chase them through the manor.”

“You always loved my singing voice, even though you said you didn’t. It made you laugh. We laughed a lot. When we were drunk and singing karaoke in Greece, or even when we were just lying in bed and talking. We always had that, you know? We kept each other smiling. You gave me a reason to live when I felt like I was already dead inside.”

“You still make me smile. When I think of you, I feel alive. I think of our first date a lot. London. Dinner. Hotel rooms and more firsts. They’re ours. All of those memories are ours. Kade and Stacey. Stacey and Kade. What we had was special.”

“But I was your first kiss too, so I was comfortable. You made those times I was in hell feel like heaven. I wanted to die so many times, wanted it all to end, but I had you, so it was worth it. Living was worth it. I trusted you with all my firsts, just like you trusted me.”

“Despite our ending, we always had great trust. I’m sorry you got a distorted view of what happened that night, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner about Chris. I was scared that he’d do something to you, or whisk me far, far away. I didn’t want to lose you, so I kept the abuse to myself.”

“You feel alone,” I say, my voice breaking. “So do I.” When he doesn’t look away, I press further, sliding off the bed and onto the floor. “You feel broken.” A beat, and I add, “So do

“I wish we could go back to the day we found out I was pregnant. Sometimes, I picture what she would look like. Blue eyes like yours, hair like mine, and an attitude and personality like your dad.” I snort at myself. “She’d have definitely been a heathen. A three-year-old heathen that we loved infinitely.”

“You hate me,” he manages to say, his throat dry and rough. “You’re always going to hate me.”

“I could never hate you, Kade.”

“Forgive me? Please. Please forgive me.” His words are broken, but I understand each one, muffled as he pulls away from my shoulder and drops his head into my lap, hugging the back of my knees. “I’ll do anything. I know we can’t get back what we had, and I’ll never be that eighteen-year-old kid again, but please don’t hate me. Please forgive me. I didn’t want to be like this, Stacey. I didn’t want this. I didn’t… I… Stacey.”

I want the real Kade back.

This Kade Mitchell is a glitch in the universe. But he’s my glitch, not Bernadette’s, not Archie’s, not the men and women who paid for his forced services and punctured him with needles to dope him up.

Under the skin of the devil they created, buried in the fucking void of the darkness he’s trapped in, I will ...

Why? Because he...

When he pulls back from the kiss, he presses his lips to her forehead. “I love you. Every broken part of me has loved you from the moment I met you.”

“It was never going to be an easy road. At least now I can do something good for my family. Live your life the way you were supposed to without me, Doctor.”

My eyes screw shut as she pulls the trigger, and there’s a harrowing scream, a loud bang that hurts my ears, and warm liquid hitting my face and arms.

I open my eyes to see Kade’s brother standing in front of me. He drops to his knees as Aria reaches him, but it’s too late.

The bullet is lodged in Jas...

Everyone dies at some point. It’s inevitable. Death is strange and unavoidable. The endpoint to every living thing. There will be a quiet moment in our lives when the world stops moving, our lungs stop working and we close our eyes for the last time.

Jason was getting clean. He was going to therapy, he’d started back at the gym and had a goal to be better. Not just for the woman he loved but for himself.

He was supposed to live. To get his life back. To help Kade get his life back and fix his relationship with his brother. He isn’t supposed to be gone. He wasn’t supposed to jump in front of a bullet for me.

But he did. And now h...

A bullet that was meant for me has penetrated Jason’s skull, and he’s dead. He’s had his final blink. His last moment. His milesto...

He sacrificed himself for me. I should be dead. I should be the one lying on the ground. But the angle that he ran in front of me means his head was low enough to take the fatal bullet instead of his body.

I lost my fiancée, who’s probably already pregnant. I lost my brother. And I’ve most likely lost the rest of my family. If you jump, then you’re leaving me to do this on my own.

Even if that means taking a bullet for you…

Jason kept his promise.

Jason McElroy is a hero. My hero. Everyone’s.

“I changed too.” She hugs herself, and I hate that I’ve made her feel anxious around me. “I want to help you. I want to be with you. However long it takes for you to get better.” Her voice cracks, and I think something in my chest does too. “You said you still loved me.”

Being loved by Stacey Rhodes is a dream. Why does my dream need to be a nightmare?

“You’re addressing everyone in it and apologising for everything as if you’re going to die.” She scans the words, turning the paper over and pausing. “And lastly, the most important person in my life, my girl Stacey Rhodes. My Freckles. My forever. What can I say to make any of this better? I hope my death means you’re free, and that—”