Agony cleaved through my spirit.
I tried to hold it. To keep it from cutting both of us in two.
“We were born into those lives,” I managed.
“And I was supposed to take you from it. Together, we were supposed to find better lives.”
In the dimness, my fingertips found the tattoo inscribed on his side. I didn’t need to see it to know where it was, to remember what he’d written on himself like a brand.
“Who bought them, Logan?” My voice warbled with the question, as if maybe I could understand. My promise to my father had never been a real intention. But somehow, after everything, I needed to know.
The twin stones.
The reigning crown jewel.
Two stones that perfectly matched, their settings made of clasps that interconnected and made one matching stone. Each hung from rhodium necklaces.
Necklaces that had been passed down from my grandfather to my father.
Necklaces that fools had fought over for generations.
Necklaces that set together were said to be worth thirty million dollars, even though they could never be sold at auction. Their existence was a rumor that had been true, only sought by thieves and cheats and swindlers.
Necklaces that had cost us everything.
GREED.
Logan was the last known to have them in his possession.
He froze for the barest moment, the only movement the sticky awareness that skimmed the surface of his skin.
He averted his gaze when he grated, “You know I can’t tell you that.”
Tears blurred and burned.
I didn’t know why it hurt so bad.
“When?” Sadness poured out.
Logan hesitated, warred, his teeth gritting when he forced out, “After I came for you. It was the only thing I had left.”
“I did. I burned it all to the fucking ground, Aster, and you already know what happened when I got there. You were no longer mine.”
“Your brother died the night you left me.” It rushed out on a breath of sorrow. I didn’t know the details.
It was the same night I’d barely survived myself.
Logan and I strewn across the earth.
Separated.
Cleaved in two.
His entire being wept. Obliterated pain reverberated through the low hung words when he rasped, “That night cost me everything.”
“I hate it…I hate what this life has caused.”
And I wanted to drown. Slip away and disappear. But Logan gathered me up in his arms and pressed a kiss to my mouth.