He would go to her father. He would present the one stone he possessed to Andres Costa that he’d been charged to protect and explain to him what had happened that horrible night.
His guts clenched because he still didn’t know Jarek’s fate. If he were alive or if that bullet had put him in the ground.
It didn’t matter, he would beg for a chance.
For a chance to love and protect Aster, swear he would never make that kind of mistake again.
He would give her a good life. A better life. Away from the evil that lurked in that place, just like she’d first begged him to do.
When he got there, it didn’t take long until she wandered out to their secret spot.
Only tears covered her face, and her stomach was flat.
He fumbled out from his hiding place.
Shock filled her face before it twisted with horror.
Or maybe it was the horror that consumed him. The way his knees wobbled in a slash of pain, and the words pitched from his mouth on a plea. “The baby.”
“I got rid of it,” she hissed in disgust and anger, though the words hitched in her throat midway, and she held her middle, too.
Grief whorled through the air as he struggled to process what she’d said.
The hate that had come with it.
He stumbled to the side.
He was going to pass out.
He couldn’t stand.
He gripped both sides of his head. “What are you saying, Aster? What the fuck are you saying? Tell me you didn’t. Oh, fuck, please.”
Sickness flooded his bloodstream.
Their dreams flickered through his mind in black and white.
As if it’d all been imagined.
Unreal.
It was then he noticed the ring that glinted on her finger.
“What the fuck is that?” Pain wheezed out with it, fury following close behind.
“I’m Jarek Urso’s wife. What did you think, you could crawl back here, and I’d just be waiting for you? How could you come here? After what you did? You stole from my father. You killed my uncle.”
Logan’s head shook. “No.”
Her face pinched in a disjointed revulsion. “You chose to leave, Logan. You chose this.”
Logan stumbled forward. “No, Aster. No. I told you I’d come back to you. That even if I couldn’t see you, I would find my way back to you. You promised.”
Her eyes slammed closed when he grabbed her by the upper arms.
Shivers rushed over her flesh, and she tore herself from his grasp.
“Don’t touch me. I belong to Jarek now.”