Page 52 of Precious Legacy

“I was just standing there, still trying to understand why you’d choose this life over me. Why you would leave when you promised me you wouldn’t… you promised you’d never leave me.” She peers up at me, sadness and anger framing her eyes. “And then they dragged me into an all?—”

“They?”

She nods in response, swiping at the tears free falling down her face. “Three guys. They…”

“They what? What did they do?” I demand.

Fuck, from the look in her eyes, I already know. But I need to hear it. I need to feel every ounce of pain her admission will deliver.

Shaking her head, she tries to push away from me. I lock my arms around her because I refuse to let her walk away from this conversation. It’s the first time she’s been openly vulnerable with me, the first time we’ve had an honest conversation that hasn’t ended in hate fucking or angry insults. This is the first time I’ve seen Alanis hurting like this, and I want to be the one to stop it.

“They beat me until I couldn’t fight back. Then they… they…” she sobs again, and for the longest moment, I pause to let her get it out.

My blood continues to simmer with barely-contained rage while Alanis releases her pain in quiet sobs. My brain ticks over as I try to piece it all together, and then,boom, I realizethe correlation between everything—Alanis hating me, the space she constantly puts between us, the fights she insists on creating. It’s because this is all my fault. If I hadn’t left, this never would’ve happened.

Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I wait for her tears to steady. “I’m so fucking sorry,” I whisper. “I’ll fucking kill them. I’ll make every single one of them wish they never even looked at you that night.” Though I know it’ll do nothing to erase what happened, it’ll be the redemption she needs.

Her gaze snaps to mine, full of guilt and wavering resentment. In that one look, I know exactly why she’s hated me all these years. I’d hate me, too.I definitely hate myself right now.

In the silence that sits between us, her eyes soften as they fill with more tears and I hate that she’s had to go through this alone.

“No,” she says sternly. “I don’t want you getting involved.”

“Alanis,” I sigh, rubbing a hand over my face.

“Roman, that’s the whole point, don’t you get it?! Of removing myself from the family business, of joining the police. Our way of life brought me nothing but pain, so I’m trying things another way. I’m going to get justice, and I’m going to be the one to take them down, the right way.”

Not that I played any direct part in what happened to her, but I have this feral urge to exact revenge, to make the fuckers who hurt her pay. I’m as much to blame for that night because by leaving, I did nothing to prevent it. I bailed on us because I valued my position within the family more than her feelings on the matter. I took her for granted, and I can’t even blame my naivety anymore. As much as I told myself it was the right thing for both of us, I knew exactly what I was doing when I closed that door. I was saying goodbye, knowing things would change between us after.

I just didn’t realize how much.

“Roman,” she warns, pushing out of my lap. I hate the distance she creates, but her anger is turning venomous. “Stay out of this.”

“I can’t,” I admit, my chest constricting painfully.

She huffs loudly, her fists clenching. She darts her eyes away from me, closing them and inhaling deeply. The silence is deafening. All the questions and thoughts whip around my head in a whirlwind, crashing into my abated anger.

“Why did you leave like that?” she suddenly rasps, vulnerability underscoring her loaded question. We both know that the answer is far more complex than we both want to acknowledge. After everything that’s happened this morning, I’m not sure she can handle the answer, but the way she pleads with her eyes is agonizing.

“I thought if I did it, I could protect you,” I admit with a sigh.

“Family comes first,” Alanis mutters, nodding woefully and sniffing as she glances down at her hands. Those are the words we’ve always lived by. Every single one of us knows that our legacy is built on our names, and we each take our roles within the families seriously. But our families built the empiretogether. Without each other, it would crumble, and when I look at Alanis, that’s exactly how I feel inside.

“We’refamily,” I remind her, taking her hands and linking our pinky fingers like we used to do as kids. “You’remy family. You’ve always been mine, Presh.”

The fight in her finally wavers and she droops against my chest. I wrap my arms around her, guilt and regret swarming me as I inhale her scent. Her perfume still lingers, but it’s mixed with my aftershave on the shirt she’s stolen from me. We stay like that for a moment, letting the silence lull us into a peaceful state. We’re finally getting to a place where we’re not at each other’s throats. As much as I enjoy the push and pull, this isprogress. We’re being honest with each other without the snarky comebacks. We’re getting closer without the need to push one another away.

“Who else knows?” I ask as she rests her head on my chest. I comb my fingers through her hair, inhaling the scent of her coconut shampoo.

“Just Haven.”

I bite back the urge to scold her about not telling her brother—or her parents for that matter—remembering what she said earlier.

“You can’t tell them,” she pleads quietly. “Promise me you won’t do anything.”

“Alanis, I?—”

“Promise me!” she barks, lifting her head to scowl at me.

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