Page 109 of The Sweetest Revenge

"I'll get her home.” Sterling's large hand wrapped around my arm, stopping me from chasing after him.

He stormed off, hopping on his bike and zooming off.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I shoved his hand away, heat rushing to my face. "He doesn't need to be alone."

"He's going to his sister's grave." Sterling's voice remained maddeningly calm.

I glared at him, pulse hammering in my throat. "How can you be so sure he's not going to jump off a bridge?"

"Because I know him." He tossed me the keys to his truck, metal flashing in the air between us. I snatched them mid-arc, fingers closing around cold metal. "Give him a few minutes and go to the grave site. He'll be there." I looked down at the keys in my hand. "I'll get a ride with Journey, and we can meet up later."

"Thanks." I rushed to the driver's side of his truck, pulled open the door, and slid in. Even though Sterling seemed sure that was where Zaiden would go, I needed to know he wasn't going to do something stupid.

The truck roared to life. I jammed it into drive and swerved into traffic, my eyes darting between the road ahead and the rearview mirror where Journey, Sterling, and Mila stood watching. My heart raced with the engine, knowing if they hadn't acted so quickly, I'd be dead.

The cemetery was only a few miles from his mom's house. Dark clouds gathered overhead as I eased through the massive wrought iron gates. In the distance, a solitary figure stood motionless. Zaiden.

I pulled the truck to the side and killed the engine as I watched him.

I couldn't imagine the storm brewing within him. The wind picked up, sending dead leaves skittering between gravestones. For months after Kacie's death, I'd blamed myself, each night reliving the what-ifs until they wore grooves in my mind. Maybe if I'd ridden with her. Maybe if I'd called one minute sooner. Now Zaiden stood at ground zero of his grief, the earth torn open beneath him again.

I sat in the truck for fifteen minutes, hand on the door handle, watching him stand motionless at his sister's grave. What if he pushed me away again? What if this was the moment he decided he couldn't bear any of it, me included? I swallowed hard and pushed the door open. Each step toward him felt like walking through quicksand.

"I told Sterling to take you home." He didn't turn, his words carried on the cemetery breeze.

I stepped up beside him, eyes falling to Kacie's headstone. "I beat him up and stole his keys."

He huffed out a small laugh, a sound so unexpected it made my heart skip. "I'm sure that's what happened." A ghost of a smile touched his lips, the first I'd seen since everything fell apart, before vanishing.

I shrugged, nudging his arm with mine. "It is," I teased. "Mila and Journey are taking him to the hospital now."

"What are you doing here, Ariella?"

"You don't need to be alone right now," I whispered. "We don't have to talk, and I can stand back at the road, but I'm here if you need me."

We both stood silently for what felt like forever before he finally said. "I came out here to apologize to her. To apologize for failing her."

"You didn't fail her," I said. "I know it feels like that, but Anne failed her. Regardless of what happened, she was supposed to protect her, but she didn't. None of this is your fault."

He didn't say anything, but I knew he heard me.

"What happened after we left you and your mom in the house?"

Without taking his eyes off his sister's grave, he drew in a deep breath that expanded his chest, then let it whistle slowly between his teeth. "Nothing."

He lifted his shoulders before dropping them, a puppet with cut strings, and finally turned to meet my gaze. "You were right. She deserves to rot in a jail cell. Death was too easy." His voice hardened with each word. "But I wanted to kill her. For what she did to Kacie. What she almost did to you." His gaze skittered away, dropping to the damp grass between us. "I shouldn't have left you?—"

"None of this is your fault."

He reluctantly nodded, but it was obvious he didn't believe that.

"Did she say anything to you?"

Zaiden's jaw tightened. "She reminded me that she was still my mother." His laugh was bitter, barely a sound at all. "That I didn't truly understand what my father did to her." He kicked at a rock, sending it skittering across the cemetery path. "That he never wanted to marry her. That he was forced to because—" He stopped, swallowed. "Because they got pregnant with me."

"There are always three sides to every story: his, hers, and the truth." I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, my voice gentle. "Your dad may have seen things completely differently. You should talk to him."

"I'm done talking about this." He glanced back at Kacie's grave, shoulders hunched against an invisible weight. "My dad seems happy with your mom, and my mom is going where she belongs."

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