Page 87 of Tainted Love
He studies me carefully. “Of course. We’ve been worried about you. How are you feeling?”
“Like I got stabbed by a psychopath.”
“Not funny,” Bea says, straightening up.
“What happened with Jas and Benny?”
Jonathon frowns. “They’ve been arrested. Along with Kingston.”
My eyes widen. “They had enough to arrest him too?”
Bea nods. “Madeline is helping with the investigation as well.”
“Can she get in trouble for what she did?”
“She has a good lawyer,” Jonathon says. “But there will be consequences for her actions.”
“And Jas and Benny?”
“Both will be looking at jail time.”
My heart sinks as I think of their daughter. As she has no immediate family, she’ll be put into the foster system. I only hope she has a better experience than we did.
A nurse sticks her head in the door. “Visiting hours are over, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
Jonathon nods, but Bea looks like she’s about to cry again. As much as I want nothing more than to hold her and feel her lips against mine, I know there’s no way it’s going to be allowed.
“I’m okay, Duchess. I’ll be here when you come back in the morning.”
She glances at her grandfather, and he takes the hint. “I’ll distract the nurses, but make it quick.” He gives my shoulder a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re okay. Rest assured we’ll make sure we get justice for what happened.”
His words, while meant to reassure me, only make me feel hollow. Jas and Benny were the victims of the original circumstance. If we hadn’t all experienced that horrific night six years ago, none of us would be in the position we’re in now.
I’m still hurt Benny kept the secret that Jas was alive all this time, but this Jas, she wasn’t the same girl I’d fallen in love with back then. She turned bitter and twisted over the words I’d said all those years ago as I tried to save her.
Do I regret them? Absolutely.
Can I change the past? No.
Bea helped me move on from my dark past, and while it’s a little weird to imagine she is Jas’s half-sister, I still can’t help but think she was bought into my life for a reason.
“You told your granddad about us,” I murmur when he closes the door.
Her cheeks heat. “You heard that?”
I nod as I pat the bed next to me. Bea hesitates, but I grab her hand and pull her into my arms. “I need to feel you. I need to know you’re okay.”
She rolls onto her side to face me, until our noses are mere inches apart. “I’m fine. You’re the one who was stabbed.”
“I’m sorry.”
Bea’s eyes widen. “For what?”
“For getting you into this mess. I understand if it’s all too much.”
She shakes her head. “None of this is your fault.”
“I had no idea Jas was your sister. I mean, I thought therewere similarities, and that’s what made me so crazy at the beginning, but I didn’t fall in love with you because of your resemblance to her.”
