Page 96 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
“This is nice,” Leah said in a tight voice.
“Very. We worked hard to get this place where it is today.”
She shot him a look but didn’t question him further.
“What do you want to say to me, Dan? Have they found whoever is responsible?” Leah sat.
“We’ll get to that. I want to explain what happened seven years ago.”
“No.”
“I had just started on the force, as you know. I was a young rookie trying to prove myself,” Dan explained, ignoring her.
“Dan—”
“Just listen,” he said with more force than he’d intended. “Please.”
“I don’t want to talk about that time.” She regained her feet.
Dan did the same and grabbed her wrist so she couldn’t move.
“For us to have any kind of relationship, we need to talk about this. So please, sit and listen; that’s all I’m asking of you. I need to say this, and if you leave, I’ll follow and talk at you even if it’s in the main street.”
She jerked her wrist free and nodded. Leah then sat and crossed her arms. Closing herself off from him, Dan thought.
“I knew we were looking into your father long before we arrested him, but I was told not to say anything to you.”
She looked past him at the water below. But she was listening, and that was all he wanted from her in that moment.
“When I was told that we had enough to move on him, I asked if I could alert you and Cassie. My uncle said no because your loyalty may have made you tip him off,” Dan continued.
He’d asked his uncle yesterday if he could speak to Leah about what had happened back then, and he’d agreed. He’d also not asked questions, thankfully.
“Choosing between you, my girl, and doing my job tore me apart.” Her eyes came back to his. “I knew it would hurt and scare you. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy on you and Cassie, but I thought with my help and that of my family and the community, we’d get through it after I’d done what I had to,” Dan said.
“And how was I to get through having people take my father away in cuffs?” Her voice was low and angry now. “I may not have liked or respected him, but to watch that happen in our home was devastating. Then the feds went through everything, leaving the house in a mess. People I didn’t know, not even local cops, combed every inch of my things and then just left. Cassie alternated between crying and shaking.”
But not you,Dan thought.You’d have been the strong sister.“The feds took it out of our hands when they arrived, Leah. After that, they didn’t allow us near your house. The operation yourdad was involved in was statewide. I tried to call you, but you wouldn’t answer.”
“Would you?” she shot back, her voice trembling now. “Our life imploded. Everything we knew was gone, and the one person I thought I could lean on felt like a stranger. Like a traitor.”
“Never a traitor,” he said, leaning closer.
Her throat worked as she swallowed, and for a moment he thought she might look away. Instead, her gaze held his, filled with old hurt.
“I know that now. Or at least…the part of me that can think straight does. But back then, all I saw was betrayal. And maybe”—she exhaled shakily—“maybe I was wrong to run before I let you explain. Maybe I was too quick to put all the blame on you. But I was drowning, Dan. Leaving was the only way I knew how to survive.”
Dan’s chest tightened. It wasn’t forgiveness, but it was more than she’d ever given him.
“I lied when I said I left to follow my dreams,” she added, softer now. “I left because I couldn’t breathe here. Because staying meant living with the whispers and the wreckage he left behind, and I wasn’t strong enough for that. So when Cassie had a chance to go, I went too. And for the first time, I wasn’t ‘that Reynolds girl.’ I was nobody, and it felt like freedom.”
Dan could see the hurt she still felt. He’d known what people once said about the Reynolds, and he and his family had done their best to shut the haters down.
“When he was arrested, all I could think about was running because it felt like you, the only person other than Cassie who seemed to care about me, had betrayed me.”
“Did care about you very much,” Dan added.
“I needed to leave Lyntacky and the pain behind,” Leah continued. “So when Cassie told me she’d met a tourist that summer, and he’d invited her to come visit, I knew I had nothingleft to stay for, so I went with her. She fell for him, so we stayed, and for the first time in my life, I was anonymous. No one knew anything about me or my family.”
