Page 27 of Veil of Secrets
But he doesn’t leave either.
“I came back for you,” he says.
I laugh. It’s loud. Real. Ugly.
“No, you didn’t. You came back because you ran out of people who’d listen to your bullshit.”
“El—”
“Don’t. Don’t say my name like it still belongs to you.”
“You ran.”
“I survived.”
His face shifts. It’s not regret. Tommy doesn’t know what regret looks like. It’s more like frustration—like he’s shocked I didn’t collapse at the sight of him.
“Back then, you didn’t even know who you were.”
“And now I do.”
“You think working in a cage makes you strong?”
“No. But walking away from you did.”
That shuts him up for half a breath.
He glances at the sea like it might offer him an exit.
“You owe me,” he says.
“I don’t owe you shit.”
“I made you—”
“You broke me.”
And I don’t say it like a victim.
I say it like a fact.
Because it is.
Tommy Lucetti broke me in ways I’m still piecing together. But I’m not seventeen anymore. And I’m not taking the fall for his bruised ego.
“You don’t get to come back and play resurrection,” I add. “You’re not a ghost. You’re just a mistake I buried in the dirt.”
He stares.
I stare back.
Then he moves.
Quick.
Hand to my arm.
Reflex fires before memory can stop it.
