🗝️Detective Ryker Viltarin must uncover dark secrets before he loses not only his heart but also his life.🗝️
You're on your own, far from home
The wind is blowing in the top of the pines
A gloomy sky where the sun never shines
Deep...
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"What are you thinking? We've been married for over ten years and have a son together! Do you think you can grab Liam, run away, dye your hair, and throw it all away?" The muscle in Dylan's jaw twitched, and he gritted his teeth. "I'm trying to work on all this shit! For us, you know? Look, I came all the fucking way to Canada to get you back!" He loosened his grip, stroking her upper arms and rubbing them as if he could make the pain go away. "I can change, Eve! I won't drink anymore when I get home ... I'm sorry, and everything will be different!"
He grimaced as if he had bitten into a sour lemon. As if HE was the one who was suffering. And that drove even more bitterness into Eve's stomach.
"NO, Dylan!" she repeated grimly, breaking free of his grip and taking a few steps back from him.
She needed this distance to gather herself.
That was precisely how it had always been. He apologized, and she forgave him because she loved him. Although even then, the sinking feeling in her stomach told her that these promises were worth no more than the air into which they dissolved as soon as the words left his lips.
But this time, everything was different.
"Dylan, I finally feel like I can breathe again. It's as if my life has only ever been black and white, and now I can finally dream in bright colors. For years, I measured myself only by what YOU wanted and thought of me. I longed for your love, recognition, and respect like water—and I died of thirst from the few drops you gave me."
Eve had to take a deep breath because this was harder than she had imagined. It was true. Ten years was a long time, and a faint, haunted voice inside her still clung to Dylan. Maybe even giving in... For Liam.
But that would be self-deception.
She wasn't attached to this Dylan; she was attached to the man she'd once loved.
The boy who had put the note in her locker and accompanied her to class. But that was no longer him. She had become pregnant too early, he got cold feet - and found fulfillment in the army and not in his family. This realization hurt terribly. But Eve had finally realized one thing: This wasn't her fault.
