Page 108 of The Broken Keys

She told me something that night. Through unshed tears and slurred words, she stared at the ceiling as we rode the elevator up to my suite and said she was terrified she wasn’t done “ending” people. She muttered something about bleeding out and how she was being punished.

It hits me now what she meant. Her twin sister. The child she lost with Cash. She carried that guilt like a death sentence.

And now she’s operating as an eighteen-year-old girl who never healed from that trauma. Damn, this just got a lot more complicated.

“She had a panic attack this morning.” I shove my hands into my pockets as bullets of memories involving Livianna pelt me with a ruthless awareness.

She used to cut on herself, use drugs and alcohol to escape, and she would have intense anxiety attacks. She pushed every boundary she was given as if she were trying to get a reaction. Because she was.

Fuck, this is worse than I initially thought.

“Before the accident today…” I clear my throat. “Her mental state was already fragile.”

“Exactly.” Cash’s shoulders drop. “If we tell her now while she’s confused and vulnerable, it could send her spiraling in ways we can’t predict. Especially since she doesn’t even remember being pregnant or being with you.”

The logic is sound, even though everything in me wants to fight it. “So we keep it to ourselves?”

“For now. I’ll talk to Dr. Smith. If he agrees it’s in Livianna’s best interest, that’s the route we’ll take.” Cash studies me for a beat. “Day by day. Until she’s stronger or…remembers on her own.”

“Agreed.” I pause, weighing my next words carefully. “There’s no need to let anybody else know about my relationship with her, either. It would only cause more upheaval for her.”

Cash purses his lips and dips his chin. “Right. I present as her boyfriend. We don’t tell anyone about you two or say anything about the miscarriage. All for her mental well-being.”

“Yes. All for her.”

The truce settles between us like a flimsy ceasefire. Twomen who love the same woman, forced to work together to keep her alive and sane. What a wicked web this accident created.

“Day by day.” Cash extends his hand.

I take it. Our grip is firm, an agreement sealed in shared desperation and fear.

“Or until she remembers.” I squeeze, letting that thought creep into his thoughts.

He heard her say my name. And that means there’s a chance she’ll wake up and everything will twist once again.

He releases me and steps back. “You should go. Her family arrives tomorrow, and it’ll be confusing enough without you here.”

“I know.” My chest constricts, and I glance back at the hospital.

Somewhere in there, Livianna’s sleeping and dreaming of a life five years ago when she was eighteen and in love with the man standing in front of me.

But she whispered my name. In her deepest state of rest, when her brain couldn’t filter or protect, she called for me.

It’s a thin thread of hope in an ocean of loss. But right now, that’s all I have left.

I turn and trek toward my car, each step more hopeless than the last. Today I lost our baby. I lost her memories of us and my place in her life.

But hope remains. The belief that somewhere in her heart, buried beneath the trauma, she still knows me. She still loves me.

And dammit, I’ll cling to that hope until she either remembers or I have no choice but to let her go.

Chapter Twenty-Three

LIVIANNA/LILY

Now

Brutal Blackouts & Crimson Images