treat her kindly? Thank God she was at Bonnie’s Place, where a CM would be on-site looking after her. Would Mel understand why Colton wasn’t coming to see her? Would they explain to her that he would be back, or would she believe that he had abandoned her? Jesus Christ. Lucky?
“Colton.”
Verity’s voice cut through the murmur and hum of the courtroom, the sweetest voice God ever created. His jaw tightened, and he clamped his eyes shut. You just lost Mel, and you can barely take care of yourself. You are useless to her. Let her go. Do it. Just do it.
“Please go,” he muttered without turning around.
“What?”
“Please,” he begged her through clenched teeth. “Please just go.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Go. Leave!”
“Colton. I love you. You love me. We’ll get through this.”
“No, we won’t. You have to go.”
Tears flooded her voice, and it broke when she spoke again. “Wh-what do you mean ‘No, we won’t’? I love you. I can’t just go.”
Don’t look at her. Don’t turn and look into her blue eyes over your shoulder, or you’ll be weak—you won’t be able to do what you have to do to set her free.
“I mean . . .” He swallowed over the massive lump in his throat. He had just lost guardianship of his cousin. He was headed to a sixty-day treatment program for psychos. If it wasn’t a success, he had no idea what would happen next. Maybe he’d lose Mel for good. Meanwhile, he’d already lost his job, and Verity had, more than likely, lost hers as well. He’d destroyed so many lives on Monday afternoon, and he couldn’t bear to do any more damage to the person he loved more than anyone else in the world.
He’d broken every promise he’d ever made to Aunt Jane and Melody.
He’d promised not to hurt Verity, but this was worse than anything his fists could have wreaked. The sorrow on her face when he walked into the courtroom was killing him inside. Hurt her? He’d leveled her. He could see it in her eyes, just as he’d seen it in his mother’s so long ago.
All he knew was that he had to cut her loose.
All he knew was what he’d always known, from the first moment he’d met her: that Verity Gwynn deserved far better than him.
And he had to make it happen, no matter what, which made him go cold for her sake, which made him dead inside, so he could get the fucking job done.
“I lost my job and my cousin because of you and your brother. I want you to go. Get out of my house. I don’t want you there. Move on,” he snarled, his eyes burning with tears as the bailiff approached him. He spoke into his shoulder in a low, menacing growl, still refusing, unable, to look at her while he said these hateful words. “I never want to see your face again.”
“Colton,” she gasped as the bailiff pulled on his handcuffs, urging him to stand. Without another word, he moved around the table, following the uniformed man toward the side door.
“Good-bye,” he murmured, knowing she couldn’t hear him, ignoring the wetness on his cheeks and the heaviness of his broken heart.
You’ll be better off without me, sunshine.
***
Verity stared at the side door of the courtroom in disbelief as Colton walked through it without even turning around to look at her one last time. She placed her hand on her chest, unable to breathe, her lungs burning as tears fell in streams down her cheeks.
“He’s hurtin’ bad,” said Joe softly, appearing beside her with Ryan. “Real bad.”
She turned her body to the older man, letting her forehead fall to his shoulder as she exhaled on a sob, letting waves of sadness rock her body. Joe put his arms around her and held on tight for a minute or two.
“Oh no. Oh no. Ver’ty is sad. Ver’ty is so, so sad.”
“Shhh, now, honey,” said Joe, rubbing her back soothingly as he leaned away to look into her eyes.
“He said he n-never wanted to s-see m-my face again,” she said, her words broken by tears and gasps of breath. “He b-blames me. He h-hates me.”
“Only one he blames is himself, honey.” Joe patted her back gently, looking over at Ryan, who rocked back and forth, increasingly upset. “You calm yourself now, son. You ain’t helpin’ your sister none actin’ like that.”
Ryan stopped rocking, but he still whispered combinations of “Oh no” and “Ver’ty is so sad” under his