Korbin grasped her hand and kissed the back of it, then put it back down and covered it with his as he struggled with the familiar guilt. “I’ve asked myself that same question many times. I should have known she was in danger. I should have protected her. But I didn’t. I didn’t know what Damen was getting us into. He never told me. But I promise you, if I had known, your mother would have been nowhere near that place. I would have gotten us away from here. From Damen. You have to believe that.”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
Fallon wiped her eyes, her tears stopping. “I don’t know how to feel about you.”
“You don’t have to feel anything.”
“I’m afraid that...every time I see you, I’m going to be reminded of how my mother was gunned down like a gangster.”
“It might be that way for a while. But I’d like a chance to build a new relationship with you. To eventually change that perception. I may have done my share of crimes, but I never meant to hurt anyone. I loved your mother. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to have her back. If only...” He could see her walking beside him, smiling, the breeze in her hair, loving him. “She was just walking too close to Damen.” She’d been walking too close. The gunman had missed and hit her.
“Why did she have to fall in love with you?”
That was a painful thing to ask. But all of her awful thoughts had to be aired.
“If it would mean she’d still be alive, then I wish she never had.” Unfortunately, no one got a second take in this life. The film was made, a real horror.
“I miss her so much.”
Korbin said nothing. There was nothing he could say. He had loved Niya with all his heart, but she was gone.
“Tell you what,” he said. “In about a month or so, let’s get together for lunch. We’ll talk some more. Take it slow and go from there. If you decide you don’t want me in your life, if it’s too hard for you, then I’ll understand. But I’ll always be here for you, no matter what.”
A tiny smile poked the corners of her mouth and she nodded. “Okay.”
The car stopped and he realized it was to drop Fallon off.
She leaned over and hugged him. “Thank you.”
For saving her? For understanding? It didn’t matter.
“I’ll call you,” he said.
And she was gone. Korbin watched her go inside her apartment building, feeling his life begin to take a turn in the right direction for a change. There was, however, one more thing he had to do.
When they reached a busy street where he was sure to catch a taxi, he said, “Stop the car.”
Savanna swung her head back to look at him.
The driver pulled over and Korbin got out. He opened the passenger door and extended his hand. Savanna took it and got out, bewildered and leery. As he looked at her beautiful face, her striking blue eyes, all of the chaos he’d experienced in the last year came to a head.
He had so many mixed-up emotions running through him right now he didn’t know which one to address first. It wasn’t a very manly feeling. He needed to be straight. True. Grounded. Sure. And he was none of those things. He was a criminal who’d gotten his wife killed. He was aimless. Drifting. Somehow he had to find his anchor, and while he was pretty sure she stood before him right now, he had to get out of these stormy waters so that he could see land.