longer would she remain silent, a cowering ghost in his household.
Disgusted, she advanced, watching his wary look. “I came here to settle old scores, Colton.”
Finally, after all these years, she’d dared to speak his first name.
“I found something of yours in your old bedroom, something you probably never wanted back.”
Kelly opened her palm. In it lay the twisted, partly melted remains of Colton Shaymore’s most precious possession.
His wedding ring.
“Your wife used to brag at her tea parties about how you loved her so much you never removed your wedding ring. I found this in the master bedroom, where the fire originated. If you loved your wife that much, you’d leave your wedding ring on after her death. My father never removed his wedding ring after my mother died. But you took yours off.
“You threw it in the fireplace, didn’t you? You lied to Sam. You hadn’t been outside, after all. You were in the bedroom when the fire started.”
Blood drained from his face. Colton stepped back as if she waved a sword. “Stop it,” he said hoarsely.
“What happened that night? Did you see Dad in your bedroom with your wife? Thought they were having an affair, not realizing he was there to clean up the oil he’d spilled on the carpeting?”
Anguish twisted his face. “That bastard stole my wife!”
“And you stole his life, goddammit. Your hatred blinded you to the truth. You’re a Phantom. You can imitate anyone.” Words bubbled up like lava, the pressure on her chest increasing.
“Did you duplicate my father and run out of the house, knowing he’d be blamed?” she screamed.
Silence hung in the air.
“Yes,” he whispered.
Staggering backward, he collapsed into a chair. Colton buried his head in his hands. “Annabelle,” he moaned.
Hatred boiled inside her. She wanted to shake Sam’s father, kick and scream at him for what he’d done. Ruining her life. Ruining Sam’s.
The man, unlike his son, was a coward.
Kelly took a deep breath. Hatred solved nothing, only brought more grief. Something eased deep inside her.
“I should hate you, but I don’t. I’m only sorry you’re Sam’s father. He’s a good person who deserves much better than you.”
It felt oddly freeing to state those words, as if they’d been locked away for a long time. Now she finally believed them.
A noise sounded in the doorway.
Dressed in camouflage, pistol in hand, Sam stood in the room. Shock slackened his jaw.
“You killed Mom and Pete?” he asked in a broken voice. “Dad?”
“Yes.” Tears glistened in Colton Shaymore’s hazel eyes, so much like his son’s. “They’re dead and it’s all my fault.”
Shay couldn’t think. Breathe. He stared helplessly at his father, and the world stopped spinning on its axis.
He must be dead and this was hell, the claws of his father’s words reaching into his heart and shredding it. Blood rushed to his fingers as they loosened from the death grip he kept on his Sig.
Shay holstered the weapon. He’d come here expecting to save Kelly, the headstrong, brave woman who thought she could stop a genocide.
Instead, he walked into a nightmare.
Colton wiped his eyes. “Annabelle, my beautiful Annabelle...I found out she never went to her bridge club. She was with Cedric, that bastard. Christmas Eve I saw them in our bedroom, whispering. They looked guilty as they jumped apart. I tore off my wedding ring and threw it into the fireplace. Picked up the poker, came swinging, shouting he would never take away my wife. Annabelle tried to stop me, but I kept hitting until he dropped. And then I turned and saw Annabelle...lying on the floor, so much blood...”
Shay’s chest squeezed tight. His mother, always the peacemaker.
“It was an accident. I never meant to hurt her.”
“Where is my father?” Kelly whispered.
“Burned. I incinerated his body to erase evidence. And then the fire got out of control. I ran to grab an extinguisher down the hallway and I heard Pete screaming. I tried to go back, but the flames were too much.”
Shay staggered to the sofa and collapsed.
Ever since becoming a SEAL, he’d sought to live with honor, fight with honor, hoped to die with honor in combat. Just doing his job, like the other operators on the team.
He followed his father’s example of discipline, courage and control.
His father, whose uncontrollable jealous rage caused the deaths of Shay’s family and Kelly’s father.
For the first time, nothing was worth fighting for. Then he felt the softness of a warm hand sliding into his, the gentle reassuring pressure squeezing his palm.
Nothing worth fighting for? Kelly was. His team. His country.
The future of all Mages.
“Can you forgive me, son?” Colton asked.
Shay found his feet and went to his father, his idol.
For the second time in his life, he hit him. Colton fell down, blood streaming from his split lip.
Wiping away the blood, Colton sat up, gazing at the floor. Shay felt an eerie sense of deja vu. So many times he’d looked like this, head hung in shame as his larger-than-life father verbally thrashed him for failing to live up to the Shaymore name.
Gods, he wanted to vomit, but he forced himself to swallow the bile burning in his throat.
“Is this why you wanted to kill Kelly’s people? Because you blamed Cedric, thinking they had an affair?”
Colton remained silent.
“They weren’t,” Kelly put in quietly. “Annabelle was aiding my father with an underground resistance to achieve equality for Arcanes. That’s why they whispered. Your wife was a gentle soul who loathed injustice but knew how much you hated my people.”
Blind panic spread over Colton’s face. “No, it couldn’t be. The man organizing us into a coalition convinced me it was Cedric’s fault because he was Arcane. In fact, he is organizing others who believe as I do, others who would eliminate the Arcane threat for good. The cleansing campaign starts tonight.”
Shay stared at his father, a once honorable, good man. “You’re condoning genocide.”
“Of course not,” Colton snapped. “I support elimination of the threat against Elementals.”
“By killing my people, even those who are innocent?” Kelly cried out.
“Are they innocent?” he scoffed.
“My father was. He didn’t kill your wife. And he didn’t take her away from you. You drove her away, with your blind hatred and jealousy. Would you have killed your wife had you known she was aiding Arcanes?”
The man’s eyes widened and he stared at her, as if the truth finally slammed full force into him. “I loved Annabelle with all my heart. I’d never hurt her.”
“But you did,” she said softly. “She died by your hand, not my father’s.”
Colton pressed fingers to his temples. “The committee chairperson said I was within my rights to destroy Cedric and administer justice. Oh, gods...what have I done?”
A horrible suspicion filled Sam. “Who is this person organizing the committee?”
“Senator Rogers, the council Elder. He should have been here by now. He wanted to meet with me early.” Colton sounded uncertain for the first time in his life.
Shay stared at the man. The crunch of tires on the gravel driveway drew them to the window. Shay scanned the open room and spied a closet, shuttling Kelly inside.
“If you dare tell him we’re here, you’ll regret it,” he told his father.
