Page 24 of Golden Atonement

“That’s explains so much.” Angelica groaned. “It’s one thing to find the love of your life having sexual intercourse with another person, but to think you are the reason for them not walking the earth. Well, for someone like Remi, that was enough to shatter her mind. From the moment she was eight years old, in a cage next to Reaper, he was the embodiment of her white knight in shining armor. For a little girl, that is a big deal, especially for someone in Remi’s situation.”

“And you sick fucks destroyed her one belief in the world. I fucking hope you are happy with what you’ve done. You’ve taken a beautiful, loving woman and wrecked her. She will never trust anyone again. Never believe in anything again,” Dakota sneered, before storming out of the house, slamming the front door behind him.

Sitting on the lounger, with my arms wrapped around my legs, I let everything I’d heard sink in as I tried to filter through the truth and lies.

It was a lot. That was for damn sure.

But they failed to realize one thing.

The biggest component.

My faith in the one man who had betrayed me.

Oh, he may not have actually done the deed, but what he did was much worse. Because of him, I lost faith in the one man Iheld above everyone else, and for that alone, I was going to make damn sure he atoned.

Getting to my feet, I looked up as Dakota rounded the corner of the house. The man rarely spoke, which was fine with me. I didn’t want to talk anyway, but when he saw me sitting there with the back door open, I knew he knew I’d heard everything.

“Remi?”

Shaking my head, I said nothing as the man walked up the back steps and pulled me into an embrace and cursed.

“Goddammit. You heard it all, didn’t you?”

My silence was his answer.

August 3, 2023

Reaper

Standing there in the shadows, I watched as that fucker held my wife.

She didn’t stop him. But when she slowly lifted her arms and held him back, my soul cried out in sorrow.

It was all my fault.

I fucking knew she was the wind.

No one could capture and hold on to the wind forever.

The wind was free, floating along its own path.

Never staying long before it moved on.

I knew the second those stupid motherfuckers left New York City they were coming here to tell her everything.

I could have told them the truth didn’t matter.

Remi believed in actions, not words.

So did I, and her actions right now were speaking volumes.

I wasn’t mad at her.

Never at her.

She didn’t cause this.

I did.