My temper snaps. “What kind of sick, twisted monster are you?” I demand, my voice shaking with fury. “You trap a man with a pregnancy, murder him when he cheats on you, then rip apart two innocent children before they even had a chance? Do you even hear yourself?”

Aubrey’s mask shatters. “Don’t you dare judge me, Theo,” she snarls. “You think you’re better than me? You’re nothing. You’ll never be anything more than a pathetic little boy playing house in that cafe, trying to fill the shoes of a dead man.”

My vision goes red.

But before I can react, there’s a sharp crack of knuckles meeting bone.

Aubrey jerks backward with a strangled cry, clutching her nose as blood gushes between her fingers.

Selene stands in front of her, shaking out her fist.

Silence.

Mo lets out a low whistle. “Damn.”

Aubrey stares at Selene in disbelief, her breath hitching as blood drips onto her shirt. “You—you broke my nose, you bitch!”

Selene shakes her hand out again, her expression calm, unbothered. “Oh, sorry,” she says flatly. “I must have miscalculated.”

And just like that—watching her, standing there, fearless, ready to take on the world—then it hits me.

Fuck.

I think I’m in love with her.

This is the worst possible moment to realize

it, but there it is. Lodged in my chest like a goddamn bullet.

Aubrey glares at all of us, but there’s a new emotion in her eyes now.

Fear.

Aubrey looks up, her face pale and stricken. “It doesn’t matter though. None of this does. I can explain everything away. The town loves me. At the end of the day you have no proof,” she whispers, her voice trembling. “It’s just your word against mine.”

Before I can say anything, Mo lets out a low chuckle, shaking her head. “You don’t get it, do you?”

Aubrey blinks, her confusion evident.

Selene crosses her arms, her tone sharp. “You think we’d come here unprepared? This isn’t just us, Aubrey.”

I nod toward the tree behind me and the graves nearby. “The FBI’s been watching you for weeks. There are wires on that tree, on the stones around us. Everything you’ve said today? It’s all been recorded. Every word.”

Aubrey’s eyes widen in horror, realization dawning on her face. “No,” she breathes, shaking her head. “You didn’t—”

“We did,” Mo says, her voice sharp and final. “This was never just about us. Your son is the one that was looking into his past. He was looking into his father then you by extension. That’s who Gabriel caught looking into all those files. He didn’t know it at the time but he was uncovering the truth—and now we know it. Thanks to you.”