“Before I found James, I . . . I saw him. In the Villa. Twice. The first time, it was just a moment. He was . . . confused. He didn’t know where he was. And then I saw him again, and he was still confused, but he tried to explain things to me. He—” I broke off with a “Shit,” and moved to the back door, looking out over the yard.

“Sorry,” I said after I’d regained my composure. “It’s still . . . raw. We’ll discuss this another time. Or maybe not. It was almost certainly just a vision or whatever in which I imagined him saying what I wanted to hear.”

“Was he wearing whatever you found him in? No, that’s not a question. It’s a fact, because otherwise, you’d already have dismissed it as a hallucination.”

“I—”

“You want it to be real, and you don’t want it to be real.”

Cold sweat beaded across my forehead and trickled between my shoulder blades. She was right. I didn’t want it to be real, because it only made it harder, made the guilt more unbearable.

All I wanted was to get you back. He said he’d help and then . . . it went wrong, and I don’t understand how. I know I hurt you, frightened you, and I don’t understand that, either. It seemed so simple. You were in danger, and I had to save you, and nothing else mattered.

I’d wanted an explanation, so badly. And here it was.

What had I done?

You got him involved. You pulled him into something he didn’t understand, couldn’t understand. You pulled him in, and then you abandoned him.

“Olivia?”

My head snapped up. Rose was right there, but she hadn’t spoken. That was Gabriel, standing in the doorway, those pale blue eyes fixed on me.

I took a deep breath, tugged from Rose’s grip, and ran my hand through my hair.

“I just . . . I need a minute.” I forced a wan smile that felt more like a grimace.

“Gabriel?” Rose said. “Could you give us a minute? Olivia and I were talking—”

“It’s okay,” I said. “We’re done. I’m just . . . I’m going to take a walk. I won’t be long. Just . . . around the block. Get some air.”

I hurried out the back door.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I took Rowan at a near jog and turned left onto Cherry. The moment I slowed, I heard the thump of footsteps behind me.

“It’s only me,” Gabriel called after me. “I’ll stay back here.”

I stopped and waited for him to catch up.

“I didn’t mean to interfere with your walk,” he said. “While the situation has changed and you no longer require protection, this is Cainsville, and you may be safe from outsiders, but some here wish to speak to you. You wanted a quiet walk. I’m ensuring you get that. I won’t bother you.”