“The only thing that matters is that I survived it.”

“That’s not all that matters, Gigi. She sexually assaulted you.”

“And I survived.”

“Not to mention the consequences of firing your weapon. That’ll be a permanent entry in your jacket.”

“I survived. I have no regrets, and I refuse to be made a victim by her or anyone, even you.”

“I don’t see you as a victim.”

“Please don’t. I’m all done with that after everything with Ezra and now her. They can fuck right off.”

“I hate that I brought her into your life.”

“You didn’t, Cam. She brought herself into my life because she couldn’t accept that you want me and not her. That’s the simple fact of this situation, and no one, not even you, could’ve stopped her from doing what she was determined to do.”

“She was determined to kill you.”

“And who stopped her?”

“You did.”

“That’s right, and I’d do it again a thousand times if it meant she’s out of our lives forever.”

“Once was more than enough.”

“I don’t want you to think I’m a heartless bitch. I hate that I had to take her life to save my own, but I did what I had to.”

“I’ll be thankful you saved yourself every day for the rest of our lives.”

“If you continue to blame yourself for this, we’re going to have a problem. Do you understand me?”

“I do. And I’ll do my best not to.”

“I’d feel the same way if the roles were reversed and Ezra had come for you, but people make their own choices. All we can do is control how we react to them. I refuse to give her one more minute of the limited time I have left. She’s already gotten too much of my time and yours.”

“Yes, she has. Why did Malone want to talk to you alone before?”

Gigi sighed. “Jaycee had left some notes for me over the last few weeks.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I was afraid you’d go after her and end up in jail. I saved them all as evidence that I’ve now turned over to the captain.”

He blew out a deep breath. “Don’t keep stuff from me.”

“I did that to protect you—and us. You know you would’ve gone looking for her and gotten yourself in big trouble. I was trying to prevent that.” Leaning her head on his shoulder, she added, “I know you’re sick over this, and I am, too, but we did everything we could to rid ourselves of her before it came to this.”

“We did, but there’s likely to be an uproar over it in light of who we work for.”

“Yeah,” she said with another sigh. “Hopefully, it won’t be too big of a deal.”

Cameron wanted to believe it wouldn’t be that bad, but he wasn’t optimistic. As he drove them the rest of the way to his place, his only hope was that their new relationship would survive the scrutiny.