A soft smile tugged at her lips. “That means you weren’t wrong. You did what was right. You saved your mother from your father. Anyone who loved their mother would do that same thing you did. That doesn’t make you a murderer. It wasn’t your fault. It was his fault that he didn’t let go of the gun. He just was too blinded by his fury. You didn’t kill him, Ace. You saved your mom.”

I just stared at her.

How did I get so lucky to have her in my life? I was thinking she would leave me once she knew everything. And here she was, providing light and warmth to my darkness. She was my sun keeping the demons of my past away.

Pain flashed through her eyes as she leaned in and wiped my cheek with her thumb. A tear I didn’t realize slipped from my eye.

Placing my forehead against her, I kissed her knuckles. “I love you, my rose. I love you so fucking much.”

“I love you too,” she murmured back.

I brushed my lips against hers. “Thank you so much. You don’t know what you’ve done to me by saying those words. Thank you...for not giving up on me. For not leaving me. I don’t know what I would do if you left me.”

“And thank you for trusting me with your past.” She smiled softly.

“I wanted to tell you everything on our first date. But then, I didn’t have the courage. I thought even if you would forgive me after knowing about seven years ago, you would hate me forever if you got to know about it. So, I backed out and just told you what I thought would be right.”

“But you were clearly wrong. If I think you weren’t at fault now, I would think the same then. Maybe if you told me that night, I would have found your reasons behind pushing me away stronger. Maybe I would have forgiven you easily.”

“I’m sorry, Rosebud.” I pulled her into my chest again. “I was scared. I can tolerate anything but losing you.”

“Was it the reason behind your turning to drugs? Your guilt?”

I nodded, sighing. “No matter how bad of a person he was, I still couldn’t forget he was my father. And no matter the reason was, somehow he died because of me. I couldn’t deal with that feeling, Rosebud. After that night, Mom went into depression. She was broken. She blamed herself for his death and my status. She thought if she hadn’t reacted that way that night, if she hadn’t pulled that gun out, nothing would’ve happened. She completely pulled away from us, from life. And it just pushed me more into darkness.”