Anticipation hummed through Maddox as he saw Hannah settle. She was going to tell him. For two days, he'd wondered about the little girl who wouldn't talk, who always had to be near him or Hannah, who cried out in her sleep and clung to him when he comforted her. He'd wondered about the fiercely courageous woman who had been so exhausted she'd spent eighteen consecutive hours pretty much asleep. He wanted to know what nightmares haunted them, and he wanted to make their pain go away.

Hannah lifted her chin, and he saw the determination in her eyes. His heart softened. "So courageous," he said softly, fingering a lock of her hair as she looked at him.

She was so close to him, only inches away, and her hand was wrapped around his wrist. He didn't think she was even aware that she was holding onto him, but he knew. He liked it. He knew he shouldn't be getting involved with them, but he was stuck there, and while he was there, he was going to bask in every moment he had with them.

Hannah sighed. "Not so brave," she said softly. "Just a survivor."

"It takes courage to survive," he said. "What happened six months ago?"

Tears swam in her eyes, tears of such grief that something inside him turned over. It made him think of the day he'd found his mother dead on the couch. He had shut down his tears that day, and never let them come back. But the vulnerability Hannah was sharing with him made him want to be soft for her, to somehow be what she needed.

"My sister, Katie, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Ava is her daughter. Mine, now."

Shit. His fingers tightened in her hair, and his jaw tensed. He wanted to rage. He wanted to shout. He wanted to fight against how brutal the world was. But Hannah was watching him as if he were her only source of strength to keep going, so he took a deep breath and shoved his rage deep inside, as he had so many times during his life. "What happened?"

"She had broken up with Rick a few months before, because she was getting the sense that he was...unstable. Aggressive. He hit her once, and I talked her into leaving him. Of course, he didn't want to let her go, and he started pressuring her to come back. He was devastated by her leaving, and Katie felt bad." A tear spilled down her cheeks. "I tried to keep her from going to see him, but she felt terrible that he was suffering. He promised he would change, and he kept saying that until she believed him. She wanted to help him, because she was that kind of person. So, she left Ava with me and went to his apartment to see him. It was just supposed to be a quick dinner, but she didn't come back."

Maddox swore silently, but he stayed still, aware of how tightly Hannah was gripping his wrist.

"When she didn't return, I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't take Ava over there, you know? So, I called the police and reported a domestic disturbance at his address. They got there just as Rick was... God... just as he was carrying her down the back stairs to his car. She was already unconscious, and she never woke up. She died three days later in the hospital. Rick said she'd fallen down the stairs and he was trying to help her, but I know he was lying. She was too bruised and battered for a simple fall down the stairs." Hanna's voice shook as she replayed that story. The grief from those three days, the terror of how she could go on without her sister, her fear for Ava, the loneliness, the emotions she'd fought to suppress, that she'd fought to ignore. "I took Ava to see her, to say goodbye. I didn't know if I should, but I felt like she needed to see her mom one last time, you know? How could I deprive her of that? But now...God...she hasn't said a word since." She looked up at Maddox, the grief tearing through her. "I don't know how to help her. I don't know how to fix things for Ava. I don't know... God, Maddox, I miss my sister."

Maddox swore under his breath, and reached out, drawing her into his arms. She collapsed into him, burying her face in the curve of his neck, letting the strength of his arms surround her.

"I made a mistake," she whispered, barely able to talk through her tears. "I shouldn't have let Katie go see him, and maybe I shouldn't have let Ava see her mom in the hospital. They're all I have, all that matters to me, and because of my mistakes, Katie's dead, and Ava lost her mom and won't even talk." Her voice shook desperately, and grief assaulted her.

Grief.

Guilt.

Loneliness.

The deep anguish of loss that ripped away at her shields and left her gasping for air, for life, for some sliver of hope that would get her through the next day, and the day after that. "I tried to fix it. I pressured the police, and they eventually arrested him for voluntary manslaughter. I stayed in town long enough to testify last week, and then we left. I wanted to do that for Katie, but God, seeing him in that courtroom..." She shivered, remembering the look of pure venom on his face. "He's sitting there, alive and smug, and blaming me, while my beautiful sister is gone, and her daughter, God, Ava...I don't know how to help her."

Maddox had never wanted to be more than who he was than he did in that moment. He wanted to ease her pain, to somehow pry her from the grip of her grief and guilt. He wanted to save her and Ava, to somehow spare them from the violence that had found them...but he couldn't. He was just a piece of shit born from the same violence that had stolen everything from them.

But there was one thing he knew for absolute certain, and he needed her to understand it. He knew he could give her this much. He slid his fingers through her hair as he brushed a kiss over the top of her head. "Listen to me, Hannah," he said, his throat raw with emotion he wouldn't allow himself to feel. "There's only one person responsible for what happened to Katie, and that's the bastard who hurt her. No one else is to blame. Not Katie for going there, not you for not stopping her. Only him. You live with the purest beauty in your soul, and you can't let some piece of shit take that away from you—"

She sat up, tears streaming down her face. "How can you say that? How can you say that it's not my fault, when I could have made different choices that would have meant Katie would still be alive?"

Darkness settled inside him, a dark ugly truth that made his skin crawl. "How do I know? Because my father killed my mother, and I didn't save her. I blamed myself for her death for years until I finally figured out that the only one who did something was him. He did it. He killed her. He is responsible."

Hannah lifted her head, searching his face desperately, as if hoping that somehow, someway, he had the key to save her from the haunting guilt and pain inside her.

He slid his hand along her jaw, his fingers brushing over the softness of her skin. "Sweetheart, I've lived in the shadow of his poison my whole life, and I've lived the carnage of what he left behind. If there is one thing I know, the only one responsible for his actions is him. No one else. Not ever. Sometimes we get lucky, and we can interfere and protect others from bastards like that, but if we can't find a way to stop them, to save those they hurt, it's not our fault. It's not our fault."

Hannah stared at Maddox in shock, stunned by his story, by his guilt, by his loss, by the fact he'd faced the same kind of death that she'd dealt with. She'd lived her life trapped by the darkness of what had happened to Katie, and to her mother before her, but she'd lived in silence, afraid to talk about it, afraid to look it in the face and acknowledge how much it scared her... and yet here was Maddox, who had experienced the same thing. Suddenly, for the first time since Katie had died, she didn't feel so alone. "After a string of abusive boyfriends, my mom was killed in a car accident when her drunk boyfriend crashed the car," she whispered. "I was sixteen, and Katie was twelve. How old were you when your mom died?"

Maddox's face softened, and he touched her cheek. "Seven."

"Seven," she whispered. He'd only been seven. "Who did you live with then?"

"My dad."

She stared at him in shock. "I don't understand. Why didn't they take you away from him?"

"Because that wasn't how this town worked back then," he said. "Besides, I had eight brothers around to support me, including my twin brother, Ryder. They were my family, and I'd rather have stayed there with them and my dad than to try to fend for life by myself. I needed my brothers." He studied her. "Where did you live?"

"They split us up in foster care, so we ran away. After a few months, we hooked up with a group of kids living under a bridge in Chicago, and they took us in. There were nine of them, all runaways. They'd all taken the last name of Hart, creating the family that none of them had. We stayed with them for about a year, but as soon as I turned eighteen, I moved us to Boston and started college, working during the day and taking online classes until she was big enough to stay home alone at night while I went to school." She bit her lip, remembering those first nights when she and Katie had been living on the streets. "I never would have made it without them," she said softly, tears burning in her eyes. "Life was so much better sleeping under that bridge with the Harts, than it was living in foster homes without Katie."

He understood exactly what she meant, because he'd experienced the same thing with his brothers. He trailed his finger along her jaw. "Where are they now? Those kids?"

"The nine of them who took the same last name bought a ranch in eastern Oregon. There are also a few of us scattered around who never took the last name Hart, but all of us spent time living together when we were homeless. That creates a bond, you know?"

"I bet it does." Maddox studied her. "They all live on a ranch together, huh? They're like Chase, who wants us to be a happy family on his ranch." He laughed softly. "Sounds like they stick together. I'd like to meet them someday. Loyalty is the foundation of what matters."

Hannah tensed. "I don't keep in touch with them anymore."

Maddox frowned. "Why not?"

"Because..." Hannah bit her lip. "I don't like to think about that time in my life. I need to feel brave and strong and successful. If I think about them, I think about how scared I was, and how desperate. I...I don't want to be that girl anymore."

Maddox sighed, stroking his finger along her arm. "I get that. That's why I will never live on the ranch. We did a lot of riding on that ranch when we were kids. It was our salvation when life was shit at home, which was almost all the time. Even though Chase and the others live there now, every time I step on that ranch, I feel like that kid again, hated by the town, feared by others, treated like scum. I felt powerless back then, and I never want to feel like that again."

She nodded. "Yes, that's exactly it. As a kid in a bad situation, you aren't allowed to take control of your life. You have to survive what you've been dealt. It's a feeling of being powerless and dependent." She shook her head. "I never want to feel like that again, either." She couldn't believe he understood, but he did.

Maddox nodded. "If it weren't for my brothers living here, I'd never come back to this town. Ever. Neither would Ryder. Each time I walk back into town, I feel the darkness gripping me, both of my past, and what's inside me. I come back only for them, but not that often. It's just not where I want to be."

Hannah stared at him, the tight edge of guilt that she lived with starting to ease its grip on her heart. "I always feel so guilty when I don't return their messages. Brody is the oldest. He was the protector of the group. He calls me every month, and has since the day I left. I..." She grimaced. "I haven't taken his call since Katie died. I don't know how to tell him."

Maddox raised his brows. "They don't know?"

She shook her head again. "If I tell him...it makes it real," she whispered.

Maddox took her face in his hands and lifted her face so she was looking at him. His heart broke for her, but at the same time, he knew that hiding from the pain didn't make it go away. "Hannah, sweetie, you have to look at it. It is real. Katie died. If Brody and the others are the kind of family you described, they have a right to know, and I promise you'll feel better if you tell them, and let them support you."

Tears filled her eyes, and suddenly she couldn't breathe. "Don't say that it's real—"

"I have to say it." He stroked his fingers over her cheeks, wiping away the tears she didn't even realize she'd shed. "Katie's gone, honey. You have to accept it."

She shook her head. "No, I don't want to—"

"Baby, you're not dead. Do you understand that? You're here. Ava's here. Katie lives on in both of you, so you have to let yourself live."

Grief filled her, and she tried to pull away. She didn't want to have this conversation. She didn't want to have to tell Brody what had happened. He'd be on the first plane out there to help in whatever way he could. She hadn't seen him or any of the Harts since she'd left. She didn't want to go there again. She didn't want to be the girl who needed to lean on him, or anyone else. She glared at Maddox. "Don't tell me what to do. You don't know what it's like—"

"I don't? Really?" He held out his arm, showing her the scars. "I know darkness, honey. You know how I know it? Because my father was a violent alcoholic who beat the hell out of us kids, and my mom. She was seventeen when she met him, and she came from a hellish situation. She wanted to be saved, and she fell for him. She was eighteen when she married him, and had me and Ryder six months later. She was young, and scared, and fragile. He was an asshole who broke her spirit, which was already in shatters when she married him. She died of a broken soul, even more than a broken body, Hannah. Even her own sons couldn't give her enough of a reason to survive."

Hannah stared at him, her heart breaking for the anguish she felt in his voice, for the pain on his face. "I'm so sorry, Maddox—"

He shook his head, cutting her off. "When I was sixteen, I fell in love," he continued. "She was the daughter of the town's minister, with the purest spirit I'd ever met. I honest-to-God, thought she was an angel sent to save me. I worked my ass off, saved money, and bought a diamond ring to give her at graduation. I was going to marry her, and walk away from my hellish life."

Dread filled Hannah. "What happened?" She was afraid to ask, afraid to open that door, but she needed to know, and she knew Maddox needed to tell her.

Maddox dragged his gaze off Hannah, staring past her shoulder at a blank spot on the wall as memories of that night flashed through his mind. He was suddenly back in that moment, that moment when he finally had to stop lying to himself about what he was. "Her name was Beth. My dad was out binge drinking, so I'd made a candlelight dinner for her on the back porch. I had just taken the ring out and gone down on one knee when my dad came home." He could still smell the acrid scent of burning rubber as his dad had careened into the driveway. He remembered his heart freezing in horror as his dad stumbled out. He recalled with perfect clarity that he'd gone absolutely still, praying that his dad wouldn't see them out back. He remembered the flash of absolute fury at himself that he'd been stupid enough to think it would be okay to have the dinner at home.

"My dad came home. He saw us as soon as he got out of the truck, and stumbled over. He saw the ring in my hand and started yelling at me, cursing me to hell and back, cursing my mother, shouting about how love would destroy everything, and I was a stupid fool to think I could be anything more." He pulled away from Hannah, needing space as all the old emotions came flooding back.

He stood up, pacing away from her. "Beth was horrified. She knew he was a bastard, but she'd never seen him in a rage. I was watching her face as she watched him, and I knew it was too much for her. She was too pure—" He stopped, trying to stay hard, to shut down his emotions, but the images were too powerful, coursing through him. "Then my dad came on the porch. He... fuck..." He looked at Hannah, who was still sitting on the couch, her face stricken as she listened. "He hit her. He just slammed the back of his hand across her cheek and knocked her down."

Hannah sat up straighter, looking at him, and suddenly, Maddox didn't want to say anymore. What the hell was he saying? He didn't want to bring that darkness into this room. And he didn't want Hannah to see the rest of the truth, the truth that defined him, not just his father. "So, yeah, I get it," he said, abruptly cutting off the story. "I get how you can have a past that is so dark that you want to rage whenever it comes near you. I know how being with people from that time can bring it back." He turned to face her. "But I also know that without my brothers, I'd be in jail now, or dead, or something worse. Yeah, they're from my past, but having anchors who know the darkness you come from, can anchor you. My brothers are my rock, and if you've got someone willing to be yours, hang onto it." He strode back across the room and sat back down. "Don't hide from Brody and the rest of the Harts. They can help you. Think about it."

She searched his face for a long moment, then finally nodded. "I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask." He sat down next to her, relieved to know that she would consider reaching out to her family. He needed to know she had a support team when he left... fuck. When he left.

He didn't want to leave. At all.

Shit. How had that happened? But it was true. He didn't want to leave her. Or Ava. Not just today. Ever.