“Where do I start?” I say, as we walk.

I glance quickly at Scarlett and she gives me a warm look. “From the beginning, I’ll be listening.”

She keeps hold of me, and I start talking.

“We were together for the time he told the reporters. We weren’t close, like he made out. He had a flair for the dramatic, and we weren’t the best match. I tried, I did love him, but it was dragging me down. He was so serious. So controlled. Every time I’d try to leave, he wouldn’t accept it. He’d make me feel so guilty and convince me I was wrong, so I’d end up staying.”

Scarlett squeezes me softly to let me know she’s still listening.

“I finally decided that it wasn’t fair for me to keep staying with him, when I wasn’t truly happy, so I told him it was over. My fault was that I did do it in the car, just like he said. He got angry, wouldn’t take it, and then told me to pull over so we could talk. I said we’d wait until we got home and he pulled on the wheel, screaming at me to pull over. The car lost control.”

I take a shaky breath, reliving the awful moment like it was yesterday.

“It flipped and rolled, and when it finally stopped, I was hurt, quite badly. I couldn’t hear, my ears were bleeding, and my legs were stuck. I kept coming in and out of consciousness. Someone came and got me out. I managed to help them get Caiden out, but something sparked a fire, and the car lit up. He was stuck, and a big portion of his body got burned before we could take him out. We did get him out, right before the car blew up.”

Scarlett squeezes again, this time for a little longer. I stare right ahead and keep walking. If I look at her, the tears will come and I’ll never be able to stop them.

“It was a long road after that. For both of us. My hearing was permanently damaged, but his situation was much worse. He couldn’t walk, and he suffered serious burns. When he got out of the hospital, he had to do intensive therapy and is still only just able to take a few steps. He went into his parents’ house where they hired carers.”

I hate thinking of that awful time when he first got home and everything was terrifying. A new world that he wasn’t familiar with. And a hate in his heart that burned deep for me.

“He hated me. With a fire I couldn’t put out. He despised me and made it known. I had ruined his life. He didn’t want me around. I kept going. Every day. For ages his parents refused me. They wouldn’t let me see him. But I kept showing up, every single day, and finally they decided I owed it to him. So they let me in.”

Scarlett stops walking at a park bench, and we both sit down. She turns to me, eyes sad, face genuine. She reaches for my hands. “Are you two together still?”

“No. We weren’t together after the accident. He told me, in clear words, it was over and he wanted nothing to do with me. Of course, that could be anger speaking, and hatred, but he made it clear and we both knew it was over. I never made any promises. I just wanted to do my part, to stay with him, because he deserved that much.”

“If he hates you so much, why did he allow them to publish that article?”

I shake my head. “I’m not sure. I’m honestly not. Maybe out of anger, that I was starting to move on with my life. Maybe with some underlying jealousy. I really don’t know, all I know is he did it to destroy me. To make me suffer for hurting him. I don’t know.”

“But it wasn’t your fault, Amalie.”

I stare at her, eyes wide. “I caused the accident.”

“No, honey.” She squeezes my hand. “He did. He pulled the steering wheel. He chose to take that risk. Nobody would have been able to control that car. Nobody. You don’t owe him everything you’ve been giving him. He sounds like he’s manipulating you, and sweet, you’re letting him.”

I shake my head, and my eyes well up. “I took his whole life away from him. I shouldn’t have started that in the car. If I had waited until I got home, the accident would have never happened. I was selfish, I didn’t think, and that cost him his entire life.”

“He’s still alive, honey. He’s still here. You didn’t kill him.”

“I as good as ...”

“No,” she says, cutting me off. “No, Amalie, you’re not thinking right. You’re wrapping yourself up in guilt that isn’t yours to take on. You didn’t create that accident, and you didn’t ruin his life. It was an accident. Accidents happen all the time. It could happen to Maverick and I tomorrow, it could happen to anyone.”

I stare at her, and my bottom lip trembles. Deep down, in the darkest parts that I’ve locked away, I know she’s right. I know it, but it’s like my body is rejecting the idea, the thought, because I can’t bear to face the true reality of the situation. And that is that maybe she’s right, and maybe I’ve been living with this guilt for far too long.

But the second that thought comes into my mind, my mind automatically rejects it.

“It doesn’t matter now,” I tell her, because arguing about whether it was my fault or it wasn’t, isn’t going to take away the fact that it happened. “It happened. Caiden has decided he wants me to suffer for it, and he succeeded.”

“He’ll only succeed if you let him. What he said about you was a lie, Amalie. And the only reason it got printed was because they love a good story about me. If my name wasn’t involved, they wouldn’t have given him a second glance and he knows it.”

“It’ll affect me; people at the shows, fans, they’re all going to read that and nobody will want me playing.”

Scarlett’s face hardens, and she says in a stern voice, “Well, you’ll always be playing with me so they’ll have to get over it, or they’ll have to get over me, too. I won’t allow it. It will die down. I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but it will and you’ll breathe freely again.”

Scarlett’s head whips around and we see a group of girls approaching us, phones out, squealing happily. She must have heard them calling out to her. She exhales and puts on her best smile, standing and signing her autograph and getting pictures with them. When they’re gone, she comes back and sits by me.

“Let’s get out of here or we’ll never get left alone.”

I nod and stand, but before we start walking, I turn to her. “Scar?”

“Yeah?”

“Malakai hates me.”

She shakes her head. “No, honey, he doesn’t. He’s just ... hurt. He feels let down that you didn’t tell him. He thinks you had someone else. But he will find out the truth, and he’ll come good.”

“I never meant to lie to him,” I admit. “Or any of you. I just ... I was so ashamed.”

Scarlett’s face softens. “Well, I don’t ever want to hear those words come out of your mouth again. We love you, Amalie. All of us. You’re part of this. We’re a family. What you suffer, we suffer. Don’t let that man bring you down anymore, and don’t, under any circumstances, be ashamed. You have nothing to be ashamed about.”

“Thank you so much,” I whisper, meeting her eyes. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

She beams. “Ditto. We have a show on the weekend for the annual fair, get out there and show them what you’re made of and stuff everyone else. And if that man continues to harass you and tell lies, I’ll deal with him.”

I laugh, so grateful to her in this moment.

“I guess I had better go face the music, but which song do I start with?”

She smiles, and then her eyes grow serious. “Deal with Caiden first. Then Malakai.”

Right.

Two birds.

One stone.