“You killed Meredith!?” Georgia exploded, eyes wide with horror and disbelief, glaring at Kyle as if he’d grown two heads.

“It… it just happened.” Kyle stammered, forcing the words out like shards of glass, each one a raw lie that shredded what little remained of his reputation. What the hell was he doing? Protecting Lucy from a trial? Every second she lay unconscious in Georgia’s room made his life feel emptier, less worth it. The sacrifices he made.

Falcon, Kain, and George were in the room too—shock etched on their faces, all except Falcon, whose expression carried something else entirely. And Kain… Kain seemed detached, as though the world itself...