Chapter 345 The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth
Ella
Logan’s blue eyes finally met mine, filled with an emotion that I couldn’t fully read. Remorse, maybe. And pain.
“Ella, it’s not-”
“Save it,” I cut him off, a sudden surge of anger bursting through my veins. “Just save your breath, Logan.”
He reached out, his fingertips almost grazing my arm, the air around us pulsating with a mix of tension and unsaid truths. “Ella, it’s not like that. I never-”
I shoved him away, my voice steeped in a concoction of anger, disbelief, and a hint of hurt. “Lucky for you, I’m a woman of my word, otherwise I’d be tearing up our contract right here, right now. Not just because of what your brother just said, but because of your whole damn family.”
Logan’s features hardened, his piercing gaze locking onto mine. “Well, maybe you should. Leave, tear up the damn contract. I wouldn’t hold it against you.”
For the second time in the span of a week, Logan had offered me a way out, an easy way out, too. All I had to do was say the word.
But did I want to?
“You can’t leave him,” Ema said, her voice filled with longing. “He needs you. You need each other.”
I chewed my lip for a moment before realizing that my wolf was right: we needed each other. I would never admit it, but it was true. Right now, in this hell of a city, in this den of vipers, we needed each other. There was no way out.
“No,” I said, turning to look away for a moment. “I won’t leave. Let’s finish this thing.”
His sigh of relief cut through the charged air, and a faint glimmer of amusement sparked within me. “You seem relieved. And to think, you were once so confident that I’d never want to leave, even when our contract ended.”
A smirk tugged at his lips, the faintest hint of his old self piercing through the guarded facade. “Well, you just refused yet another clear shot at freedom, didn’t you? So, who’s really in the right here?”
I scoffed, shaking my head. The weight of Harry’s words still pressed down on my shoulders, filling me with a sense of unease.
“Harry… he wasn’t entirely lying,” Logan confessed after a few moments of silence. “I did lose it, I did beat that guy up. But I never had him shot. I never found out who did it, and I’ve never been the same since.”
“But… how can I believe you?” I murmured, still wary of the situation.
“Let me explain everything, then.” His voice was hardly more than a whisper. “Let me tell you everything. From the beginning.”
There was another silence. I eyed him, contemplating the proposition. We had been working with each other long enough that I had gained some trust in him, but I still needed something, anything, to ease my worries. Biting my lip in indecision, my gaze landed on an old, worn-out children’s book on the floor beside me. Picking it up, I held it on the palm of my hand.
“Hold up your hand, Logan. Like this.” I raised my right hand, fingers together with my palm facing toward Logan, just like it was done in court.
His eyes, flickering with a mix of perplexity and intrigue, met mine. “What is this? What are you doing?”
“Just follow my lead,” I persisted, feeling the edges of the worn-out book under my fingers.
Reluctantly, his hand lifted, and I silently took his other hand and placed it on top of the book. Our eyes met, his gaze slowly filling with recognition as mine remained steadfast.
“Do you swear, on this book of children’s stories, to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?” I questioned, my voice steady yet soft, trying to bridge the abyss of unknown tales between us.
There was a pause. Logan’s eyes flickered with uncertainty, his gaze flickering down to the book between us. Then, finally, he swallowed and nodded.
“I do.”
“Say it,” I urged.
Logan nodded. “I solemnly swear… That I, Logan Barrett, will tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
Our gazes met over the book, and I felt myself soften toward him. There was something genuine in his face, something filled with pain and remembrance. I quickly pulled away, placing the book down on top of the box and tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“Begin.”
Logan took a deep breath and began.
“She was my world. We were young and stupid, and I was hopelessly in love,” he confessed, a bittersweet smile playing on his lips. “Hell, I thought we would get married. I even bought a ring and everything.”
“And then?” I urged.
Logan sighed, leaning against a desk with his arms folded across his chest. “She started to change,” he murmured. “She’d go out with me, let me dote on her and buy her all kinds of stuff. Always asking for money, fancy restaurants, new things. I was stupid and I did all of it.”
He paused, shaking his head. “I should’ve known better,” he continued. “But I was just… so stupid. Even when I started getting suspicious, I let a lot slide.”
“She was cheating on you,” I said. Logan nodded. “Yep. For a long time, actually. I was just too blind to see it.”
There was a long silence as Logan’s words sunk in. I pictured him as a younger man, his eyes bright and full of love for this college girl. He doted on her, gave her everything she wanted, and she used him.
“I did start following her,” he said, running a hand through his dark hair. “I should’ve just let her go, but I couldn’t. So I started tracking her, paying attention to where she went and with whom. Then, one night, she said she was going to a party with her girlfriends. Something innocent. But then, I found her at a frat house, and she was with…”
Logan paused, swallowing, and shook his head again. “I’ll spare you the details. But I flew into a rage. Beat the guy into a pulp. Gave him a black eye and a broken nose. I can still remember how she screamed, begging me to stop… When I finally came to, and realized what I had done, I ran off.”
“Then what?” I asked quietly, picturing Logan with a gun in his hand. I didn’t want to think of it. He said that he never shot the guy, but… what if?
“Then, I ran to an alley somewhere,” he said solemnly. “Punched the walls until my hand was shattered. Still have the scars.” He tugged his sleeve up to show his hand better. I hadn’t realized it in the past, but his knuckles were lined with jagged scars, and his middle and ring fingers were crooked from not healing properly.
“To punish yourself?” I asked.
Logan nodded. “A few days later was when I got the news that he had been shot. Of course, my ex tried pinning it on me, but I had nothing to do with it. Since there was no evidence, nothing happened after that. But now you know.”
A hush fell over the room, punctuated only by the sound of my own heavy breathing as Logan’s story sunk in. The way he looked now, the way his blue eyes stared unblinkingly down at the floor, told me all I needed to know.
“Do you… Think it was…”
“Who? Harry?” Logan asked. He shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. Hell, I don’t know. It was so long ago. All that matters is this: do you believe me?”
I paused for a few moments, biting my lip. Inside my mind, Ema spoke up. “He’s telling the truth. You know you can trust him.”
Of course I knew that. In a way, I knew from the start.
I nodded slowly, finally meeting Logan’s gaze.
“I do,” I murmured softly. “I trust you, Logan. Let’s go home.”
