"That version of me got people killed, I have changed," he said. "had to for Mrs. P."
She leaned close. "That version of you saved me."
Aiden, leaned closer. "I didn't want that blood. I didn't ask for it. And that why I left"
"I know," Connie whispered, eyes shining, silence fell between them. The chains clinked softly as he shifted.
"You don't have to fight me," she said. "I don't want to hurt you, Aiden. I want us to start over. Here. Now."
His eyes searched hers. All the scars. The heat. The grief twisted into obsession.
"You burned everything down to build something that never existed."
"I built it because I needed you." Her voice cracked. "Because I thought you needed me too."
Aiden looked away, chest tight.
Connie reached out and placed a hand on his heart. "I would've done anything to feel close to you again. Even if it meant going too far. Even if it meant losing myself."
She leaned in, forehead resting lightly against his. "I still would." as she reached up and unlocked the cuffs connected to the chain.
That was her mistake.
Aiden moved like lightning wrapped in violence.
the chain anchor groaned against the old bed frame. Before it broke, the chain was now free.
She gasped, hand jerking back. "Aiden—?"
She scrambled back, instinct finally kicking in — too little, too late.
"Don't—"
But he was with her.
He tackled her off the bed, crashing into the motel's rotting nightstand. The needle rolled under the radiator. A lamp burst. Glass everywhere. Her elbow hit the floor hard enough to pop. She screamed — more from shock than pain — and tried to twist out from under him.
Aiden's hand was at her throat.
"You drugged me," he growled, forehead pressed to hers. "You chained me like a fucking dog."
"I needed you to be calm, I love you!" she spat. "You are mine"
"I wanted out." His voice was bitter. "I just wanted to burn the right people. Cut the rot out and disappear."
"You wanted revenge." Connie's head tilted. "And you got it. But you didn't think about the rest of us."
That struck him harder than he expected.
"No," he admitted. "I didn't. I didn't care who got hit, as long as the people at the top bled."
Connie's fingers traced his wrist as lines from the chain that bound him cut into his skin. Not tender. Not cruel. Just… present. Like she didn't know what else to hold onto anymore.
"We were just ghosts in your war," she whispered. "Extras in your last chapter."
Aiden's jaw clenched. He hated how right she was. How stupid he'd been.
"You think I wanted this?" he snapped, eyes opening, raw now. "I didn't want to be a ghost. I didn't want to be some damn myth they whispered about. I just wanted justice. For what they did. To me. To the kids. To the ones who never got out."
"And you left me to rot with them."
Her words were quiet. Final.
Aiden looked at her and saw the fire still burning behind her eyes. Not hatred. Not entirely. But something scarier.
Devotion.
Madness.
The kind of love that sharpened into something feral.
"I didn't think you'd still be waiting," he whispered.
"I always will be," she said.
And that was the part that scared him most.
His grip loosened. For a second. Just a second.
She choked on her breath, trying to use that crack in him like she always did. "You still love me," she whispered, hands curling into his bloodied shirt. "You have to."
His heart kicked hard against his ribs. His throat felt raw. His body was shaking — not from exhaustion. From everything.
And then, against every scream in his head, he leaned in…
…and kissed her.
Not soft. Not tender. Not kind. It was the kiss of a dying man clinging to the first ghost he ever called home. Salt. Blood. Breath. Teeth.
She moaned into it like it meant forever.
But when he pulled back, his face collapsed into hers — cheek to cheek — and he just held her. Wrapped both arms around her and crushed her into his chest like if he held tight enough, maybe the past would snap and release him.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, voice barely there.
Connie didn't answer.
Her hands trembled behind his back, nails digging into skin.
"I'm sorry for leaving. For letting you become this."
He kissed her temple. Held her until her breathing slowed, chest hitching against him in small, hiccuped sobs.
Then he slowly — gently — picked her up and set her down on the bed.
"But I'm not yours anymore."