27. Linc
Every available surface in Veronica and Alex Townsend’s kitchen has an adult member of their family sitting on it.
Veronica and Chief Townsend sit together at the head of their dining room table, holding hands. Veronica, even in her older age, is beautiful. And all of her daughters look just like her. Her red hair, streaked with white now, is pulled into a braid that hangs over one shoulder. There are worry lines around her eyes, and she is watching her husband carefully, like she thinks he may break at any moment. She is the real strength in their family, and seeing them together spells it out.
I watch them, and I crave every single thing they have.
Love. Happiness. A family.
Children.
Even the thought sends a sliver of dread down my spine, but while we sit there waiting for Kennedy, I obsess over it.
We haven’t discussed it once. Not when Parker found out she was pregnant. Or when Casper delivered the twins she is currently rocking in the chair that Remy drags in just for her. We don’t discuss children at all, but I see the look in her eyes when she doesn’t realize anyone is looking.
Cole, Casper’s husband, sits next to her with his eyes locked on his boys and wife. When he notices my attention, he looks up and smiles.
“Hey, man. How’s it going with Kenny?” He is one of probably two people outside of me or her brother who would ever call Kennedy Kenny, and he is the only one who can get away with it. Cole saved Casper, gave her a reason to live again. And when we’d been deployed together on our last hitch, he proved himself during a roadside bombing. He got out for Casper. He loves her, and their boys are the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a hot minute.
I’m jealous.
Kennedy deserves to have that.
She deserves to have me holding her growing stomach like Remy does with Parker. She deserves the growing love I watch around her family’s kitchen. Yet, all I’ve offered her is me. No future children to fill her home. No family to build and love. Just… me. And that won’t be enough to keep her happy for the rest of her life.
Before I can delve too far into the self-loathing I can feel building up, the door opens and closes in the distance. Kennedy walks into the kitchen a few moments later, carrying an all-too-familiar folder.
“What’s in the police report?” Remy beats me to the question. “Is that why we’re here? Nox is sleeping up in my old room, so if we get this done quick enough, I can sneak my woman home for some alone time.”
Kennedy glares at her brother, doesn’t say a word to him, and moves across the kitchen to stand in front of me.
“I love you.” She doesn’t care that her whole family is there. She looks up at me with something that resembles trepidation in her eyes, like what I say next is the most important thing in the entire world.
The weight of the world sits on her shoulders, and there is only one thing in that moment that I can do.
I slide my hand into the pocket of my jeans and pull out my wallet. Without looking at her or anyone else in the room, I ease down onto one knee and pull the ring I’ve spent my entire deployment pay on six years before. The diamond engagement ring that I got and prayed that when the time came, I’d be able to give it to the only woman who has ever mattered.
“I bought this ring after Danny died,” I say quietly. “When I didn’t even know if I would come home. When I spent my deployment doing stupider and stupider shit just to test the limits. I bought it when I buried my brother, so that I’d know who was worth everything to me, my reason for living. That’s you, Kennedy.” I look up into her eyes, showing her that it is her. Always her. “I’ve loved you so long that I don’t know what my life would look like if I didn’t love you. Whatever’s there. Whatever you have to tell us, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
I don’t ask her to marry me. Not for the length of a heartbeat, or twenty. I have to work up the courage, and that will be a secret I keep until the day I die.
“Will you…” I pause to clear my throat. “Will you marry me?”
“Linc.” Her eyes are beaming with happiness, but her mouth is set in a grim line. “I love you, and I want to marry you. But there’s something I have to do. And if you don’t want to marry me after I tell you, I’ll understand.” She kneels down next to me right there, pressing her lips to mine. “My answer is yes. I’m just not going to hold you to it until after I show you what’s here. Until you know what I’m asking of you. It might be impossible.”
I slide my ring on her finger. “I don’t give a fuck what’s in the file, Kennedy. You’re mine, and nothing’s going to change that. I’ll make any promise I have to, as long as you’re on the other side of it.”
“Damn,” Cole says with a whistle. “The man knows how to propose.”
“Don’t worry, Cole.” Casper laughs gently, trying not to wake up her sleeping twins. “Your proposal was equally beautiful, even if it happened in a hospital room.”
“My proposal had Linc’s balls in it, so I win,” Remy announces. “Good luck topping that, suckers.”
“Well, now that you’re engaged, Kennedy Marie, why don’t you tell us why you called a family summit through Linc.” Veronica smiles at her daughter, and her father holds out his arms for her.
Kennedy hugs her parents and then stands at the only empty spot at the table. I watch her hand tremble as she puts the manila folder on the table, surprised to see the Penobscot County logo, rather than the Birch County logo that it should have.
“What’s in that file, Kennedy, and how did you get it?” Her father’s voice grows stern, like he is dealing with one of his officers and not his daughter.
We all watch as Kennedy takes a deep breath. “You’re gonna want to put the boys in their bassinet, Casper.” She lowers her eyes and then closes them. “And you’re all going to want to take a deep breath.”
“What’s in the file?” Veronica’s voice trembles. “This isn’t from when you were nineteen, is it?” Panic, the likes of which I’ve never heard from her, fills the air.
“No,” Kennedy reassures her. “This is worse.”
Veronica doesn’t even have to see the inside of the folder, and she starts to cry.
“Kennedy,” Chief Townsend bites out. “Show us.”
Kennedy stands tall, her spine stiff, and she looks down at the diamond I’ve just placed on her hand. “First,” she says quietly, “you have to promise not to do anything.”
“No.” Every voice in the room rings out. Every single one. Parker, Casper, and Veronica included.
“You have to.” Kennedy stands her ground. “This isn’t about anyone else but me. This is mine. My secret. My future. Mine.” She looks up and her eyes lock with mine. “I told you. This is going to be impossible for you. But if you can’t do it, there’s nothing here for us.”
“Holy shit,” Parker says like Kennedy isn’t standing right there. “She’s not kidding.” She shoves her husband out of the way and steps up to Kennedy’s side. “Hey.” Kennedy looks from me to her friend. “I can’t promise that I won’t get pissed. That I won’t cry. But if what you need from me is for me not to act… I won’t.”
“Same,” comes from Remy. “It’s not like I’d have a choice, anyway. Parker wouldn’t hesitate to cut out my liver.”
“I can’t promise that,” Casper whispers brokenly. She has tears streaming down her cheeks, and Cole has her wrapped in his arms protectively. “We already lost Cassie. I’m not going to let you do anything that might mean I lose you too.”
“What she said,” Cole agrees with his wife. “If it’s going to cost us you, we won’t do it.”
“Damn it,” Remy snaps. “I’m changing my answer.”
“I’m not.” Parker glares at her husband. “You’re on your own. I made my choice.”
“Kennedy.” Her father reaches forward and puts his hand on hers. “We love you. If what’s in this file is something that you can handle, that you feel confident that you can take care of, none of us will interfere.”
“Fucking right,” I mutter under my breath.
I will rot in Hell before I ever let Kennedy face anything alone. There is a reason I put my ring on her finger. I’ll kill for her. I’ll sure as fuck die for her. And if it means that I have to stand silently behind her while she fights her demons, I will.
“Now that we’ve settled that debate.” Remy leans forward and taps the folder. “Maybe you can tell us what’s in the file.”
Kennedy looks up at me, once again ignoring everyone else. “Don’t freak out.”
I know in that instant that it has to do with Royal. Her hand is on top of the file, so I put mine over hers. “I promised you. No matter what. On the other side of this, I’m not going anywhere.”
She nods, biting her lip while she lifts the folder.
The first photo is of her neck, with a handprint wrapped around it, already bruised. Her face is darkened with dried blood, and her hair is matted against her skull.
I have to tune out the gasps from her family. Instead, I concentrate on my ring. The one sitting on Kennedy’s finger.
“Royal beat me.” I feel the weight on her shoulders, the way Kennedy slumps as she admits what she thinks is her greatest failure. “And when I wouldn’t give him what he wanted, he almost killed me.”
That’s all she says. But she slides the pages and the photos out of the folder and onto the table for everyone to see. There isn’t space to move, but we all fit as we stare, one by one, at the images of Kennedy’s worst night.
Streaks of blood and tiny cuts all over her body. A chain. He used a chain, and he cut into her skin. Not deep enough to cause the type of scars I’d expect. But enough that she should have died. There are so many of them. Over a hundred, and that is a light estimate. Her body is covered in them. Bruises from where he hit her either before or during or even after spot her back. The back of her neck is probably the worst. There is an entire patch in one photo where Royal must have ripped hair from her head, because there is nothing but skin and blood where there should be hair.
I keep my shit together better than I think I will. Until the last image. The one with her hand. More blood, and the chain she clenches in her fist, cutting into her skin as she refuses to let it go. I recognize the metal curve as it digs into her hand.
The dog tag I gave her all those years ago. And I’m not the only one who notices it. Every man in the room has worn a set of dog tags at one point in their life. I can’t even meet her eyes, let alone anyone else’s. I can’t face the shame for what I’ve done.
Kennedy wasn’t just beat for fun. Royal didn’t try to kill her because she wouldn’t love him. He is a psychopath at the very least, true. He is the worst kind of man; that is never in doubt. But Kennedy holds back to protect me. When she confided in me about what he did, she didn’t tell me why or if he even had a reason.
The file and the photos are proof. Kennedy almost died because of me.
“I love you.” Her voice cuts through the pain and darkness that has settled around me like an old friend. “I love you, and you did not do this. Regardless of what you think.”
“Why are you showing us this?” Veronica hiccups. “What’s going on?”
“I lied to the responding officer, but they still documented everything, Mom. They took DNA evidence. And I’m going to tell the truth. He killed Mallory Mitchells, and I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure that he doesn’t do the same thing to anyone else.”
Kennedy’s demand, her need to handle it, to keep us from interfering, it all makes sense now.
“I don’t need you to protect me.” Kennedy’s eyes lock on mine, her fingers clenching around my hand. “I need you to stand by my side while I destroy him.”