Shadows In Durango

Chapter 123

*****Vincent's POV*****

The silence in the car was killing me.

I kept my eyes locked on the road, gripping the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles pulsed around the leather.

The tension between us was thick, almost suffocating, and I figured that it wouldn't have been so severe since we had both spent some time apart...

But boy was I wrong!

I could feel her growing antsy beside me, fidgeting, probably lost in her own worried thoughts, and all I could think about was how badly I'd screwed this all up from start to finish.

I knew that I couldn't avoid this conversation any longer, but damn, I still wasn't as ready for it as I thought I would be.

Not even close.

There was a million things to say and to talk through, yet all I could give her right now was thickening silence...

She had every right to be angry, every right to hate me for how I had handled things. The way I'd kept her in the dark. The way I'd gone behind her back.

But what the hell was I supposed to do?

Did she expect me to just sit back and watch her get pulled into even more danger? Watch her father finally catch up with her? Watch her get hurt because of me?

I only thought I was helping...

I glanced over at her, just for a second, and saw the tension in her face, her hands twisting nervously in her lap below.

She was hurting like I was over this, probably more.

And I hated it.

that I was the one who'd put that very look on her

couldn't take the silence anymore. I

Anything.

blame you for this, you know," I said quietly, not daring to look at her. My eyes stayed glued to the road ahead, my voice low, as if saying it too loud would make it

into the side of my face. "What? I mean, how?" Her voice was shaking, and I could hear the confusion in it, the

running a hand back through my hair, trying to figure out how to explain myself. "I don't blame you for what happened to Daryl. I'm angry,

but I knew it probably seemed that way with how I had acted last night, but I was just well and truly overwhelmed

I see the guilt all over her face as though it was her who had caused

words, and then, almost like she couldn't stop herself, she whispered, "I feel that I'm responsible for all of

believed she was a curse, or some kind of bad luck, hearing it made

clenched my jaw, fighting the urge to yell, to tell her she was wrong, but I didn't. I had no right to snap at her, not after everything that she's already

about that bastard alone. "He made his own choices, and he hurt people because of his own issues. That's nothing to do with you. But..." I hesitated, knowing what I was about to say wasn't going to be easy for her to hear. "What was to do with you, was not telling me sooner

didn't want to make her feel any worse, but I couldn't pretend like it didn't bother me.

to keep

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a long pause, and when she finally spoke, her voice was so small, I

on edge that at the time, I didn't want to selfishly add another problem on top of that... but what I didn't know was that your stress all linked back to contacting my father behind my back...

me hard next, pausing any and

say

start, but nothing else comes after that, I was truly at a loss for words as I stared ahead and waited for

She demands to know, her emotions taking their toll now since this very matter

the car in to park and took a second to think... allowing my head

where to start now. I'd run it over in my head a thousand times,

heavy talk was

reach out to the one person

that, but I was now fucking

I raised my head, forcing myself to face her on this. She

hurt many times before, now hurting because of me, the one she had finally began to

in order to keep you safe, I didn't know he was going to manipulate the situation like he did, and the whole arranged marriage thing wasn't mine or my fathers idea, it was all him - believe me!" I begin to spill out, hoping that I could provide

it was malicious, at least not intentionally, but the same fact still remained - I should have discussed it with her from the very start