“Don’t do that. Don’t lie to my face.”
Ramsey’s nostrils flared. “What do you want me to say? That I hate cops? That I don’t trust your brother as far as I can throw him? That’s not going to make anything better.”
Blood pounded in my ears. “Why?”
Ramsey struggled to get his breathing under control. “It’s not rational. I know it. There are men and women in law enforcement who do good work. Your brother is probably one of them. But it doesn’t change what I see.”
My fingers tingled, and I realized that I wasn’t breathing—not the way I needed to. “What do you see?”
“I see the guys who looked the other way because my stepfather donated to the local police department. I see the people who believed every lie he spun and didn’t listen to a word that came out of my mouth—not even when I cried and begged and told them that he beat my mother on a regular basis. That he beatme.”
His breath kept coming quicker as he struggled to keep his voice even. “Instead, they took his lies and ran with them. Said that I pushed my mother down the stairs because I was upset that she told me I couldn’t go out with my friends. They locked me up and threw away the key, knowing the place they were sending me was Hell on Earth. All they cared about was the money lining their pockets. And all it took was those two officers promising to look the other way to take that lie and weave it into truth.”
Each word tore at my chest. I’d known that Ramsey had been sent to prison for assault and that the conviction had been overturned. Most of the town did. But he hadn’t grown up here, and I hadn’t known the details. I’d never looked into the man who had captivated me for the last nine years. Hadn’t wanted to probe into his past the way others had picked mine apart.
What I’d been through was nothing compared to this.Thiswas betrayal on every level. The police officers who had swornto protect and, instead, did the opposite. A stepfather who should’ve loved him but chose violence and lies instead. There was one last piece I honestly couldn’t fathom, though. “What about your mom?”
Ramsey’s onyx eyes blazed brightly with a dark, glittering heat. “She tried to take the brunt of the abuse. When he pushed her down the stairs, she got a concussion so bad she lost her memories from the two days leading up to her fall. She couldn’t tell the police anything.”
“She should’ve told them that he hit her. That he hityou.”
I’d never felt the kind of anger that lit through me at that moment. It burned me from the inside out. Anger for this man who brought broken creatures back to life. Because he knew what it was like to be broken. To have no one. And instead of becoming a monster, he became a savior.
Ramsey’s jaw worked back and forth. “She should’ve said something, but she didn’t. And she paid for it with her life.”
I froze, everything in me going stock-still, but no words would come.
He looked out at the fields where so many of the horses he’d rescued grazed happily. “He killed her. When they did the autopsy, there was no hiding that it hadn’t been the first beating. He finally fessed up to it all. I think he was proud of what he’d done, putting me in jail for his crimes. He tried to walk it back later, but the confession stood up at trial. His sick need to let the world know took him out in the end.”
My heart cracked. Splintered into pieces for the man with the gentlest soul I’d ever known.
I moved on instinct, closing the distance between us at a fast clip. I hurled myself at Ramsey, wrapping my arms around him in a vise-like grip—so tight no one would ever be able to pry me loose.
“You’re a miracle.”
A shudder ran through him.
“A miracle in every way. You took a pain that could’ve made you bitter and built it into something beautiful. You let that pain connect you with creatures who didn’t have anyone. And you made their lives better. You healed them. They wouldn’t trust you if they didn’t feel a kinship with you.”
“Shiloh—”
“It’s true. And you’re a miracle for me, too. You gave me a place to come when I needed escape. You made me feel safe when I rarely feel that way. You taught me so many things before you ever uttered a word.”
“Shiloh—”
“And you’re doing the same for Aidan and Elliott. You’re giving them an escape. A haven. It’s one of the greatest gifts they’ll ever receive.”
Ramsey’s hand slid under my braid and tipped my head back so I met his gaze. There was so much emotion in those eyes, deep pools of feeling you could get lost in forever. “Stop.”
“No. You need to hear the truth.” He needed to know the depths of his goodness. How much he gave back to a world that had taken so much from him.
He shook his head, but the barest flicker of amusement played on his lips. “You’re damn stubborn, you know that?”
“I’m taking that as a compliment.”
Ramsey chuckled then, and it warmed the inside of my chest. His thumb swept down the column of my throat, and a wave of sensation cascaded over my skin, unlike anything I’d ever felt.
“I’m sorry I was an ass to your brother.”