Her Get-out-of-jail-free Card

‘No! Of course not. It’s just that…you seemed to spend less and less time with me this year. I was…worried. I thought maybe you had another woman on the side.’ Her lips trembled, tears welling up in her eyes. ‘I was jealous, okay? So I hired a PI. That’s when I found out about you and Kira…’ Austyn remained stony-faced. Panicking, Kayleigh grabbed his forearm. ‘I know what I did was wrong, but I couldn’t help it. I was scared you would dump me when you found someone else.’ She tilted her face upwards, her eyes beseeching. ‘My parents died when I was just a kid. Then my big brother left me. Every day, I live in the fear of getting abandoned again. You are all I have. I don’t know what I’ll do if you leave me.’ Austyn looked into her teary eyes and caught a glimpse of the Kayleigh he met five years ago. When Austyn left the army, he took Finley Woods’ dying wish with him. Kayleigh had just turned twenty. Legally, she was an adult, but her eyes still held a childlike guilelessness. Her bi