Page 89 of Burn It Down

I pulled harder on a stitch than I needed to, making him grunt. “That’s my brother you’re talking about.”

“All the more reason for you to recognize the truth.”

“Dad,” Aurora grunted.

“It’s the truth.”

“No. It’s your truth.”

I smiled at her defending Asher. Defending us.

Even to her own father.

“He’s dangerous. Being here is more dangerous than I even imagined for you,” he pushed.

I finished up his stitches, then he pushed back to his feet, slapped his hand on the table and eyed Aurora. “You saw it for yourself. He’s a beast. A fucking monster, just like his father.”

“He’s nothing like Carson,” I gritted out. “And if you don’t want a repeat of what happened earlier, keep that comparison to yourself.”

“He didn’t stop,” he told Aurora. “Not even for you. This love you think you share, it’s gone. He’s a thing now.”

“A thing, huh?” I bit back. “A beast? A monster? Unsafe to be around? How about you?”

“What about me?”

“You served him up to be tortured. You even told Carson that it was Asher responsible for the dollhouse takedowns. You kidnapped your own daughter. And then how about that explosion? You said you saved Aurora with a decoy, but that was a real person in there, not some mannequin. So you murdered somebody else to save your daughter? Just like that?”

“Oh my God,” Aurora breathed.

With everything going on, she obviously hadn’t considered that part.

“The woman in that car was already dead before the explosion.”

“What?” Aurora asked.

“She was one of the dolls meant to be auctioned the night of the gala, but Carson and Samuel set her aside, double-teamed her and broke her beforehand. They took their stress of the collapse of their business out on her for several days straight. They ended up killing her. The night of the gala, they used it as a cover to dump her body. I retrieved her and placed her in the car.”

“Urgh,” Aurora said, looking completely sick. “Dad.”

“It did what it needed to. It spared you. I needed to buy time and faking your death temporarily achieved that, stopped Carson from pursuing you.”

The guy had an answer for everything.

And clearly absolutely no fucking remorse.

Aurora sank back in her chair and brought her hand to her face.

Shit.

I went to go to her, but Lance stepped into my path, blocking me.

Seriously? I hadn’t even gotten to hold her properly yet. Outside when I’d held her back to protect her didn’t count.

It had been way too long since I’d felt her against me, breathed in that sweet strawberry scent, and fucking well tasted her.

A growl rumbled low in my throat.

Lance clenched his fists in preparation.

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