Page 20 of When Kings Fall

“She found out you kept Lynch’s survival from her?”

“No. Something else… a miscommunication I haven’t gotten the chance to clear up yet.”

“So she doesn’t know at all?”

I scrubbed my hands over my face. “No. Christ.”

“Levi.”

“I just… it took everything I had just to get her to admit it had even happened, then to pull her close to me.”

“Tell her as soon as I let you take your leave.”

“I will. I just wanted something concrete first, a location to move on against Lynch.”

“Life isn’t about perfect circumstances, or things lining up the precise way you intend. Sometimes you must work with what you have.” He shifted his weight. “Also, be careful with how you protect a woman like her who was subjugated most of her life by overwrought misogyny. She deserves the right to a choice. You don’t get to decide what’s best for her, she does. If things go south there, then you be there for the fallout to support her. That’s the most interference you can have, Levi. Trust me on that. If I’d done the same with your mother, things may have turned out differently.” He shook his head to himself. “After you were born, though, I became extremely overbearing in my mission to protect you both. It was too much. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t stand being a part of our high-pressure world, she felt like she was under a microscope, and with no life of her own outside of my shadow and domineering influence. So she ran, she left us. Sometimes good intentions aren’t enough, not when the execution is all wrong.”

I took the weight of his words in.

“I understand.” I reached out and took his hand. “Thank you, Dad. And not just for the advice. Thank you for not reprimanding me for the lie of the internship, thank you for supporting me with something so fucked-up like this. For all of it.”

“You’re my flesh and blood. I’d do nothing less to give you peace of mind.” He eased from me then rose to his feet and rounded the table toward me.

I pushed out of my seat to meet his approach.

And then he threw his arms around me.

Emotion overtook me and I held him to me tightly.

“Be careful. Swear it to me. Swear it.”

“I swear, Dad.”

And, for once, I would actually hold myself to that.

8

~Mason~

The air moved.

I felt it before it connected.

A palm struck my cheek, a stinging pain radiating across my skin, the force of the blow making my head snap to the side.

I staggered from the surprise of it, then swung my head toward Lev. “Did you just fucking bitch-slap me?”

“You’re lucky. The way I’m feeling right now, anything more hardcore and I wouldn’t be able to stop with how unbelievably pissed I am at you.”

“I told you I had to act quickly.”

“Not like this!” he roared, getting in my face.

Colt was there just in time, throwing out his hands either side, one to each of us. “Take it down and talk it out. Lev, you were right the first time, anything more hardcore and you won’t be able to stop.”

This time, Lev didn’t simply back down because Colt was there between us.

“You kidnapped a former kidnapping victim! Somebody who’s still traumatized by it! Are you fucking serious? What the motherfucking hell was going through your head when you made that decision?”

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