Page 118 of Oathbreaker

I sigh, loosening my tie. Leo and I had meetings today on Capitol Hill with a few senators and the appropriations committee chair. The meetings were long, tedious, and draining—and a waste of time. We went in with hopes that we could circumvent the FDA somehow. Of course, that’s virtually impossible, but we wanted to try.

Managing BwP, hunting down my father, and now doing Misha’s bidding has me feeling all kinds of things.

Control. Get yourself in control.

“I was going to tell you tonight, Sunbeam,” I murmur, standing to hug her. She vibrates with anger, but there are also tears welling up in her eyes.

“Right before you boarded your plane?” Her nose turns rosy, and I hate to see her so upset. “If I can’t go, then I don’t want you to go,” she says with a squeak.

“Baby,” I say softly, cradling her cheek.

“And on that note,” Leo breaks in, and we both look at him as he stands up from his chair on the other side of my desk. “I’ll leave the two of you to hash this out. H, I’ll see you on the tarmac tonight.”

He gives us a two-fingered salute and leaves the office, closing the door behind him.

“Wait, so Leo gets to go?” Her gaze is flinty, staring me dead in the eye.

I sigh. “Come here,” I say, pulling both of us down into my office chair.

She sits stiffly on my thigh.

“Relax, baby.”

She sniffs, crossing her arms over her chest. “No,” she says haughtily. She looks away from me, and I slide my forearm behind her knees to scoop her up, forcing her to rock back so that I cradle her.

“H, stop!” Her arms circle my neck.

“I’ve got you, Winter.” Always.

She relaxes a little.

“That’s better,” I say. She lets out a cute, frustrated snort.

“I didn’t tell you sooner because the plans weren’t finalized until today—just a few hours ago, actually. I told August first so he has time to adjust to the development. Me leaving tonight will be a lot for him to process, so I wanted to be here in case he struggled with it.”

She sticks her bottom lip out in a pout, and when she stands up, I let her go.

She tries to walk backward from me and the desk, but I turn her so she’s sitting on the mahogany surface, and I’m positioned between her legs.

“Where are you going? Why are you going? How long will you be there? Is it dangerous?” She asks all this with her arms crossed, but her legs open wider and wider as I scoot closer.

“I’m going because it’s something for Misha. I plan on being gone a few days, tops. As for if it’s dangerous,” I skate my hands up the flesh of her thighs, the split in her long skirt making the job easy. “I’m a dangerous man. I can handle myself.”

“I don’t—I don’t like it, H,” she says with defeat. After a moment of heavy silence, she pushes me back from her body with her bare foot to my chest and crosses her legs.

I lean back in my desk chair. “Winter, to steal your phrase, ‘be forreal.’ Do you think I’d ever intentionally put you in a dangerous situation?” I arch my eyebrow at her.

“I could stay on the plane? Or in a hotel?” She rolls her lips inward, and a tear falls down her right cheek.

“Baby, this isn’t a regular business trip.” I stand up, putting my hand on her cheek again and forcing her to look at me.

“What’s really going on?”

She clamps her lips tighter before saying, “I’m scared!”

“Scared of what?”

“We haven’t been apart since I came back.” She covers her mouth with her hand and looks away.

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