Page 47 of Oathbreaker

Leo and I both blow out a breath. “Fuck,” Leo says, drawing out the word for several beats.

“Why do I get the feeling that we just sold our souls to the devil?” I ask Leo while staring up at the ceiling.

I don’t look back at him when he replies, “It’s because we did.”

Leo leaves my office sometime later and I throw myself into work. Or, at least, I try to.

Since the accident and Winter’s return, I’ve been forcing myself to care at all about BwP, which makes me feel horrible. So many people are going to live because of the technology BwP releases. So many people rely on BwP staying afloat. Solvent. Engaged.

And I can’t make myself give a fuck about it.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and unlock it. My home screen is a candid picture of Winter and August in the game room. They’re on opposing teams in some zombie game, and it was difficult for me to know who was winning. But August was effervescent with his amusement, and Winter radiated happiness.

My Sunbeam.

So when Winter peeks her head into my office, I jump up on high alert.

“Are you all right? What’s wrong,” I ask, rushing over to her. My instinct is to cradle her face, to touch her in some way, but I keep my hands firmly at my side.

“Am I interrupting?” she replies, not answering my question.

“There isn’t a scenario in which you could interrupt me. Are you all right?” I pull her from behind the door she uses as a shield and close it behind her.

“I’m fine, H. Are you all right?” Her eyes search my face.

“Winter.” I resist growling her name. “This is the first time you’ve ever sought me out and the first time you’ve ever been in my office. There has to be a reason besides you telling me you’re fine.”

The side of her mouth kicks up. “You’re right.” She moves to rub the skin between her eyebrows. “I need a favor.” She looks nervous.

“Anything, Sunbeam.”

“It’s a little stupid,” she says.

“Nothing you do is stupid. What do you need?” She avoids my gaze. With a short sigh, she asks, “Can you please take me to the doctor?”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Yes, of course. Are you sick?” I grab my phone, prepared to call her doctor to come to our house immediately—I don’t care what they’re doing.

“No, I’m fine. It’s a scheduled checkup. It’s just that... Um.” She stops talking again.

I grab her hand. “Talk to me, baby,” I say in a low voice.

“I haven’t left the house since coming home. I don’t—I can’t—I…” she blinks and swallows. “I don’t want to be alone with Rio. Could you bring me?”

Then she looks me in the eye and my heart breaks for the hundredth time since we left that diner outside Asheville. She is asking me for something of her own free will. This has to be progress, right?

“Of course I will.”

The lights are too damn bright in here. The harsh and cold fluorescents overhead highlight the dated décor—an unexpected sight, seeing as this is one of the best doctors in the nation.

I question whether the heat is on because I shiver.

Or maybe it’s the coldness I haven’t been able to shake since learning that my father was the conductor behind Winter’s abduction.

I should tell her. I should give her the choice to choose me after she knows what pain I’ve brought her.

But I’m not a good man. And I can’t let that info slip.

Because I cannot lose Winter again.

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