Page 60 of Temptation and Tyranny

The words hit too close to home, especially after yesterday. The way she’d looked at me after my father told her everything, with understanding instead of pity...it had shaken something loose inside me.

“How’s your dad doing?” Steele asked, mercifully changing the subject.

“Good days and bad,” I said, the familiar ache settling in my chest. “Yesterday was mixed. He kept worrying about the bills.”

Steele nodded, understanding in his expression. “That’s how it started, wasn’t it? The whole thing with us?” Ever since the incident with Topher, Steele had made an attempt to better understand me, understand the family and life I came from.

“Yeah.” I remembered that desperate kid I’d been, trying to pick Steele’s pocket, not knowing it would change my life forever. “Allegra knows now. Dad told her.”

“Your father has a way of cutting through the bullshit,” Steele said. “How’d she take it?”

I thought back to the car ride home, the gentle way she’d touched my face, the way she had kissed me.

Like I was a good man.

“Better than I deserved.”

“You know,” Steele said carefully, adjusting his own cuffs, “there are other ways to make money now. Legitimate ways. The new photography gallery I helped Ashlynn set up is turning a nice profit.”

“It’s not about the money anymore,” I admitted. “Hasn’t been for a long time.”

“Then what is it about?”

I stared at my reflection, at the expensive tuxedo that represented everything I’d fought to become. “Control, maybe. Power. Not having to feel helpless like I did when Dad first got sick.”

Steele was quiet for a moment, studying me. “And what good is all that power if you’re alone?”

“I’m not—”

“You are,” he cut me off. “And you know it. That’s why you took Allegra to meet your father. Because some part of you wants more.”

I turned away from the mirror, anger flaring. “What I want doesn’t matter. My world isn’t safe for someone like her.”

“That’s what I thought about Ashlynn,” Steele said quietly. “Remember? When I was holding her captive, telling myself it was just about revenge, about power.”

“That was different.”

“Was it?” Steele challenged. “I was deep in this life, just like you. Had enemies, just like you. Was convinced I didn’t deserve happiness, just like you.”

“And look what happened,” I shot back. “Ashlynn nearly died because of you. Because of this life.”

“Yes,” Steele agreed. “She did. But she also chose me. To fight for what we could have together.” He adjusted his bow tie one final time. “Sometimes the biggest risk is not taking one at all.”

Before I could respond, a knock interrupted us. “Everything fitting alright in here?” Ashlynn’s voice called through the door.

“We’re decent,” Steele answered, and his entire demeanor softened as his fiancée entered the room. The transformation still amazed me sometimes—how love had changed him so completely.

“Cooper was just trying to convince me that he has a perfectly good tuxedo at home,” Steele told her, pressing a kiss to her temple.

“I’m sure he does,” Ashlynn agreed, “But none that match the wedding palette.”

I groaned. “There’s a palette?”

“Of course there’s a palette.” She moved to straighten my bow tie, her expression turning more serious. “I heard about your visit to your father yesterday.”

I frowned. “How the hell did you find out?”

“I eavesdropped,” she replied, laughing.

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