Page 11 of Fierce Secrets

I sucked in ragged breaths, my hair plastered to my face as he held me tight, his strong arms providing some sense of safety.

I buried my face in his neck, inhaling deeply as my body shook. "Your cologne. Something woodsy and... you." My voicewas raspy as I tried to focus, my heart thundering violently in my chest. I drew in another shaky breath as I nuzzled into him, letting his scent fill my nostrils.

"Good. What do you hear?"

"Your breathing." The steady breaths were grounding, and I tried to slow my own to match his.

"Good, focus on those things. What can you feel?"

"You. You're warm," I mumbled, my shakes starting to ease as the terror slowly drained.

His arms tightened around me, one hand running up and down my spine. "Keep breathing with me. You're safe."

The tears came then, hot and unstoppable. "I remembered something. My father, he was beating me, and you and Gray came in. You stopped him."

His breath caught now as he tensed. "What else do you remember?" The words were low, tinged with a strange unease that made my brow furrow.

"Nothing. I woke up." I lifted my head to look at him. "Why can't I remember more? I barely remember my childhood, just glimpses. Especially when it involves my dad."

"Because he wasn't a good man, Mer."

Again, the nickname he and Gray had always used when we were growing up until things changed. He'd said it when I'd first awoken last night, and again, it made a warmth bloom deep inside me.

"I know. Gray always said that, that his death was a blessing ultimately for us, we were better off," I admitted softly.

Leo's jaw clenched, but he said nothing.

Our father had passed when I was seventeen in a car accident. Although everything involving his death was a blank memory of mine. I barely recalled the funeral, except that that was when Leo had become more distant with me. He wasn't around as much after that.

We'd lost both our parents, Gray and I, now orphans. Thankfully, my father had left everything to Gray in his will, and he'd split it with me. My father had always blamed me for my mother's death when I was just a baby. From what I'd gathered from Gray, it had seemed like she'd developed postpartum depression, and wound up overdosing on sleeping pills.

Something my brother made sure to drill into me wasn't my fault, no matter what my father said. A part of me had tried so hard to believe him, while the other part heeded my father's nasty words.

"He hated me," I whispered, and Leo sighed as he shifted us so we could watch the sunrise through his floor-to-ceiling windows, the sky painting itself in pinks and oranges.

"He was not worthy of being called your dad. Not with how he treated you." Leo's voice was oddly tender, and I closed my eyes, finding too much comfort in his embrace right now.

Who was this man? This was not the Leo I knew. The cold, calculated Leo who was always so busy, too work oriented to even date from what Gray told me. I'd started to think he was sociopathic or something with his lack of emotions, but this was a whole other side of him he was revealing.

A side I quite liked.

Who also seemed to have a very distinct belief on who was worthy of me too at this point.

His fingers found their way into my hair, gently working through the tangles. The rhythmic motion was soothing, and I found myself drifting off once more, feeling safer than I had for quite a while. Every now and then, I'd stir, only sleeping lightly in his arms.

He didn't move, only continued to stroke my hair, as if it was the only thing that mattered.

The sharp ring of his phone tore me from my shallow slumber, the familiar ringtone making a smile touch my lips.

Heat flooded my cheeks as I scrambled off his lap, wondering how much time had passed. The sunrise was long since past, daylight flooding in through the windows. Leo's expression was unreadable as he answered.

"Yes?" His tone was clipped. "No, she's fine... Yes, Gray, I'll let her know." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "She said she was out of town, so, she didn't want to bother her." He glanced at me and nodded. "Got it."

When he hung up, he focused on me fully. "Have you checked your phone?"

"It's on silent." I retrieved it from the bedside table, groaning at the missed calls from Sofia, then an array of texts from her. "Gray told her?"

"She was worried."

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