Page 91 of Revenge

That look gave me hope.

“Come on, you look tired. We can talk about it in the morning?”

“I can’t believe it was you. All these years and yet you never said anything.”

“Come on, let’s go to bed. Watch the glass.”

I then allowed Kai to guide me through the kitchen, past the staff in the dining room and into the lobby. As we got to the bottom of the stairs, I turned and faced him.

Kai stopped with one hand on the railing, his eyes roaming over my features. I felt like I was seeing him for the first time, the emotions I was experiencing were hard to determine.

"When did you realise that I was the girl from the wedding, the one you saved?" I couldn’t go to bed without knowing.

"I knew as soon as I saw you again years later," Kai admitted with a head tilt. His eyes were full of warmth and I could see that he was recalling that moment with fondness.

"When I was thirteen?"

"Yes," he confirmed with a nod.

"I can't believe you recognised me. I would have been so young at the wedding."

Kai grinned, it was boyish and charming and took me back to the boy under the stage. How could I not have seen it before now, "I never forget a face, especially when it looks like yours," he said.

Raising an eyebrow, I asked, "Should I take that as a compliment?"

"Most definitely," he replied, lifting his hand to push some of my hair behind my ear. I suddenly felt so special,Kaihad made me feel special.

Narrowing my eyes I asked the obvious question, "Whyhave you never said anything?"

My question seemed to confuse him and he didn’t reply straight away. After a shrug of his broad shoulders, Kai said, "Maybe I didn't want you to remember me."

"But why wouldn't you want me to remember you, after what you did? You promised me that one day I would find my happy ever after.” I had always thought Kai a manipulative bastard and so I didn’t understand why he didn’t fess up to being the boy from the wedding. If he had wanted my co-operation, he could have usedthatto get it. He had been my childhood hero after all.

And then he explained himself, "For two reasons I suppose. You saw me as a saviour and I made a promise that day that I had no right to give.” I was puzzled and so had to push him further.

“But what difference does it make now?”

Kai’s expression darkened and I knew I had hit a nerve. “That boy from my past no longer exists, Ava. And I don’t believe in giving mixed messages.”

Fuck. I took a deep breath and gave myself time to taste those words. After a minute or so, I decided he was lying. His mask was in place but I saw it for what it was now.

And I’d had enough of running away.

"Bullshit. That’s all you ever do, give mixed messages,” I pointed out, stepping forward towards his body. Kai’s hand dropped from the rail and he took a step back. Now who was running?

I could see a muscle start to tick in his jaw, "I said I don't believe in giving mixed messages not that I wasn't ever guilty of doing that."

I took another step into his space and Kai retreated, "So what happened? What did I do?"

I knew I was pushing his buttons as he stopped, placing a hand out to ward me off. I could see he was struggling, battling with his emotions. The cracks were starting to show.

“Well, Kai. What did I do? Why did you save me as a little girl? Welcome me into your home, become my friend, gain my trust, and then abandon me like that? As far as messages go, that was as mixed up as you can get.”

“Leave it, Ava. It’s time for bed.”

Kai went to take my arm but I moved away and started pacing. I was determined to get the truth. I needed, to knowwhyhe pushed me away. What did I do? If he hadn’t behaved that way, maybe things could have been different between us, better. My life could have been better.

Everything that his father put me through, being sent away to school, feeling alone, and cut off came crashing back.

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