Page 32 of Cruel Savior

Only he still wanted more answers and there was only so much I thought he could handle.

"Six months after my eighteenth birthday I was given a choice. Stay at the institute until I turned twenty-one or I could go to the college of my father’s choosing. I could not return home and I could not have any communication from my past.”

“That’s asinine. You were an adult. He had no power over you.”

I choke laughed. “I thought that too. But after two years of being locked up and my eighteenth birthday coming and going without even a hint of release, I took the deal that got me out of there. I ended up at a pretty decent college in the Northeast and I decided to embrace getting an education.”

“You should have called me. We could have helped you.”

She shook her head. “By the time I felt comfortable in my own skin again, not to mention safe enough on my own, it had been years. We weren’t the same people anymore, especially me. I couldn’t go back. I just couldn’t. I had to move forward. If you can’t understand that, then just know that I did what was best for me at the time.”

I stopped and waited to see what he would say. I was expecting something cold or cruel, but he remained silent. After a few untenable minutes of waiting, I let out a loud breath and turned away from him.

“Why would you come back now? You’re fucking living in his house again after he destroyed everything. What kind of bullshit is that?”

Now he was getting into territory that I didn’t want to explore. Not with him. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I did what I had to do and coming back here was the only choice I had. That’s all you need to know.”

“I’m not sure what you expect me to say. I’m fucking livid and frustrated that I don’t have anyone to take it out on. I’ll tell you this, though. Your father is going to pay for this shit.”

“Don’t. I can’t afford for you to fuck this up. I need his resources. At least for now.”

“The money? That’s what’s important?”

“Money makes the world go round. You know that. If I have to swallow my pride to get a job done, then that’s what I’ll do. I don’t care. He can’t hurt me. Not anymore.”

He shook his head. “What job are you trying to get done?”

I had no intention of answering that question. Everything I had done to this point had been tainted by my sins and the sins of others. Everywhere I went trouble followed, and it was up to me alone to break that cycle. I wasn’t a villain, but neither was I a hero. I’d already accepted that.

“Right now, we have a killer to catch. That should be our focus. The rest we have to put behind us. Just let it go.”

“I’ve known the truth for all of five minutes. I’m not going to just let it go. If you think I would then you really don’t know me. Which brings us full circle again.” He was on the move, and by the sound of his voice he was getting closer.

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way. I thought you would be told about the miscarriage and that would be that.”

“It was never going to be that simple, Mandy. Not with us. I remember having a feeling when your father came to me that it couldn’t possibly end like that. And while the years went by and that feeling faded, it was still there, until our lives intersected in Vegas.”

“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“But it did. And now we’re here, another case bringing us together again. It seems that the universe needed us together at least one last time.”

“That’s a little too woo woo don’t you think?”

“I already told you I don’t believe in coincidences.” He said that from only inches away. I could tell because I felt the warmth of his breath threading through my hair. I really didn’t want to think about how he made me feel when he stood too close.

I didn’t need to see him to feel the effect of looking at his handsome face. Ten years apart and I could still picture everything about him. Particularly his blue eyes that seemed to shimmer when he laughed and turned dark when he got intense. Looking into those right now would be dangerous.

My focus needed to stay on the job of rebuilding the walls this morning’s breakdown had crumbled.I was afraid if he looked at me now, he would see past the facade to the hurt underneath. The man had a knack for seeing in me what no one else should.

“Look at me, Mandy.” His continued use of my nickname was bad enough. Especially when it was delivered in that smoky timbre of his that rubbed along my spine like a caress.

“I don’t want to.”

A quiet rumble of laughter rolled over me, making it even harder to resist. I was relieved that he could still laugh. I didn’t want the news he took in today to turn him into something darker. He didn’t deserve that. Not after everything he and JD had done to pull their club out of the depths of wretchedness.

“I didn’t ask what you wanted.” He gently wrapped his fingers around my shoulder and turned me until I faced him. “But I need to see you, angel.”

My breath hitched. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard him call me that. But I remembered well how it made my belly swoop and my body tingle. “What is it about you that pulls me in so easily?”

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