Page 353 of Tempted By her Daddies

However with punishment came forgiveness. They’d taught her that.

And she couldn’t be punished because they couldn’t forgive her.

Why would they when she couldn’t forgive herself?

Even though she didn’t know what else she could have done. Even though she’d done the best she could to mitigate things so that they weren’t in danger. So that Pinky didn’t gain anything that he could use against them.

Even then . . . she still didn’t deserve it.

Maybe she could show them that she could be different.

Be the person they deserved.

How long would it take? A year? Two?

Ten.

But they were worth it. They were worth everything.

So she sat, but she couldn’t eat. It was physically impossible. She just knew everything would come back up as soon as it hit her stomach.

“You need to eat,” Roman told her quietly. “You haven’t been eating since you got back and you’re losing weight.”

She stared across at him. He looked so sad.

God, how she hated that.

Roman should never feel sad. And definitely not because of her.

However, she didn’t make a move to pick up the fork. They all had plates of food sitting in front of them as well, untouched.

Had they been eating? Sleeping?

They looked almost as bad as she did. Was that her fault, too?

“Eat!” Alexei slammed his fist down on the table, making her flinch and shy back.

Years of her grandpa’s volatile temper and her sperm donor’s ‘training’ and she still flinched.

She didn’t know why.

“Alexei,” Salem snapped.

Alexei stood and started to pace. Back and forth. Back and forth.

She watched him warily. Would he attack her?

What would she do if he did?

Just take it?

She wasn’t sure that she could. Her instincts might kick in and she could end up fighting back.

And she didn’t want to fight him.

Although she was pretty certain that she wouldn’t win. Alexei was built like a brick wall. And he was skilled. While she was fast, she wasn’t sure if that would work that well against him.

“Tamsyn, look at me,” Salem told her in a low, stern voice.

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