Page 50 of Seeking Vengeance

All that blinks back at me is sincerity. A cloying, agonizing seriousness that makes me want to blurt everything to him—my secrets, my failures. I need him to know the ins and outs of my life so he can find me lacking, because having him stare at me with adoration is a gift I don’t deserve.

He moves forward, approaching with slow caution.

“Don’t.” I backtrack, needing more time to catalogue the seriousness of his newfound knowledge. “Give me space.”

His jaw hitches as if I’ve struck him. “Why? Am I the enemy now?”

No, he’s the exact opposite. He’s the blessing I’m not entitled to. The warmth and happiness I haven’t earned. At least, not yet.

“Why, Layla? Tell me.”

I shake my head, attempting to fight how he’s already come to mean something to me even though we remain strangers.

“Tell me.” He continues up to me, his palms gently gliding over my biceps. “If you want me gone, I’m gone. I’m only staying in town for you.” He leans his hips against mine, suffusing me with warmth. “Tell me what you want from me.”

“I don’t know,” I whisper, backtracking farther, only endeavoring to drag him along with me.

“Then tell me what you don’t want.” He follows until I’m caged against the vanity.

“I don’t want to do something I’ll regret.” I’ve already endured too much of that. I can’t take any more.

“Like getting caught up with me?”

I close my eyes. Even behind clamped lids I see him. His intent. His hunger. “Like missing an opportunity to be with someone like you,” I admit.

His grip tightens on my arms. “Then don’t.” He leans closer, the brush of his breath skating over my lips. “We’ll find a way to make this work.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Make it simple.” His voice becomes a growl. “Forget the complications.”

“I have a daughter,” I repeat into the darkened void.

“And where is she now?”

My heart squeezes. “At boarding school.” Far from where I want her to be—under my roof, in my arms. I’d had no choice in her leaving at the start of the first semester a month ago.

Cole had made plans to send Tobias to the illustrious school in Chicago a year prior. What I didn’t anticipate was my crippling eruption of grief when Stella begged to go with him.

“She doesn’t live with me,” I whisper.

I’d tried to talk her out of leaving for months. I’d pleaded, bribed, and coerced to the best of my abilities. But nothing I did persuaded her to change her mind, and I couldn’t bring myself to make the decision for her. I’d already stripped enough from her life.

I also refused to take my concerns to Cole.

He granted my wish the day my husband was buried. He went against his usually unbreakable beliefs on retaliation and let those who pulled the trigger on Benji walk away scot-free.

I had no right to ask for more favors.

“That’s why you can travel to Denver whenever you like?” Matthew asks.

I nod. My daughter’s absence is why I’m here. For more reasons than one.

Within days of her leaving, I’d realized the innumerable sporting and craft distractions I’d scheduled to fill her time since her father’s death were actually a benefit I’d also grown reliant upon.

I’d needed those long drives to baseball and the homework sessions to keepmeoccupied. To divertmythoughts. Because with her gone, my idle mind became a vicious mistress who demanded action.

“I’m here for a reason.” I open my eyes, my inhale hitching at the deep brown that stares back at me. “I can’t afford to be distracted.”

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