Page 73 of At the Edge of Surrender

That menacing, vicious man I’d thought I’d recognized that first night in full force.

I’d thought somehow in it he was a moment’s comfort.

But no.

He’d come to completely obliterate my heart.

EIGHTEEN

KANE

My guts werea tangle of knots as I sat at the dining table at Otto and Raven’s house. It was situated near the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the forest and the south end of the lake low in the distance since their place was set high on the mountain.

The view was nothing but stunning.

Guessed that’s what I was.

Stunned.

Fucking shocked at what I’d felt when I’d met that little girl.

Every molecule in my being altered at first sight.

The pulsing of love and devotion that had completely taken me over. A crash of complete surrender when she’d smiled up at me with eyes the exact same color as mine.

The same color as my mother’s.

Most shocking was the action I’d taken when I’d realized there was no chance I was going to be able to walk out of her life. I squeezed my left hand into a fist, the tattoo on the back of my hand burning anew. The petals dripping off the wilted rose almost feeling like they were coming back to life.

You take care of who you love most.

Didn’t quite get the fullness of that statement until I’d seen my little girl’s precious face.

Then there was the shock at what I’d felt when I’d seen the picture of Emmalee and recognition had finally taken me over.

That was an entirely different story.

Hell, I likely would have recognized her from the beginning if it hadn’t been for the fact that she’d called herself Lee.

So, now I sat with a tumbler of scotch while I stared blankly out into Otto and Raven’s living room at the mayhem that normally would have had me cackling and jumping right in.

Our Sunday family gathering was typically my favorite day of the week, but right then, I wasn’t entirely sure how to take part in the festivities.

Taylor Swift blared from the speakers as Raven, Charleigh, and Nolan danced around in the open area on the other side of the couch.

Laughter booming in the house.

“Watch this one, Auntie!” My nephew Nolan shouted it as he dropped to the ground and spun on his butt. “You think you can top it? Because I bet my Daddy-O is gonna give it a perfect ten!”

Nah, the kid wasn’t my actual nephew. River and Charleigh’s son unrelated by blood.

But that’s what he was to me.

Every single one of these people within these walls were.

That same devotion I’d felt earlier forever clanging in my heart whenever I was around them.

But it had never quite been what I was feeling today.

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