Page 94 of The Prodigal

Her eyes widen in shock.

Yeah, you might hate me, love, but you’ll always be mine.

Without warning, I pull her to her feet and sling her over my shoulder like a ragdoll as she screams, banging her fists against my back. “Put me down!”

“What have I told you, Eden?” I question, making my way across the beach. “Violence makes my dick hard.”

“I hate you!” she screams into the open air.

“Good,” I bark. “I hope you hate everyone who’s like me. It’ll keep you safe.”

Her fists immediately stop pounding, and she goes limp.

“I don’t want to hate you,” she cries angrily. “Tell me why I don’t want to hate you.”

A sick sense of relief washes over me for a split second before reality kicks in.

No matter how Eden feels, I can never give her the happily ever after she deserves.

“You don’t hate me,” I explain casually, “because you have shitty taste in men.”

A heartbroken sob rocks her body against mine. “You know that’s not true.”

I do, but unfortunately, it doesn’t change anything.

We make it to the car, and I lower her to the ground on shaky legs. “I need you to look at me.”

Of course, she doesn’t.

Grabbing her chin, I force her head up. “You promised me that if I told you about Albrecht, you wouldn’t let anything you learned change you.”

She’s survived Albrecht’s abandonment, Gerald’s threats, and her mother’s attempted murder. There’s nothing she can’t get over—especially me.

My girl doesn’t need a hero—she is one.

“Keep your promise, Eden. Don’t let me or Albrecht change the amazing woman you are. Fight for your future—fight foryou.”

She pulls in a shuddering breath that seems to stop my heart, but it doesn’t.

Her words do.

“I wanted to fight foryou.”

It all ends here.

Everything I’d been planning for the last year ends here.

I thought I was ready, but that’s not the case.

“One room or two?” the middle-aged clerk asks.

I look back at the parking lot and see Eden’s head bowed, her face resting in her hands as she sits motionless in the passenger seat.

I sigh. “Two.”

The last thing Eden needs is to sleep in the same room with the man who betrayed her. I don’t deserve to see her or find peace in her company. I deserve to be alone in a closet, facing my poor decisions.

“Here you go.” The guy hands me two keys.

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