Page 55 of Nothing Without You
Visceral shock that bloomed out of my skull. “You’re Blackwell Rowlen’s son?”
“In the flesh.”
No thoughts came to mind when I wrapped my arms around him.
Jake Rowlen was the son of my dad’s best friend.
There were times—increasingly now—where memories of my parents started fading. Their laughter was no longer loud in my mind and the sound of their voices were distant.
It was still nice to see an old,familiarface again. It was a reminder that my parents existed at one point.
He pulled back, keeping me at arm’s length. “You’re the splitting image of your mother.”
My cheeks warmed. “Thank you.”
A hand brandished over my abdomen.
Christian pulled me against his chest.
“Dinner—” he glowered “—is ready.”
I would have found it funny that he was still holding Yunus with one arm and pulling me in with the other if his scowl wasn’t reminding me of our almost kiss just a few minutes ago.
A blush fell across my cheeks.
Jake looked back and forth between us with a cocky grin. “Seems like there’s a lot to catch up on.”
TWENTY
CHRISTIAN
A tablefull of her favourite food and Adelaide kept her eyes glued to fucking Rowlen. She watched him the way I wished she watched me. With googly eyes and shit. Since when the fuck did, they even know each other?
Being a good man didn’t stop me from wanting to punch his pretty little face to the ground. He had his arms aroundmywoman.
“What made you start investigating Starlight, Jake?”
She couldn’t say my name even when we fucking dated. But one meeting—after who knows how long it’s fucking been—and she said his name.Jake.
“Chill out, dude.” Osama muttered under his breath. “If you want to win Adelaide back, you gotta play the nice guy.”
The fuck? I didn’t want to win her back.
Did I?
“Shut the fuck up and eat your damn food,” I chugged a glass of water.
Osama snickered. “Someone’smoody.”
Rowlen knew about my plan earlier than Hasan. He knew about the shares and why I needed those files. He knew using Adelaide was the final straw of evidence both of us needed to put an end to this.
There was nothing wrong with him and Adelaide being friends,nothingat all. But openly blinking and making her fucking blush? I wanted to pull his eyeballs out and stuff it so fucking deep down his throat that he’d feel it for the rest of his fucking life.
“I’ve reopened a closed case. That’s when I learned about your scandal and your new…nuptials.” The bastard didn’t give a fuck when I narrowed my eyes.
Fucking dick.
“Is there any information you’re willing to share?” Hasan blew on a small piece of naan and chicken malai before feeding it to Yunus, the boy nibbled away while watching everyone with wide eyes. Rowlen wiggled his fingers at him, but Yunus turned away.
