They had seven kids, and gave up one?

They only gave up Izzy.

My stomach knots with these news. It doesn’t even make any sense! Why would a family with seven kids only give up the last one? Why would they abandon Izzy, and why hadn’t I seen this sooner?

She is used to love and then loss.

I fight back the innate anger that wants to strike a fist through my computer screen. None of this makes any sense, and yet all I can think about is her instant thought to get up and leave me in bed after sex. Typically, when I’m with a woman I couldn’t give a damn about, I’m the first to leave the bed and the first to show them the elevator.

Last night, dare I say it, I was actually looking forward to holding her.

She couldn’t have been colder to the idea if she tried.

“What are you looking at?”

I jump back in my seat, closing out the popup box of information while Izzy comes out wearing nothing but a towel around her perfect body. I picture ripping that towel off and bending her over my footboard, but I digress past that idea and force that temptation out of my mind at once.

“Sorry, I was just playing with the code, and—”

“You were looking at my information, weren’t you?”

I don’t have the heart, or the energy left, to lie to her, “Yeah, I was, but I’m not anymore. I just want to know how to handle you, Kitten. That’s all.”

“What is there to handle with me, Dimitri?”

My name against her sharp tone is almost enough to make my skin crawl, “Well, what you said last night. I thought we were having a great time, and it was emotional and physically fulfilling, and you had this blank stare in your eyes like it was nothing.”

She shrugs in my cotton towel, “It was a distraction, that’s all.”

I nearly wince at her words, “What did you just say?”

“It was nothing more than a distraction. I was upset, you wanted to change my train of thought, and it worked.”

I stand out of my chair so fast that it hits the ground. Coming to face her, she doesn’t budge, instead staring up at me with wide, tired, and expectant eyes. Only now do I hear my voice in my head, the words clear as day.

“Anything to keep you from crying again, Kitten.”

She nods as I repeat the same words that I had muttered last night in a frenzy of sexual fire.

“Yeah, it’s okay. I get it. It was nothing for you; nothing more than a distraction for me. I’m thankful for it, Dimitri, I really am. There are no hard feelings or anything, I promise.”

“Don’t say that,” I bite, “I wasn’t fucking you in a distraction, Izzy. I wanted you. In fact, I thought about fucking you before you were even upset—since the moment I laid eyes on you.”

She doesn’t even seem to be taking in my words right now. Her face is pale, her body is ridged and unsettled, and she wavers where she stands. I instantly take her into my arms, her weight light while I pick her off the floor, the towel falling in a puddle around her ankles until she’s fully laid over my forearms.

“What are you doing?” she grumbles, naked and antsy in my arms.

I put her back in bed and throw the covers over her body at once, “You’re going to rest, and I’m going to have some food either delivered or call my chef to make us something good for brunch.”

Her brows pinch in angst, “I’m fine, Dimitri.”

“No, you’re not. You look exhausted mentally. I want you to lay in bed until it’s time to eat. You need to rest, and get better soon, so we can take Alek down once and for all. Until then, I need you to tell me what happened to make you this way.”

She gives me an unsteady look, “And what way would that be?”

Glancing at the screen, I recall what it said about her parents and the confusing article that came up when I searched for her out of general curiosity. It seems touchy for sure, but I have to admit that it’s something that has my mind engulfed in thought.

“You said you lived in a group home,” I remark. “But I see your parents are listed online, so obviously if you were adopted, their names wouldn’t show up.”