Page 123 of Insatiable

My gaze shoots towards him as I stop pacing. “I didn’t deserve to know? Why? Because Iapparentlycheated?”

“Yes! He didn’t understand certain emotions until he met you,” he yells, getting to his feet so fast his chair falls over. “You certainly showed him how to understand the negative ones. So much so that he was fully prepared toend his lifebecause of it.”

“I’m sorry your son did that, I really am, but if he ever sat down and let me explain, he’d know that the ten-second video he was sent was heavily edited from three hours of drugging and non-consensual activity.”

My heart stops at finally getting the words out. Tears fall down my cheeks, and I wipe them away as my voice falters. “Help me, before he ends up dead, and we both lose him.”

I push the notebook towards him as he studies me, silent – thinking.

“I know you believe Kade can do better than me, and that’s fine. But I haveneverstopped loving him. Not once. But this…” I tap the notebook, our gazes still locked. “This is more important. You’re the only one I know who can help him. I’ll try to find out more for you, but please don’t do anything until I figure out who his boss is.”

“You expect me to sit here and do nothing?”

My lip trembles. “Please. I’ll be in contact.”

“Aria and I have a private line you could use; I’ll tell her to give you the number.”

“Thank you.”

And with that, I wipe my face with my sleeve and pull my bag up my shoulder.

Still watching me, Kade’s father places his large palm over the notebook. “It broke him. What he thought he saw happening… broke him.”

Before I leave, I reply, “We’re all broken in some way, Tobias. But we can also be fixed.”

My hand lands on the doorknob. A deep voice stops me.

“You didn’t fall down the studio stairs, did you?”

For a split second, I feel my heart shatter. My composure slips, and I try not to burst into tears and pull him in for a cuddle, to bury my head in his powerful chest. Lu always said her dad’s hugs were the best.

I shake my head. “No.”

“Did you abort the baby?”

My eyes close. “No.”

“Does my son know the truth?”

I grit my teeth, clenching my jaw painfully as I turn to him. “It would have made things worse. I’ll tell him when I’m ready to. This is more important.”

“You were attacked.”

I nod.

“Who?”

“Please.” I shiver. “We need to focus on Kade first. What’s done is done.”

Tobias gets to his feet, walking to stand in front of me. I don’t flinch as he rests his hand on my shoulder.

“She was my granddaughter. No one takes from me and gets away with it. Once I deal with Kade, I’m going to hunt down whoever is responsible. I promise you, little one.”

I smile weakly. “You don’t need to hunt for him – he lives right under my roof.”

31

STACEY

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