Page 94 of Tamed

“Wait up,” I said coolly. “He didn’t ‘take’ me. I pretty much took him. I also don’t appreciate you acting as though I had no agency in this. I’m not a child, Dad. I knew what I was getting into with him. I know about fucking power imbalances. And I can’t believe I’m having this goddamn conversation with yet another man, but for fuck’s sake. I might be young, but I’m not naive. I’m an intelligent woman who can make her own choices and you have to start letting me make them. There’ll be mistakes, sure, but I can learn from them. That’s what being an adult is all about.”

Dad glowered. “He should have known better.”

“Jesus, didn’t you hear a word I said? If you’re going to blame anyone, blame me, for God’s sake.” I folded my arms. “Anyway, it’s moot point now. He told me he’d never let me go, but he did.”

A muscle jumped in Dad’s jaw. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. He went on and on about how he’d never let me go, because he’s committed to this idea that he’s the world’s most terrible person. So, I told him that if he wasn’t going to give me his entire fucking soul then I’d walk out of there and he’d let me go. And since he didn’t want to give me his soul, he let me go.”

Dad’s dark brows drew down, his blue gaze impenetrable. “Jesus, Isabel. You seriously thought he might?”

It was obvious that Dad didn’t even consider it a possibility, which didn’t help matters. But I wasn’t going to let his opinion hurt me, not anymore.

“I’m not that unlovable, Dad. I thought it was a reasonable request.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“Not that it makes any difference. Caleb’s convinced he’s a terrible person and is trying to protect me from himself.” I gave Dad a look. “A fact which you did not in any way try to disabuse him of.”

That muscle jumped in Dad’s jaw yet again and he looked as if he might say something. Then, clearly thinking better of it, he turned away, back to the windows. “You shouldn’t have anything to do with him.”

“Why? Because he killed the man who would have killed him? Yes, I know all about that. He told me. But that doesn’t mean he’s beyond redemption. He’s also the most fiercely loyal man I know and the most protective, and he wants to do good by the people who are important to him. Not to mention that he’s had a shitty life, and no one has really taken care of him, not one single person.”

“Is that why you love him? Because you want to take care of him?”

“No.” My throat closed abruptly. “I love him because he makes me happy.”

Dad stood silhouetted against the windows, looking out. A tall, broad figure, enigmatic for most of my life. But not cold, I’d gotten that wrong. He’d been furious years ago, and I had the impression that he was furious still. That fury was banked now, but it was still hot, still glowing.

“You deserve to be happy,” he said abruptly into the silence. “Your mother would have wanted that for you and…so do I.” He turned to look at me once more, then without a word, he started for the door.

I stared at him in surprise. “Where are you going?”

But he didn’t answer. He just walked out.

28

Caleb

I’d let her go. I’d let her walk away. And that was for the best, I had to keep telling myself that. I couldn’t do to her what Ten had done to her. I couldn’t keep her in that cage after all.

Perhaps that meant there was some hope for me, but I didn’t think there was. I was still who I was deep down, the son of a murderer. A murderer himself.

She deserved better than that, she always had.

After she’d gone, I went into my private study in Arcadia, only realizing my mistake as I shut the door and turned around. Because then the memories of how I’d taken Isabel here began to replay themselves in my head. Her on her knees, her over my lap, her on the floor, tears streaming down her face.

Her in my arms, leaning back against my shoulder, makeup melted, the look of satisfaction on her face making my chest feel tight.

“I’m yours,” she’d told me that night. “And you’re mine.”

But I wasn’t hers, that was the problem. I could never be hers. She might think it was all self-protective bullshit, but it wasn’t. It was about protecting her. It hadalwaysbeen about protecting her.

I strode over to the liquor cabinet and poured myself a healthy tumbler of scotch, I didn’t notice what kind. I knocked it back and then poured myself another. I had things to do, work to manage, and I needed to tell Ten that his daughter was safe, both from me and the Hamiltons. Yet I found myself sitting in the armchair instead and staring at the empty fireplace in front of me.

There was no fire in it now, the grate blackened from the years and as dead and empty as my soul. That too had been blackened, by the years as crime lord and dead from all the things I’d done to survive. A soul that had to stay dead, no matter how it wanted to burn for one red-haired, green-eyed girl.

A girl with more passion and heat than any fire. A woman who’d wanted to take a chance on me and who’d had me close that door in her face.

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