Page 107 of Sweet Sin

No, no, no!

But the words don’t come.

My body doesn’t obey my brain.

Miles still holds my arm, and I walk with him, my legs obeying him and not me.

Falcon! Daddy!

Anyone!

Where’s the bodyguard my father hired? At Falcon’s house? Why not here? Why isn’t anyone watching me here?

We move toward the stairwell. Miles hates elevators. I remember that about him. I don’t know why. I don’t care why. Maybe he just knows people are less likely to see him in the stairwell. Or maybe he was stuck in an elevator as a child.

Don’t know.

Don’t care.

He opens the door to the stairwell. Which floor are we on again? Trauma. Fourth floor. Right.

Four flights of stairs until we get to the lobby.

Is Miles armed?

This is a small-town hospital. No metal detectors.

This is a place where people trust each other.

But I trust no one.

Not even my parents.

Not my brother who left the country and hasn’t been in touch with me since.

Not even Gert, my bestie. She’s close, but I’ve never completely let down my guard with her.

But Falcon.

I let it down with Falcon.

And I found a love so profound I never imagined it could exist.

Falcon, where are you?

And I still can’t stop myself from following Miles.

Something’s holding me. Some mixture of fear and loyalty and family and self.

And I’m frozen. Frozen inside.

Frozen and following a man I abhor away from the man who is my salvation.

31

FALCON

Eight years earlier…

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