Page 146 of Stolen Hearts

“I should have guessed. My whole life, I never felt like they were a real mother and father to me,” he says quietly. “I never felt a drop of love, not a single act of selflessness. Nothing.” He laughs coldly. “Seems like I was right. I wasn’t their kid at all. I was just their meal ticket.”

“Castle…”

“Neve and Eilish…” his head slowly shakes side to side as he exhales and looks out over the ocean. “I’ve been thinking of them as my little sisters for ten years.”

A sad smile twists his lips, and he laughs quietly to himself.

“And go figure, they damn well were this whole fucking time.” He exhales slowly, bringing a hand up and shoving his fingers through his hair. “I mean holyfuck…” His eyes drop to the letter and the checks again. “Declan was such a cold prick to me, when Cillian forced him to take me on as bodyguard for the girls. I always figured it was because I was a physical reminder, living in his damn house, that Cillian was at the top of the food chain instead of him. But now…” He exhales again. “Fuck. I wonder if he knew who I was.”

When his eyes, so full of sadness and confusion and pain, find mine, I cup his face as I shake mine slowly.

“I don’t know,” I whisper.

He laughs bitterly. “I don’t know which is worse, the man who pretended to be my father and fucking sucked at it, or the man who threw me away and then treated me like the fucking help when I was forced back on him.” His eyes narrow. “And that psychoSvetlana? With everything that she did?” His face twists in rage and pain. “That’smy fucking blood?Thatis what I’ve got flowing in my goddamn veins?!”

“We’re not our parents.” I grab his face, forcing his eyes to meet mine. “We’renot. Trust me on this. You are who you are, not who they were. My father sold me to a monster in exchange for a fuckingdrug smuggling route. And that isnotwho I am,” I hiss fiercely. “That’sneverwho I’d be. Believe me, you’re not Declan, or Svetlana. You’reyou.”

He smiles wryly at me before his eyes slip past me to the ocean.

“I felt so lost,” he growls quietly. “I mean I had the Rangers, and mission after mission as a reason to get out of bed in the morning. And then I had the most important mission: the one where I was supposed to guard those two little girls. But they grew up, and now each of them has found a new protector to take over that job. I just felt…so lost.”

He turns to level his eyes at me.

“And then I found you.”

I press my forehead to his, and then I start to cry. For the little boy who was thrown away. For the young man avenging the death of an innocent little girl, and being forced to go to war to pay for his sins. For the man who wanted to die and kept looking for death, only for it to take his brothers instead.

For the man who then found his way to me, and wrapped his hands around my heart.

“What can I do?” I whisper.

“You can let me love you.”

The happiest sob in the world wrenches from my throat as I wrap my arms tight around him and start to laugh through my tears as my mouth sears to his.

“I can do that.”

36

CASTLE

“Did you know?”

My words finally break the long silence that’s settled over the phone. I’ve just told Cillian everything that Callie’s PI found out about me, and who my real parents were. I can hear him exhale slowly.

“Cillian…”

“No,” he finally growls quietly.

My jaw grinds. “I swear to fucking God—”

“Did I know my brother was a philandering piece of shit who cheated on Erin with anything that had a pulse? Yeah,” he hisses. “ThatI knew. And yes, there were times I wondered if one day some kid from one of those affairs would come wandering back looking for—”

“Looking for what?! The keys to the fucking kingdom?” I snap coldly. “Because Inever wanted them, Cillian! And I didn’t come ‘wandering fucking back’, you goddamnbrought meinto this family!”

“Breathe, Castle,” he murmurs darkly. “If you’re wondering if I placed you in that house with Neve and Eilish to play fucking mind games with Declan, the answer is unequivocallyno. I had no idea whose son you were. I just knew you were a man not so different than me. I knew you were loyal, and honorable. And yeah, I knew about Kelly, and what happened there. But all that did was let me know without question that you were the perfect person to protect Neve and Eilish. Not because I knew theywereyou sisters—”

“But because you knew I’d see Kelly in them,” I say quietly. “Because you knew that pain would drive me toalwaysput myself between them and danger.”

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