Page 3 of His Darkest Desire

“I don’t play favorites.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to admit it to Maddy. It’s our secret, mum.”

“Three more gray hairs, Kinsley. You just gave me three more.”

“And you look gorgeous with those grays.”

Kinsley could practically hear her mother’s eyes roll.

“You know we’re all here for you if you need us, right?” Emily said.

Kinsley tightened her hold on her phone and closed her eyes. “I know, mum. I love you.”

She ended the call after saying goodbye and lowered the phone, staring at the home screen. Kinsley had always been close to her family. Her mother, despite having grown up in a house that she and Cece described as stuffy and proper, had always tried to be open and honest with her daughters. Kinsley and Madison could go to her for anything, no matter how uncertain or uncomfortable, knowing they wouldn’t be judged. Their father, Aiden, had always been a hands-on dad, and was just as supportive as their mum.

Aunt Cece had been wonderful too. She’d welcomed Kinsley into her home, and her warmth and kindness—including an offer to give that knobhead a proper thrashing—had made the process of Kinsley establishing her life in the United Kingdom far smoother than it should’ve been.

But in this…Kinsley needed to find her own way. She needed to find her own peace.

Before she even realized what she was doing, she tapped on one of her social media apps. There were multiple notifications awaiting her. Smiling, she browsed the comments on her videos and pictures, replying to several and even laughing out loud at a few.

Kinsley loved that her adventures in the wilderness brought so much joy and entertainment to others. She loved sharing the wonderment she experienced out in nature with her audience. Even her scrapbooking and journaling videos provided inspiration and escape to people, if only for a short while. Kinsley had been scrapbooking since she was a child, and the hobby had evolved over the years into not just a fun activity, but a way to decompress.

Switching to her camera, she raised the phone and grinned before taking a selfie.

Almost there! I can’t wait to take you all on this new adventure, she added to the photo’s caption before posting it to her profile.

She swiped through her feed, liking her mutuals’ pictures and laughing at a video of Madison’s husky howling like a banshee with a sore throat. They’d always joked that the dog was broken. That was followed by a picture from one of her friends showing off new rims on his car, after which was an inspirational quote, and then a sponsored ad for a fancy tent.

Yeah, they’re totally not listening to every word, right?

She scrolled to the next post. Her heart clenched, and her smile fell. It was a photo with a very familiar face. A painfully familiar face.

Liam. Kinsley’s ex-husband.

But he wasn’t alone in the picture. His wife was beside him, smiling brightly and holding their baby boy.

Kinsley’s chest flooded with raw, jagged emotions, making it impossible to breathe.

How many times over the last couple years had she told herself to remove Liam from her socials? How many times had she happened across a picture of him and his new wife, his new life, and felt that deep, potent sting? How many times had she poised her finger over the unfriend button only to stop herself?

She’d always told herself that she would just…get over it one day. When Kinsley first moved to the United States at eight years old, Liam had been her first friend. They’d been inseparable. At sixteen, they’d started dating, and they’d married not long after high school. Unfriending him after what was on the surface an amicable divorce had always felt wrong. Petty. They were still friends who cared for one another.

But seeing him now with his newborn baby, with this sweet, adorable little life he’d made with someone else…

It was too much.

Kinsley closed the app and clutched her phone to her chest. She took a deep breath and slowly, shakily, released it as she forced her teary eyes up to the stormy sky.

“Everything may seem dark and scary,” she whispered, “and you may not always be able to see the sun, but it is there.”

CHAPTER TWO

Frowning, Kinsley leaned forward and squinted at what little of the winding road she could see through the windshield. The wipers could barely keep up with the downpour, and the rain drumming atop the car nearly drowned out the music playing on the stereo.

She huffed. “So much for getting there before dark.”

The main road had been blocked by a fallen tree, resulting in a detour that had added an hour to her drive. According to the car’s navigation system, it’d still be another ten minutes before she reached her destination.

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