“Does that scare you?”
“No.”
“That’s because you do know who I am. We are not strangers, Cecelia. Far from it.”
She doesn’t argue that. “Even so, you should know by now. I don’t do well with orders.”
“On this, I don’t give a fuck. Punish me, but never that way. Don’t run from my protection. I’ll make you promise me that one day and save it for a different fight that will be happening sooner rather than later. I can’t risk…，” I resist the urge to rip her from the ground, shake some sense into her and demand she make the promise now, but I know better. It’s my selfish need, my own emotions that demand it. Aside from that, she’ll never be tamed. It’s part of my attraction to her, even if it scares the hell out of me.
A beat of silence passes. “How did you find me?
“Sean. He knew where you were the whole time. After I exhausted every resource, I finally went to him to ask for help. He was expecting me.”
I see it the second she puts it together.
“There’s a tracking device on the Camaro.”
“He installed it before he gifted it to you. He had you followed and put two permanent birds on you the minute you landed here. He knew I was losing my shit, but he wanted to make sure I got my wake-up call. I sniffed out his bullshit when I asked him for help, and the smug bastard finally put me out of my misery when I told him of my plan.”
“Which was?”
“You.”
She shivers in her hoodie.
“Let’s go inside and talk. Your lips are turning blue.”
“I’m fine.” She harrumphs, wiping the loose dirt from her gloves. “You bastards, even when I did your bidding and kept your secrets, you never once believed I could take care of myself.”
“He was sincere about the gift, Cecelia. Dom would have wanted you to have it, but no matter how this works out between us, we’re always going to protect you. Always. That’s not debatable.”
“Yeah? Well, who’s going to protect me from you?”
Right hook.
I swallow. “You don’t need it. I’m at your mercy.”
“Until when?”
Still crouched beside her, I place a thumb under her chin and turn her head my way. “I’m in this, Cecelia. I would give anything to go back, to change the things I did. To be the man you needed me to be, but it’s never been as simple as giving in to how I feel about you. And it’s not any easier now. After what went down, after all you went through, I had to allow you the chance at a normal life, to escape this one.” Her frown is deep-set when I lift her chin. “And after years away, you did start a different life. You stayed away. Purposely, even with the excuse of your father’s death to come back, you didn’t return to Triple Falls. You went to college, graduated, and were engaged to be married to another man. You had a ring on your finger. When you came back, you were selling the company. You were ridding yourself of all ties, from Triple Falls, and from me. I had to respect your decision. You were thriving. At least that’s what I thought, at first.”
“And after?”
“I explained this to you. It was a culmination of reasons, one in particular, and I’ll tell you everything, but,” I shake my head, “I need time for that. Not a lot, but I swear I’ll tell you.”
“You don’t think I can handle it?”
“I think you can handle anything,” I say honestly. “It’s just too much to sort through right now. You haven’t slept. I doubt you’ve eaten.”