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“All of my life, I hoped that one day my father might bring me home a little sister. Someone to take care of and protect and cherish.”
Holy. Shit.
How had he known exactly what to say to her?
“Instead, he kept breeding these rough, troublemaking, ungrateful boys. And then he left me to take care of them. Can you imagine how hard that’s been? Imagine if they’d all had a little sister to look after?”
“I’m guessing she might have been smothered to death,” Opal said dryly.
“Most likely,” Alec said. “She’d also have been loved. And now, it seems, I’ve been given that thing I always wanted. I’m just hoping it’s not too late to show her how much the Malones will cherish a little sister.”
Ryleigh let out a sob and threw her arms around Alec.
“For all his fucking faults, at least our old man did this for us,” Tanner muttered. “At least he told her about us, so she knew to come to us.”
She sucked in a breath. “Thomas sold her to Stefan.”
Tanner stiffened. “What the fuck?”
She knew Ryleigh and Alec couldn’t hear them, but Linc had turned their way, his face filled with horror.
“I never wanted to tell her. But I was there when they . . . when they made the negotiations. It was sickening. She has no idea that her father basically gave her to Stefan to wipe his debts. I like to think that maybe there was a part of him trying to look out for her. That he’d known that when he died all the people he owed money to would come looking for their payment. I don’t know, though.”
“It’s entirely likely that prick just wanted the money he got for selling her,” Tanner told her bitterly. “Fucking asshole.”
“It was practically a point of pride that she was a virgin. Thankfully, in Stefan’s twisted mind that was something to be celebrated. He decided to wait until their wedding night. I think he got a kick out of the fact that she thought he was a good guy. That he loved her. I just couldn’t tell her about what her dad did.”
“It’s all right, baby,” Tanner soothed. “The old man is gone now. There’s no point in her knowing.”
“When she found out about Stefan . . . I knew that I had to get her away from him. Before he hurt her.”
He hated the dead tone of her voice. He was determined to bring back life into her voice. All he wanted was her happiness and safety.
Like hell would he ever let her go back to Stefan and put herself at risk again.
Tanner couldn’t believe she thought that was an actual possibility. Obviously, she still didn’t know him at all.
“Right, let’s get moving,” Alec said. “I’ll feel better once you’re all under lock and key at the Ranch. We can keep you safe there. Unlike here.”
“I’ve been keeping them safe,” Linc said between clenched teeth. He was still holding onto Kye as he stood. “Why would Ryleigh want to go with you when she hardly knows you?”
“Because we’re her brothers,” Alec said. “And Malones look after their own.”
“No one fucks with the Malones,” Tanner added.
Linc held his hand over the baby’s ears. “Don’t swear in front of the baby.”
The funny thing was that Alec had said it at the same time.
Both men glared at each other.
Tanner glanced down at Ryleigh, who was starting to look increasingly worried as she gazed from one to the other.
“I mean, maybe we could spend time at both,” Ryleigh offered.
Both men frowned.
“They’re being jerks,” Lilac whispered to Tanner.
