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It was always going to be her, and my friendship with him was always going to be the price I paid.
“I’ll give you that one.” I flex my jaw. “But that’s your only shot. You got yours. Now I’m walking up the stairs. Don’t bother trying to stop me.”
“Why now, asshole? You knock her up and leave her alone, and now all of a sudden, you want back in?” he yells, and everyone else ceases to exist.
It’s just me and him in the room.
All those years of friendship, and he thinks I’d do that to her.
“How about you ask your father,” I tell him in a tone so calm... so quiet... so in control when everything is spiraling out around me, that it only magnifies the rage.
“What?” Amelia interrupts from the other side of the room where she made no attempt to stop the fight.
“Ask Sam why,” I tell her as I look around the chaos and see the most powerful man in Philadelphia standing in the doorway. “I did what I was told I had to do to keep her safe.”
My words are directed to Amelia, but my eyes are locked on Sam.
“You said I’d get her hurt. Could get her killed. You told me I’d be the reason.” I take a step forward, and no one else moves. “I broke her fucking heart so she’d be okay. Is she okay now, Sam?”
“What’s he talking about, Sam?” Amelia asks, but Sam doesn’t answer.
“Daddy...” comes a quiet voice from the top of the grand staircase, and the vice that’s been squeezing my heart, making itimpossible to breathe since Cooper’s call, finally loosens the first little bit.
My girl is standing there, wrapped in a bright red blanket. A giant bruise covers one side of her beautiful face, but she’s okay.
She’s breathing. And she’s right here. “Is it true?”
“Go back to bed, Caitlin.” They’re the first words Sam’s spoken, and every person in the room seems to be holding their breath from the fallout.
Everyone but me.
CAITLIN
My parents didn’t raise me to ask to be loved.
Not by them. Not by anyone.
Love needs to be given freely.
No exceptions.
—Caitlin’s Secret Thoughts
Ibroke her fucking heart so she’d be okay. Is she okay now, Sam?
I can’t get Callen’s words out of my head in the suddenly deafeningly quiet house as I walk down the stairs, careful not to trip on my unsteady legs. My bruised body aches from the near miss of the accident earlier.
A shiver rolls down my skin, just thinking about it.
One minute, we were talking, and the next, Bellamy was screaming as we both dove.
It all happened fast—so fast, it’s a blur in my mind.
The smell of rubber as the tires burned the asphalt before the car peeled away.
The way Kenzie and Wren ran out of the office, shouting instructions.
Everly’s hysterical voice as she called nine-one-one.
