Page 127 of Savage Surrender

He puts his glasses back on and takes his time answering.

“I knew you would choose your scent match even when the choice hurt you.”

Emmett talks about Gregory as though what we have is a stubborn habit he once tried to cure.

He leans forward, his hands loosely joined. “Kate, look at her. Whatever you believe about my decision, would you take it back? She’s beautiful. Stronger than anyone expected, more adaptive, more intelligent⁠—”

“She was a young girl, and you let her believe there was something wrong with her. You lied. She was in the woods for five fucking years, Emmett. She could’ve been eaten by a goddamn bear. And now she hates me. Thanks to me, but mostly thanks to you.”

“I protected her until she was old enough to protect herself. The suppression was temporary. It didn’t harm her, and her survival proves the intervention achieved what it was designed to achieve.”

“Do you hear what you’re saying? My daughter is strong, but what would have happened if she hadn’t survived? You jot down some notes and move on?”

I stand so quickly that my knee strikes the desk. Water jumps over the rim of my glass and darkens the wood.

“Release Gregory and stay out of my daughter’s life, or I’ll tell everyone what you did. Maybe no one gives a fuck in Emerald Hills or Westmont, but you must have enemies somewhere.” I slam my hand against the desk. “Give me my family back, Em, or you will regret it.”

Emmett moves the glass away from my hand. “Sit down, Kitty.”

I want to stick the letter opener sitting on the desk through his eye. Kitty. A name I haven’t heard in a long time, and my body shudders.

“Men are hunting her while the man who kissed every boo-boo better sits in a cell.”

He doesn’t ask me what I mean. “If men are hunting her, it’s all the more reason she should be here, under secure care.”

“Under secure care in your laboratory, you mean.”

“With you beside her, if that is what she needs. I would never keep you from her.”

“You already have.”

He stands and moves to the small couch by the window, gesturing for me to sit with him. The bandage sticks out of the top of his collar. The news made the injury sound way more significant than the bandage would suggest.

I sit next to him, and he exhales.

“I tell myself you believed you were helping. I tell myself you loved us. And then I think of Bianca...”

Emmett’s attention sharpens.

“I imagine a world where you didn’t do it and she doesn’t exist. I hate that you did it, but I wouldn’t take it back.”

His hand closes over mine, and relief shows on his face so openly that I feel ill.

“You don’t have to.”

“Help me make sense of it,” I whisper.

His thumb passes over my knuckles. “You were in pain. Gregory was in pain. I was in a position to help, and I knew the result could be exceptional. I didn’t act against you, Kate. I acted for the family we had already built.”

“The family that put you out? Were you angry? Is that why you did it?”

His thumb stops.

“You were pregnant and overwhelmed. Gregory couldn’t bear to see me touch you once you were carrying his child, and you couldn’t bear to disappoint him. I understood it.”

“We tried to end it without being cruel,” I say. “Greg still thought of you as a close friend.”

Emmett looks down at our hands. “That’s all water under the bridge. We’ve talked about it. We’re fine.”