Page 59 of Stolen Rebel

I glare at Darragh. “Fuck off. Today isn’t the day.”

“Like every other day, then.” He flashes a grin, all perfect teeth and dimples. “What’s she done now?”

“Nothing,” I mutter. “I’m going out. Got some business to attend to.” I fling open the coat cupboard and snatch my jacket. Several other coats fall on the floor. I shove them with my foot and jam the door closed.

Rebel’s footsteps sound on the stairs. I look up at her, watching the way she moves, like she’s trying not to draw attention to herself. She’s so light on her feet that even the fourth stair, the one that always creaks, stays silent beneath her boots.

She’s used to making herself small. And now I have a name to blame, if not a face or a location. Yet. It’s only a matter of time. She thinks this fucker is scarier than me, that he has the power to take down a Mahoney. I’m about to prove her wrong.

Maybe then she’ll drop this fucking act and tell me why she left me all those years ago.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” I place my palm at the base of her spine and ease her toward the front door. She doesn’t flinch or speed up to escape my touch. As stupid as it is, I take a crumb of comfort in that. I can’t help feeling that the wall she built to protect whoever stole her from me is crumbling. Even if it doesn’t, I’ll take a fucking sledgehammer to it. I’m done waiting for shit to happen. I’m the man who makes shit happen.

I open the passenger door for her, wait until she’s situated, then close it and march around to the driver’s side. I keep my gaze on her through the windscreen. If she bites that lip much more, she’ll need stitches to patch her up. If I had to guess, she expected me to keep pushing and pushing until she spilled the Brian beans all over the bathroom floor. That I haven’t has her off-balance, wondering what unhinged thing I’m going to do next to force the truth from her.

This could be a mistake.

By showing her who I am, of the fear I instill in people, the power I wield, it might just push her closer to him. It’s a risk I’m willing to take. We can’t keep doing the same dance over and over while expecting a different result. I caught her red bloody handed, and she still won’t give up the intel.

Something has to change.

I start the engine and drive up to the gates. Our security guard raises a hand in greeting and opens them. I nose the car through and turn left.

“Where are we going?” Rebel asks again.

“I have some business to attend to.”

“What’s that got to do with me?”

My eyes flick sideways. She’s doing it again, that lip caught between her teeth, worrying away at it. I keep one hand on the steering wheel and reach across, catching her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “Stop.”

“Is it that strange that I’m biting my lip? You’re obviously mad at me, and you won’t tell me where you’re taking me. For all I know, it’s to my death.”

That she’d even think I was capable of killing her is a blade to my heart. Then again, can I blame her? I haven’t exactly covered myself in glory since I took her.

“I could never harm you, Rebel.”

Surprise flickers across her face at how softly I spoke, how much sincerity I poured into every syllable.

“You kidnapped me.”

“True. But have I hurt you physically, even once?”

“You pulled me by my hair.”

My nostrils flare. “Okay, other than that, which was a mistake, have I hurt you physically?”

When she doesn’t answer me, I glance sideways again. Her teeth briefly graze her bottom lip, then she must think twice, and she stops, switching to fiddling with her scarf instead.

“No,” she eventually says, quiet enough that I have to strain to hear her. “Not physically. But emotionally? Psychologically? Yes, you’ve hurt me. You’ve scared me.”

Shame clings to every inch of my body, every hair follicle and nerve ending. It’s in my blood, my hair. It’s everywhere. I’m not sure I’ll ever wash it off. I can’t hide behind anger any longer. If I’d handled this differently, we might be a lot further along.

“I never meant to hurt you. When I saw you in that bar, I lost it. There you were, a woman I once loved with my whole heart, a woman I believed had betrayed me and almost got me killed. And what’s worse, you pretended not to know me. I reacted.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch her turn her head toward me. “Is that an apology?”