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And it's not going to fucking work until you talk to Daphne.
I kept staring at the letter from Saffron. I had an opportunity to still do the thing that I loved to do but in an entirely different way. Over the last several weeks, I had watched Gabe and Tabatha go out on missions together and watched Saffron direct her husband in a firefight.
Kaya was working her way up in the organization. She was even allowed on some field missions, a fact that drove Saint insane. The thing was Kaya was no shrinking violet. She could hold her own. Hell, I’d even seen Nissa, Rook’s fiancée, being taught how to shoot by Saffron. She was a half-decent shot.
I was surrounded by women who pulled no punches. By women who were deadly. Their partners hadn't pushed them away. Hadn't abandoned them.
I looked at the Home Office letter again, and that thread of worry I had carried around for weeks suddenly dissipated. Because I knew what I had to do. I left the letters where they were and headed out.
None of this meant anything without Daphne. I was never going to be whole without her.
You don't have any right to her.
I didn't. But that didn't mean that I wasn't going to die trying.
Drake
To her credit, Daphne was smart. She had moved. After all, when a crazy man knows where you live, you move flats. Now she lived in the flats just above Vauxhall station. I parked my car and walked into the massive courtyard, clocking the view of the Thames.
I knew exactly where her flat was. Once she got settled, I looked in on her from time to time. From a distance, of course. But nothing could prepare me for seeing her dressed in fuchsia, a variant of the color she'd worn to Willow’s wedding. The dress had a deep V neckline and was short, barely skimming her thighs. And there was a bloke walking with her, his hand proprietarily perched along her lower back. I ground my jaw as I watched them walk past me from the shadows. Who the fuck was that?
I wish I could say I was calm, cool, and collected and didn't follow them on their date. A rational human being wouldn't have watched them at the restaurant. A sane person wouldn't have delighted in the fact that her date wasn't asking her anything about herself. A stable person wouldn't have been hopeful because Daphne looked sad.
As beautiful as she was, her features were drawn. Her smile didn't reach her eyes. But that didn't stop lover boy from trying to get a leg over when he brought her home.
I watched from the shadows of the hallway outside her flat. He walked her to the door like a gentleman. But then fire bloomed just under my skin as he slipped his hand into her hair and tried to pull her in for a kiss.
Daphne backed away, shaking her head. He scowled and tried to force the issue, pressing his lips to hers.
Daphne immediately kneed him in the balls, bringing up her right arm quickly and stiffly against his trachea, shoving him off.
He coughed and wheezed, bending over and gasping, “What the fuck is wrong with you, you bi—”
“I would think very carefully before you finish that sentence,” I growled.
Lover boy scrambled away from Daphne. “Who the hell is this?”
“I'm the love of her life, and I have a very nasty temper. So if you don't like your nuts, keep fucking talking.”
It could have been my size or maybe something I said. Either way, lover boy blanched and, while still wheezing, let himself out the exit door.
I turned to face Daphne, who was staring at me as if she'd seen a ghost. She let out a shaky breath. “What are you doing here?”
I licked my bottom lip. “I'm here for you.”
She blinked at me once before turning around and opening the door to her flat. Then she went inside and quietly closed it behind her. I automatically reached for the door, but I heard her engage the lock. And if I wasn't mistaken, she engaged several locks.
I leaned my forehead against her door. “Daphne please, all I want to do is talk.”
I stayed like that for an hour before I realized she wasn't going to open the door.
What? Did you think this would be easy?
Even if she hated me, just seeing her would soothe my aching heart.
I'd been trying to stay away from her for weeks. That wasn't going to work. I needed her. I wanted her. She was the answer to the question I didn't even know I was asking all along.
And I was going to need help getting her back.
