I could tell the moment a thought entered her mind. “Hold a knife to my father’s throat and tell him if he dared try and interfere with my mother’s life or her mental health again, I would kill him myself.”
As soon as she uttered the words, she looked away, a nerve struck. The way she bit her lower lip called on something entirely different inside of me, a feeling that I hadn’t endured for a number of years.
Empathy for someone else.
Very gently, I cupped her chin, forcing her to look at me. Tears slipped past her long eyelashes, dripping slowly to her cheeks.
“Not my finest hour,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, Alexander. I don’t usually share my personal business with anyone either. It’s just that I never expected my father to betray us the way he had. He was all my mother had. She loved him dearly.”
“And he shouldn’t have hurt either one of you, my angel. Family is very important no matter who we are or how we ended up. I’m many things including a killer, but that is sacred to me. You father deserves to suffer.” I hadn’t realized that I’d tightened my hold on her lovely face until she gently but forcefully tried to pry my fingers free.
“You can’t go around beating or killing everyone in my life just because they did something not so nice.”
The spark in her voice had returned, but I sensed more of the reason was to keep me from sliding off the deep end. She’d caught me in perhaps what my brothers would call a vulnerable moment, showing her the lengths I would go to for her safety.
And perhaps for her happiness.
Three hours earlier I’d already slapped a label on her as a traitor. Now, all I wanted to do was to keep her from suffering any harm because she’d tumbled into a completely foreign world where the good guys didn’t always win.
Neither did the bad.
“That’s where you’re wrong, sweet angel. Yes, I can. And I will. To answer your earlier question of how you can betray me. Let’s just say I hope you never find out.”
CHAPTER 19
“When a man is a mystery to himself, you can hardly call him mysterious.”
—Abraham Verghese
Catherine
Damn, the man was infuriating as hell.
Alexander had both opened the mysterious aspects of his personality and his life only to shut me down.
Hard.
But his presence and the way I felt about him continued to be confusing as hell, the sheer complexity of whatever our relationship was leaving shattered pieces of ourselves along the way. The time spent together was supposed to be about discoveries, learning he was just a man and not a monster. But even after unraveling his multiple layers there were more underneath, portions of his life protected by steel.
He’d tossed out a strange lifeline, creating more than just a physical desire. It was as unnerving as hell.
Every emotion rocked him whether he wanted anyone to believe he was capable of expressing feelings. Anger. Passion. Sadness. Guilt. He had them all wrapped up in a handsome, powerful package. He’d also acted as if he’d burn the world down if anyone dared touch me. I couldn’t help but feel the strong pull to him and to his strength of character.
Every girl needed a protector.
At least according to my best friend.
But she’d read all the romance novels where the bad guys, dangerous men who killed for a living fell hard for their ladies and would protect them with their lives.
While I sensed there was some sort of nobility in Alexander, I doubted I’d reach some magical level of him jumping in front of a fast-moving train.
Or a bullet.
Then again, he’d already done so by nearly killing the man who’d attacked me on the street. And I’d cheered him on.
Alexander’s eyes were always on me wherever I stood, forever following me, the very predator I’d stumbled on ensuring his prey was on a short leash. In watching him with his sister, I’d sensed a very tight bond, but seeing the hurt in her eyes meant she also wasn’t used to having him challenge that bond.
I brought the worst out in him. I was positive of it.
