"Only Logan and Caden, why?"
"Just curious."
"I'm not speaking to my father for many reasons, Kinsley. For instance, coercing my mother to keep you and Finn a secret, but the biggest is threatening your life and sending you running. I know he used to be the head of this Family, but he didn't have to take his heartlessness that far."
"And Elena?"
"She's harder." Burke sighed. "I understand why she felt obligated to do as he told her, but she didn't apologize or try to make it right when I found out. She made excuses for him and told me I was wrong to feel upset."
"That's got to be hard. My parents are mad at me for moving, and they refuse to listen when I say I'm happy."
With that statement, his gaze laser-focused on my face. "Are you happy, Kinsley?"
And again, there was a lump in my throat I couldn't quite swallow. "There are things I still want, but I'm well fed, I have a roof over my head, and I have my son."
"Just like a prison with three squares a day and an hour in the yard," he mumbled.
Not wanting to agree with him out loud, I shrugged.
"I would rather hear you have everything you've ever wanted."
Feeling a tic in my jaw, I traced circles on the table. Surely he knew it wasn't the truth. "Would it make you happy if I said I'm completely fulfilled?"
"If you were, yes."
"But I'm not," I whispered. I was nothing more than a prisoner in his lavish home.
"No, there's no way you can be. I've trapped you here."
Though I glanced at him briefly, I mostly looked at my hands. "I knew what I was getting myself into when I agreed to come."
"Did you?"
Lifting my chin, I said, "I knew I would have to marry you and that you're violent. The whole reason I ran is because I knew I would have to spend my life in protective custody because my son is your son. Otherwise, I’m in the dark since you tell me nothing."
Burke sucked in an audible breath. "I promise, Kinsley, I won't ever be violent with you." Reaching across the expanse between us, he picked up my hand. "I don't regret bringing you and my son here, but I regret that you're unhappy."
The feel of his hand on mine made my skin warm and my heart pick up its pace, and I cleared my throat. "I'm not entirely unhappy, Burke. I'm taking steps to find something I can call my own."
"You are, that's true."
"So stop the self-pity," I said in mock seriousness.
His boyish smile appeared, reminding me how young he truly was. "Is that what it is?"
"Yes, you're very good at it." Also at taking my breath away with his sly smirk.
He was quiet for a long time. "Look, I need to say something."
I nodded for him to continue.
"I miss the way we were in Chester. The Kinsley I knew was sweet and selfless, and so lonely she allowed a bastard like me to woo her. You made me feel like my younger self, as though I could erase all the bad I've done and get past that man to be who you saw when you looked at me."
"I . . ." Swallowing my tears, I said, "I felt like you saw me as someone I'm not, and I desperately wanted to be her."
"When you came here and you weren't the same person, I didn't react very well. I was looking for you to be someone who no longer existed. You had no choice but to change and adapt, and I guess I punished you for that."
"You weren't the same, either."
