He’s sitting across from me now, flipping through a folder of documents the lawyer gave us, looking annoyingly handsome in jeans and a white T-shirt, hair still damp from the shower.
Every now and then he glances at me, like he’s making sure I’m still there.
My heart lurches each time.
I stare out the window.
Clouds drift below us like soft cotton.
I tell myself not to overthink.
Not to get ahead of myself.
But the truth is sharp and lodged right in the center of my chest.
I didn’t just marry Nathan to protect Bella.
I married him because one look at him again, and every old feeling came roaring back like a wildfire.
And now?Well, now I’m terrified of getting burned twice.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
Nathan
We get backto Hammonton faster than I expected.The private car glides through town like it’s done this a thousand times, even though this is the first time I’m using it here.
It feels surreal.
Like I’m slipping back into a life I should’ve never left.
The second we stop in front of Mrs.Bosco’s house, I reach instinctively for my phone.I have a million things to do.
Calls to make.
Plans to set in motion.
I need to talk to Remy Falco—head of Sigma International, the only security firm I trust with anything important.And this?
Keeping Adrianna and Bella safe?
This is important.
But that comes later.
I leave my phone where it is because right now, I have a wife and a brand-new niece to welcome home.
“Stay in the car,” I tell Adrianna when she unbuckles, reaching for the door.
“What?But we’re home,” she says, giving me this confused, narrowed-eye look like she thinks I’ve completely lost my mind.
Before I can answer, her mother taps the window from outside.
“Actually, dear,” Mrs.Bosco says brightly, “Nathan had your and Bella’s things moved over to Thorn House while we were away.Wasn’t that thoughtful?”
Oh hell.
Adrianna’s entire face drops into a perfect what-the-actual-fuck expression.
