I stared at him and shook my head. The only thing I felt for this man was pity. “I used to think that,” I said quietly. “I used to believe every terrible thing you said about me. That I was spoiled. Selfish. Incapable of doing anything worthwhile. But you know what? I was wrong. And so were you.”
I walked toward him, and for the first time in my life, I saw him take a step back.
“I’m going to be a good mother. Not because of anything you taught me about parenting—but because I know exactly whatnotto do. I know how it feels to be invisible to your own father. I know how it feels to beg for scraps of affection and get nothing. My child will never feel that way. She will know, every single day of her life, that she is loved. Unconditionally. Without strings.”
I reached the doorway and turned back to face him.
“You have a choice. This is the only time I’m going to make this offer. You can let me walk out of here. Tell your goons to take me back to Whitmore. You can apologize to me for all of it. If you do that, I’ll let you be a part of my life. Our life.”
Baron’s jaw tightened. For a moment—just a moment—I thought I saw something crack behind his eyes. Something human. Something hurt.
Then it was gone.
“We’ll discuss this on the plane, when you’ve had time to?—”
“I’m not getting on a plane with you.”
“Isabel.” His voice hardened. “I’m not asking.”
He stepped forward, gripped my arm, and steered me toward the front door. His fingers dug into myflesh—not enough to bruise, but enough to remind me that he was still stronger than me. Still in control.
I didn’t fight him. There was no point. The men who’d brought me here were probably still outside, waiting to make sure I did what I was told.
But as Baron opened the front door and pushed me onto the porch, I realized something had changed.
I wasn’t afraid anymore.
Not of him. Not of what he might do. Not of the future I couldn’t predict.
I’d said everything I needed to say. I’d finally told the truth—to him and to myself. Whatever happened next, I would face it as the woman I’d become. Not the scared little girl who’d spent her life begging for her parents’ love.
That girl was gone.
And then I looked up.
The circular drive that had been empty when I arrived was now full of people—men. They were standing in a loose semicircle around the house.
And in the center of them, his eyes locked on mine, was Kick.
He looked wrecked. Pale. Furious. His hands were clenched at his sides, and even from twenty feet away,I could see the tension vibrating through his body—the barely restrained violence of a man who’d been ready to tear the world apart to find me.
Beside him stood Snapper. And Bas, of all people, his face tight with worry. There were more. All of Kick’s brothers and friends. And the hardest part for my father was that his friends were here too. Men I knew he respected. Them witnessing what he was doing to me would bring him far more shame than I ever had.
His grip on my arm went slack.
His eyes scrunched. “What is this?”
Tryst stepped forward. His expression was calm, but his eyes were hard as flint.
“Baron,” he said. “We need to have a conversation. About the code you swore to uphold and the woman you just tried to take from one of our own.”
I jerked my arm free from my father’s grip and ran toward Kick.
18
KICK
Isabel ran toward me, and the world narrowed to the space between us.
