But now I was recognizing he might be the most dangerous one of all.
Grimness covered his expression, and the veins in his muscled arms and chest seemed to crawl beneath his flesh.
“You really want to know?” It left him a challenge.
My heart stuttered in my chest.
When I first came here, I told him that I’d gone to the police with information on my ex. The things I uncovered on Ethan were just…unimaginable. His world fueled by greed and selfishness. Willing to steal life and peace in order for him to have more than he already did.
Was Cash involved in the same sort of thing?
My spirit flailed, unable to accept it.
Those hazel eyes speared me.
Waiting.
Was he asking me for his trust in this?
Frantic, I searched around inside myself for an answer. It wasn’t hard to find. I truly believed that he wouldn’t hurt someone out of greed or cruelty. If he’d done something, he had a reason.
He had to have.
I lifted my trembling chin. “Yes.”
“Many times over, but I’ve never once touched an innocent.” His words were blunt.
His admission blew me back three feet, and I fumbled on a gasp, nearly tripping and falling to the floor. My hands shot out, and I gripped onto the back of a dining room chair.
Many times over.
What was he saying?
It took me a moment to gather myself before I lifted my head.
Both terrified…but…unafraid.
I blinked at him through the bleary darkness. “Who are you? I really don’t know you anymore, do I?”
Rage and grief clouded his eyes. Torment so distinct in the pools that sucked me down into his nothingness. “The man you knew died that night with the rest of them.”
Emotion burned in my throat, and my stomach flopped and flipped as I tried to find solid ground.
Would we be better off if I ran? If I packed our things and fought this out on my own? Would he chase me down the same way Ethan was doing? Harm me because of what I knew?
My eyes squeezed closed, and I knew the answer to every single one of those questions was no. “I feel that man, though. I always have. And I feel him now.”
“You’re only wishing he was real.” When he did actually talk, his voice was always hard and low. But this? This was a grinding of stone.
My head barely shook as I opened my gaze to him. Taking in the monster that lurked in the night. So cruelly beautiful that my heart ached just looking at him. “He’s still there. I know he is. He’s just hardened with the loss.”
Cash scoffed. “If you knew the things I’ve done, you wouldn’t be here, Daisy. And you sure as hell wouldn’t be asking me to take care of your kids.”
“How?” It whispered off my lips on a plea. “What are you involved in?”
Something I couldn’t read flashed through his expression. “I can’t let you go there, Daisy. What I already let you in on is so far outside of what I should be giving you. You should go.”
Pain slashed between my eyes, and I moved around the end of the island, steps both bold and feeble as I edged toward him.
