Fallen in love with her…
The words lodge in my throat staring at one of the only people on the planet who loves her as much as I do.
“No.” She shakes her head. “You shouldn’t have. But, you did.” Her voice breaks, and she swallows thickly, working through her own emotion. “And now my daughter is destroyed.”
I flinch, my hands shaking as I shove them through my hair and drop my head back against the wall behind me. “You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t know what I did to her?”
Caroline watches me, waiting for me to offer an explanation beyond that which I’ve already given the entire family, or maybe for me to promise that I’ll stay away from Bishop so I can’t hurt her any further.
I can’t do either.
All I can do is tell her how torn up I am knowing what I’ve done to her daughter.
“She’ll never forgive me, Caroline.”
And she’ll never let anyone else in again.
She’s going to lock down tight, like a fucking bank vault, even worse than she was before…
Caroline knows it as well as I do.
She nods. “You’re right, she won’t. But you still have to try.” Her words take a moment to register, and when I offer her a confused look, she gives me a tight smile. “Bishop isn’t an easy woman. She wasn’t an easy child and certainly didn’t become any easier as an adult. She’s always known exactly what she wanted, who she was, and what she wanted to do with her life. From the day that girl took her first steps, I watched her kill herself to do just that, to follow her father’s path, to be the protector for everyone in this family. And you know what it did?” She gives me a genuine smile this time. “It turned her into the strongest person I’ve ever met in my life. And the most incredible one.”
I nod. “I agree.”
“It also isolated her. She never had the type of relationships her cousins did—no serious boyfriends, no close friendships beyond the family. But she seemed happy, or at the least, content to lead that life, and she never wanted us to broach the subject with her. So, I avoided those arguments.”
Her gaze softens, and if I didn’t know this woman was furious with me, I might think she actually liked me.
“What she had with you was different. It was special. I saw the change in her when you arrived—a good one. You challenged her. You made her see things in a different way. You made her see herself differently, and now she’s out there questioning everything again. You’re the only one who can fix that.”
Tears burn in my eyes, and I blink them away. “What if she doesn’t let me?”
Caroline offers a slight shrug. “You keep trying ‘til she does.”
I squeeze my eyes closed as the elevator arrives, the ding echoing loudly in the hallway, signaling the end of our conversation.
Caroline steps in and enters the code necessary to bring me back down to the lobby.
“You still don’t trust me with that?”
She shakes her head. “Not on your fucking life.”
Grinning at her directness, I step in and turn to face her as she holds the door open. “I’m going to do everything I can to find McDonald and Satriano, to make sure you’re all safe.”
She nods. “I don’t doubt that. But right now, you only need to be worrying about one person, and it isn’t any of us up here.”
No, it isn’t.
The fact that she recognizes that there is no way I will be able to concentrate on anything or anyone else until I’ve spoken with Bishop only makes my respect for her grow.
She steps back with a tight smile, and the door slides closed.
I sag against the wall, burying my face in my hands. “Fuck…”
How the fuck did this happen?
Because I forgot my mission and fell in love instead.
