Yeah, right. He didn’t believe that for a heartbeat. “Then why are you Tavali?”
“It was the only way I could keep working and have some semblance of safety for Rian. Since Tavali and the DR hate each other so much, no one would ever look for my child to be among my number one rival organizaton.”
She had a point. But he still didn’t like it.
“Does he know about me?”
“I would never have deprived him of that. He’s known all his life who his father is and why he has to remain hidden.”
Those words meant a lot more to him than she could imagine. She could have easily told their son nothing about him. The fact that she hadn’t kept him a secret from Florian…
“Thank you.”
Ember went stiff as Bastien wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Even more disturbing, he laid his head on her shoulder like he used to do when they dated. As if he were cherishing the moment with her, and she was the lifeline he needed to stay afloat.
“Can you ever forgive me for hurting you?” His whispered words were like a shout in the silence.
Biting her lip, she ran her fingers down his scarred forearm. “A part of me wants to.”
“And the other?”
“Wants to beat you till you bleed.”
She could feel his smile against her shoulder. “I’ll be happy to strip myself naked and let you spank me all you want, especially if you’re naked, too.”
A groan came out before she could stop it. “I see you’re still twisted.”
“Only around your pinkie. You always had control of me when no one else did.”
“Yeah… that’s why you slept with my sister, right?”
He went ramrod stiff and pulled away so fast it sent a chill over her body. All humor and sweetness evaporated as his mood took a sinister bend.
“What?” she teased. “No cute comeback?”
“Not really.” There was no mistakingthattone.
Ember turned to stare at him in the darkness. He was hiding something. She knew that ominous aura intimately. “What aren’t you saying?”
Pain played across his features before he sighed quietly. “I didn’t.”
“Didn’t what?”
“Sleep with Alura that first time.”
Her jaw went slack. “What?”
A tic started in his cheek as he refused to meet her gaze. “She was proud to tell meallabout it the day they branded me Ravin. Looked me right in the eyes and spilled the whole story on how she’d drugged me in the bar, got me home to her place, and stripped my clothes off so that in the morning I’d think we had been together. At first, they were going to blackmail me for creds if I didn’t call her for another date. Then she concocted the pregnancy, knowing that my parents would force a marriage if I didn’t propose on my own.”
Ember cursed in her head as she realized what her sister had done. That bitch! “She heard us.”
“Heard what?”
“Me and Kindel, when we were first talking about plans for the baby.” Tears choked her as it dawned on her that none of this had been his fault. Alura had connived against them both.
From the beginning.
And if she ever laid hands to her sister again, she’d choke the life out of her for it. “Those are almost verbatim my words as to why I didn’t want to tell you I was pregnant.”
