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Donovan shot to his feet. “What, you think you can just toss me aside after everything I have done for your father’s company?”
“It’s my company now.”
And he was making a change.
The atrocities wouldn’t be committed any longer.
Caleb was fucking sick of it. What they stood for.
He was richer than God. As if he needed to add another dime to his fortune.
Donovan planted his hands on his desk, snarling, “I think you’ve forgotten who you’re talking to.”
“Oh, I’m fully aware.” Caleb strode around his desk, malevolence riding out in front of him as he leaned in close to Donovan. “I think it’s you who doesn’t know who you’re dealing with. Now get the fuck out of my office.”
Air puffed from Donovan’s nose, and he stood his ground for a moment before he turned and moved to the door. Only he paused with his hand on the handle and looked back. “I guess you’ve left me no choice but to take this matter up with your little sister.”
Caleb sat in his car on the opposite side of the street in front of Kimberly’s house. Darkness covered him, the rain a steady drizzle that fell from overhead.
He watched out the passenger window at the renovated Victorian hidden in the thick foliage and trees. Lights burned from the windows, and he could feel his sister’s warmth spilling out.
He’d been there every night for the last two weeks, waiting for the man who had made the mistake of threatening his sister.
Or maybe he just wanted to catch a glimpse of her since she’d written him from her life.
He didn’t blame her. It was better this way. His world was sordid and ugly. He didn’t want her a part of it. But maybe someday things would be different. Maybe he could rectify enough of this disgusting mess that he could be good enough to be a part of her life again. That the depravity of it wouldn’t bring danger to her door.
Caleb’s chest tightened as she came up to the long-paned window and stared out through the drizzle.
Sorrow poured from her spirit and battered into him.
One day, maybe he would be better.
She moved deeper into the house, and he blew out a sigh. He went to push the button to start his car.
Only he froze when he saw the shadow creep through the night at the edge of her house.
He didn’t even have to think it through. He stepped from his car and strode through the rain.
“You piece of shit. You don’t actually think you’re going to get away with this?” Donovan sneered where he was on his knees in the deserted dock by the harbor, spittle flying from his mouth as he thrashed, hands bound behind his back, his feet weighted with industrial blocks.
Caleb’s building loomed from behind them, ominous and powerful and sleek.
But he wasn’t that man right then.
Caleb put the gun to the back of Donovan’s head, and he felt zero remorse when he pulled the trigger and kicked him over the side.
Because he had one purpose.
To protect his sister from the depravity brought on by the Greyson name.
And he would gladly suffer any consequence to end that threat.
THIRTY-NINE
CALEB
I awoke with her in my arms, muted rays of morning light streaming in to illuminate her face.
She slept curled up at my side, this precious gift I would never deserve.
Guilt closed off my throat, and I reached out and brushed the pad of my thumb over her cheek.
And I knew, if I had the ability to love today, it would be her.
FORTY
PAISLEY
I stood at the island with Evelyn at my side. She was on a stool, carefully placing our lunch into the small cooler pack we used when we took long rides.
“Can we go the farthest we’ve ever even been today?” she asked.
I handed her the slices of apples I’d cut so she could place the baggie inside.
“The farthest ever? Are you sure you’re not pooped after all the fun you had yesterday?”
God knew I was pooped. Exhausted in the best of ways. Deliciously sore.
But it was my heart that had been stretched and transformed and reconfigured.
“Pooped?” Evelyn drew out in confusion.
A soft chuckle got free. I loved how she took everything so literally. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head then ran my fingers down her hair. “I just thought you might be tired from playing so hard yesterday, is what I meant.”
“I’m not even tired a little bit. I slept the whole night because I fell asleep in the car, and you and my uncle took really good care of me.”
My chest expanded, a wash of love, then my emotions were flailing when I felt Caleb enter the kitchen.
His presence potent.
Distinct.
A gravity that had drawn us together from the ends of the earth.
Nerves prodded at my consciousness. I had no idea what things were going to be like in the light of day.
