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Everything flashed across my eyes repeatedly, from beginning to end, in a nanosecond. I would have nightmares for a long time. Not even Axel could keep them away.
My father left the wall and pulled up a chair across from me. He sat down, releasing a heavy breath since it’d been a long and exhausting night. “There are no words to convey how fucking sorry I am.” His head was bowed in shame, eyes on the floor between us.
I stilled, hearing my father curse for one of the first times.
“Axel is right. Don’t be angry with him.”
“I’m not angry with him…or with you.”
He lifted his chin and looked at me.
“We’re okay. That’s all that matters.”
“I didn’t anticipate the events to unfold like that.”
“I know, it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” he whispered. “It’s not…”
My hand reached for his and held it.
He stared at our joined hands and gave it a squeeze. “You’re too good to me, sweetheart.”
“Not as good as you are to me.”
He didn’t lift his head. Didn’t smile. Just sat there and held my hand.
When we walked out, Axel was leaning against the door of the SUV, arms crossed over his chest, his jaw tight with suppressed rage. His eyes immediately locked on mine and followed me as I walked with my father to his car. We hugged each other goodbye before he got into his car and drove away.
I walked back to the SUV, watching Axel stare me down like I was the one who’d done something wrong.
He stared at me for another moment before he righted himself and opened the door for me.
I got into the seat and buckled my safety belt. The engine came to life a moment later, and the heater kicked on.
Axel got into the other seat beside me, and the driver took us home.
We spent the drive in silence, but his unsaid words filled the car. He was livid, and no amount of silence could dwarf that truth.
After we were dropped off, we made the long journey from the elevator to the stairs and then to the bedroom. The second the door shut, he snapped. “Let’s get something straight here.” He walked up to me, in my face, not moved by the bruising around my mouth and nose. “Don’t you ever put yourself in that position again. I don’t know if he asked you or you asked him—and I don’t want to know. Either answer is just going to piss me off. I want your word that you’ll stick to bookkeeping and that’s it.”
I’d wanted this business for a long time. Wanted to be the one in charge, to have a yacht like my father, to be a rich woman driving through the streets in one of my many cars. But tonight showed me how useless I really was. It showed me how dark the underworld could truly be. “I promise.”
Axel breathed hard in front of me, his chest rising and falling with his heavy breaths. He clearly expected opposition or an argument, and he didn’t know how to accept my surrender. He continued to breathe as his eyes shifted back and forth between mine.
“I’m not cut out for this kind of life…” My voice trailed off, growing defeated. “I’m not sure why I ever thought otherwise.”
Slowly, his anger faded, the tint in his face paling.
“In fact…I’m not sure I want to be involved at all anymore.” The game never ended. Axel teamed up with Theo and tricked my father, and then our suppliers made idiots out of us both. You always had to stay one step ahead, and if you failed, it would cost you your life.
He gave a curt nod in acceptance.
I stepped away. “I’m going to take a shower.”
He let me go, but his eyes drilled into my back. “So you’re going to act like you didn’t hear me?”
I stilled, facing our bedroom, feeling his hot stare in the back of my head.
“Just pretend it never happened?” His voice was like venom from a sharp pair of fangs.
I slowly turned back around, seeing those blue eyes turn volcanic.
“Because I fucking meant it,” he snapped. “And I’ll say it again—I love you.” He breathed hard again, his jawline sharp as he clenched his jaw. If there was no sound to the scene, it would look like he hated me rather than loved me. “This is where you say it back.”
The adrenaline returned, like a storm battling a coast, a siege of a castle. My fingertips were cold to the touch but beaded with sweat. I swallowed air because my mouth was dry. I held his powerful stare but didn’t have the words.
“I loved you then, but I was too much of a pussy to say it.”
His words were like a wrecking ball against my heart. “So you loved me but left me anyway? You loved me but replaced me with someone else? That makes no sense, Axel.” I’d just survived a horrible ordeal, and I would be shaken up for days, if not weeks, but we were fighting like cats and dogs.
