I’m about to tell him to go on his merry way, that I don’t give a fuck what he or the Bureau wants, but my brain’s slow absorption of his admission stops me.
“Conflict of interest? What conflict of interest could we have?”
My shouted words roll down the valley Alex and I once wrestled in. I choke on a sob when I remember all the feelings he hit me with that weekend. I trusted him, and for what? One big fucking lie after another? None of it was real—not his feelings for me or the promises he made.
My insides break when Alex confirms, “Not us,” he angles his head to the side, forcing me to look him in the eyes before snarling, “Him.”
One word and five months of hurt slam into me all over again. Something inside of me shifts. I don’t know if it is desperation or devastation, but it brings out a side of me I haven’t seen in years.
“You have no basis for an investigation into Isaac’s empire. Not a single fucking thing!” As my anger resurfaces in the most horrific way, I gallop down the three steps of the patio, unsure whether I want to slap the pompousness off Alex’s face or kiss it from him.
I’m confident it is the former when he snarls, “I have nothing now, but I’ll soon haveeverything.” The chances of our exchange turning violent double when he adds on, “Isaac can’t hide behind you forever, Regan. One day he’ll step out of your shadow, and just like the day we met, I’ll be there waiting for him with my gun loaded and my cuffs at the ready.”
His threatful tone stuns me but not enough to reel in my anger. “Isaac doesn’t stand behind me. He’s stands next to me, at my side, fighting with me, not against me.”
Alex’s eyes meet mine. The speckles of dark blue I once stared at in awe are gone, swamped by massive pupils. “Was he at your side during your appointment at Westminster, Rae? Was he holding your hand then?”
I freeze, equally petrified and angry.How does he know about that? No one else knows about the afternoon I spent at Westminster Family Clinic.
Blatant fury overtakes my hurt when the truth smacks into me. His spying expedition didn’t end once he got what he needed. It continued months after we broke up.
“You son of a bitch.”
My last word comes out in a flurry from my dad banding his arm around my waist to fling me in the opposite direction of Alex. I’m not going to hurt him. I’m just going to kill him a little.
I claw at my dad’s arms, fighting to get away from him. When that fails, I resort to words. “You had no right to pry into my private life! None at all! I have rights!”
“Rights?!” Alex storms closer to me, bringing his devastatingly beautiful and tormented face even nearer to me. “Rights? What about my fucking rights?! Where were my rights when you made the decision you made? That wasmybaby, Rae. You killedmybaby!”
His voice booms with anger, and his eyes shine with heartbreak, but I’m too numb with fury to notice. My chest burns as I fight to face him head on as I should have months ago, but my dad is too strong and determined to keep us apart.
I knew requesting for my cabin to be built here was a stupid idea, I was just too pigheaded to admit it. I thought I could look past my hurt to see the beauty hiding beneath it. I should have listened to both my heart and my head. I’ll never be strong enough for this.
With my dad struggling to keep me under control, Weston backs him up. He steps between Alex and me before spreading his hand across Alex’s thrusting chest. With a warning glare, his free hand hovers over the gun on his hip.
His silent warning ends Alex’s campaign to reach me in under a second, but it does nothing to weaken his verbal tirade. “It was him, wasn’t it? Isaac made you pick—again. He made you choose him over me, didn’t he, Rae? He forced you to take his side like he always does.”
“No!” I shake my head as my fight ramps up all over again. “He helped me choose morals over my libido. Right over wrong. Faithfulness over infidelity!” My words grow in volume to ensure Alex can hear me as my dad drags me kicking and screaming toward my cabin.
Just before we break through the wide open door, Alex shouts, “Expecting to learn morals from a man who doesn’t have any is fucking pointless. I thought you were smart, Rae!”
“Don’t you dare preach morality when you’re the one who is married with two daughters!”
Tears roll down my face unchecked, but I don’t clear them away. I’m too hurt to control my emotions, much less my tears, and I’m also too overwhelmed to care that I’ve lost the fight.
I blow out a hot, temperamental breath when my dad tosses me onto my bed. After growling in warning that his patience has stretched thin, he pivots on his heels and heads for the door. I spring to my feet in an instant.
I’m not even halfway through dispelling months of festering anger, so I’ve got a shit ton left to disperse. I don’t even get two steps from my bed when my dad’s furious glare pins me in place. “Sit.”
I attempt to give him sass as I always do, but the rarity of his roar subdues me in an instant. “I said sit! For once in your goddamn life, do as I ask you to do!”
The veins in his arms pulsate when he points to a high-back sofa chair in my living room/kitchen. I’m not scared of the fury in his eyes that warns I’ll be in trouble if I don’t follow his order. I’m just . . .scared.
The firm line setting his lips slackens when I flop into the chair as instructed. My knee bobs up and down as my fingers circle my temples. The fury racing through my veins is not as eager to surrender as my heart.
After throwing open my cabin door with the force he used to toss me onto my bed, my dad leans his torso outside. “Get him out of here.” He slices his hand through the air as he did when he ordered Ayden to remove a drunk Luca from my eighteenth birthday party.
Alex fires something back, but I miss what he says due to my pulse raging through my ears. I’m not left in the dark long when my dad replies to his thunderous comment, “I had one condition: you maintain a rational head. This isn’t rational. You’re about to tear each other apart, which means it’s time for you to leave.”
