It’salwaysbeen home.
He breathes slow, eyes closed.
‘Céliane needs the book back,’ Riley tells Lachlan.Kade can tell who he’s speaking to just by the tone.‘Do you have it?’
‘Yes.’
‘Will you give it to me?’
‘No, but I’ll trade it.’
‘Forwhat?’
‘Let him go.I mean it this time.’
‘I told you, I can’t let him go and besides, he wouldn’t leave—’
‘I will,’ Kade says, pushes away from the wall, adrift and unmoored.
Riley seems shocked.‘Kade, wait.’
‘I’m leaving,’ he says, headed for the door.‘You’ve lied to me and now you won’t even explain to me why.’
‘Ican’texplain,’ his boss says with emphasis.‘Don’t you think I want to?’
‘Then why haven’t you?Seven fucking years and not a single word?My whole life… all this,’ he says, casting around, tears in his eyes.‘You locked me up and lied to me, Riley.You never even told me my name!’
‘I couldn’t evensayyour fucking name when you asked,’ Riley tells him, as worked up as Kade’s ever seen him, which isn’t much except for the desperate shine in his eyes.‘You chose Kade.’
‘Then why did you make me your fucking bodyguard?’
‘You chose that too.It was all you said for a year.Bodyguard, bodyguard, bodyguard.You built this place around yourself and I couldn’t correct anything, I still can’t.I know how it sounds but try saying it yourself.’
‘So you planted some subliminal block in my brain or whatever?’
‘I’d never do that.’
‘You let me think I had adisorder,Riley.You let me—’
‘I kept yousafe!’Riley barks, and all Kade’s air leaves him in a swift, involuntary rush, shocked.Riley never raises his voice.‘You have no idea what I had to do to keep you safe.You think Ilikeliving this way?’
‘You’re the boss of Iron Star,’ Lachlan points out coldly.
Riley ignores him, speaking only to Kade.‘You think I don’t miss it?’
‘Miss what?’
‘Fighting.’
‘You don’t fight.You never fight.’
Riley looks away, mouth twisting bitterly.‘You think I relish having to hide away upstairs like acowardjust to keep you safe?’
‘You haven’t kept me safe.You’ve kept me prisoner!’
‘I kept mypromise!’he yells.
It rings in Kade’s ears, headache blooming instantly, pressure cranking behind his eyes.‘To who?’
