“So, you made sure he didn’t have a father at all.”
I flinch at his words. “That’s not fair.”
“None of this is fair.” He closes another inch. “You want to talk about fair? I missed his birth. I missed two birthdays. I missed him learning to walk. He’s been calling me Daddy, and I didn’t even know he was mine until a stranger in a grocery store told me my son has my eyes.”
A stranger told him. Not me.
That’s so messed up, and definitely not how I wanted him to find out.
“I fucked up.” I’m crying hard now, and I don’t try to stop it. “I know I fucked up, and I’m sorry, and I’ve known it was wrong every single day since I left. Every time Leo hit a milestone, I’d look at him and think, Duke should be here. I took that from both of you, and I have to live with it.”
My chest is heaving. Duke’s fists open and close at his sides, and I don’t know which version of him is about to speak—the one who wants to destroy me for this or the one who wants to pull me into his arms.
“We keep the families safe.” He says it lower now. Not arguing. Explaining. “The Old Ladies, the kids. They don’t touch club business. That’s the line. The men handle what needs handling, and the families stay out of it. That’s how it works. That’s how it’s always worked.”
“We’re in a lockdown right now, Duke.” I gesture at the room. The bed. The pack-and-play against the wall. “In a clubhouse. With our son down the hall.”
“This is not normal.” He steps forward, and my knees open, and he’s standing between my thighs. “And you know it. This is an exception.”
“And if the exception becomes the rule?”
“Then I do whatever it takes to keep you and Leo safe.” He pushes my hair behind my ear, and his fingers trail down the side of my neck. “I’ll end anybody who touches you. Or dares to threaten you.”
I know he’s capable of violence.
“But what if that’s not enough?” My fingers find the hem of his shirt and hold on. “Would you leave with us?”
His whole body tightens. “Are you asking me to leave?”
“No,” I say. “I know how much the MC means to you.”
“I don’t want to,” he responds, and it’s raw, pulled from somewhere deep. “The Kings are my brothers. This club is my life, Violet. It’s everything I’ve built since I was nineteen.”
“I know.”
“But you’re asking me to choose, and the answer is you.” His hand comes up and cups my face. “You and Leo. If it comes to that, I walk. I don’t look back. I build something new with my bare fucking hands if I have to, because I love you. I never stopped. I loved you when you were here. I loved you when you were gone. Even after everything, I still fucking love you.”
His palm is warm against my face, and my whole body leans into it, starving.
“I think you already knew that,” he says, quieter.
“But I didn’t know. That was the whole problem,” I tell him.
His hand slides to the back of my head, fingers threading into my hair, and he tips my face up toward his. “You’re mine, Violet. And no matter what happens, we will be together.”
He’s standing over me, between my thighs, and I’m gripping the hem of his shirt, and I can’t let go. I don’t want to let go.
“I want to be with you. I want to be together. I love you,” I say, looking up at him. “I never stopped. Not for one day. I’m so sorry. And yes, Leo is yours, and he’s always been yours. I should have told you the second I found out. And I can’t take that back.”
His fingers tighten in my hair. His breathing is faster, rougher, and his free hand comes down and wraps around my wrist where I’m holding his shirt. He doesn’t pull my hand away. He presses it flat against his stomach, and I can feel the muscle contract under my palm.
“Say it again,” he growls.
“I love you.”
He kisses me. Bent over me, one hand fisted in my hair, his mouth comes down on mine and takes. Not soft. Not careful.This is years of deprivation and rage and longing, and I grab his cut with both fists and pull him closer.
His hands leave my hair. They drop to my hips, and he lifts me off the mattress. I gasp against his mouth. He turns, sits on the edge of the bed, and pulls me down onto his lap in one motion.
