Page 5 of Flawed Revenge

So when she’d excitedly informed him that she was pregnant and they were having a baby, he’d snapped. Told her to abort it, that he wanted nothing to do with a kid, and that it was over between them. When he’d informed her that he never wanted to see her again, she’d sobbed, asked him how he could be so cold, and then thrown the engagement ring back in his face before running out.

Now it felt like that engagement ring, worn on a chain around his neck, was burning against his skin.

Kate was back.

Here.

At his home.

Standing before him with eyes widened in shock, her hands zip-tied behind her back, and four weapons still aimed at her head, ready to fire if she turned out to be a threat.

His Kate was no threat, and yet … how in the hell was she there?

Back then, she’d known he was in the military, of course, but he’d never told her about the experimental drug program. They’d signed NDAs, and while he would have told her after the wedding, he’d never gotten that chance.

“It’s her,” Steel said from beside Kate. Because Lion saw everything, he noticed that his team leader’s grip on Kate’s arm loosened slightly, still keeping her close, but now more holding up the woman then preventing her from attacking, understanding that this was the woman from his past he’d never been able to let go.

Kate would never attack them. Yet … she was there.

No one but Eagle knew where they lived, and what reason would his Kate have for contacting the billionaire former SEAL owner of Prey Security? How would she even know to do so?

Seemingly unable to speak, Lion just nodded. While he’d never spoken Kate’s name to any of the members of the team, never talked about the fiancée whose heart he shattered into a million pieces, they weren't stupid. If nothing else, the fact that he’d refused to leave the facility where they’d been caged for three years before finding Kate’s engagement ring that had been taken from him when they were first imprisoned, was enough to clue them in.

“Leo, why are you … why are they … are you going to kill me?” Kate asked with a whimper, and the fact that his girl, who he loved just as fiercely today as he had a decade ago when he left to protect her, thought he would ever hurt her, much less kill her, cut through his chest like a knife.

Only he had hurt her.

In the worst possible way.

“No,” he said simply, and the four remaining weapons lowered slightly. No one put them away, though, because she was still there, somewhere she shouldn’t be, obviously looking for him, even though she shouldn’t have been able to find him.

Did Lion honestly think that Kate was a threat?

Absolutely not.

But this wasn't just his home, ten other people now lived there, and he wouldn't put their lives on the line for a woman he used to know.

Even if it was his Kate.

Taking a step toward her, he hated the way her breath hitched, and she shrank back a little, clearly not believing him when he told her that neither he nor anyone else was going to kill her.

“Please, Leo, I just need your help,” she whimpered, tears tumbling down her cheeks in a steady stream.

If this were a decade ago, he would have pulled her into his arms, kissed away those tears, cradled her close, and whispered soothing nonsense into her ear until she was ready to tell him what was wrong. Then he would have done whatever it took to make it better for her, make her smile, slay her dragons, make her feel safe, protected, and loved.

Now he stood there helplessly, unsure what to do. What to say. How to act.

Everything had changed between them, yet for him, nothing had. He still loved her as much today as he had that day eleven years ago when he came home to find his little sister’s best friend all grown up. Grown up into the most stunning woman he’d ever laid eyes on, beautiful inside and out, sweet and funny, smart and caring, she was everything, and he’d fallen hard and fast. Then, after the best year of his life, he’d ruined it all by signing up for that damn experimental drug program.

A program that ultimately cost him everything.

His future, the woman he loved, and the child whose death he’d caused.

Given the fact he’d dumped her and told her to terminate her pregnancy, Lion couldn’t think of a single reason why Kate would come to him for help. Why she’d come to him for any reason.

Yet here she was.

“How did you find me?” he growled, the shock and raging emotions inside him making his words come out harsher than he’d intended, causing her to flinch and cower.