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He looks curious. “You always did have a soft heart. Too soft.”
“Your word, Caleb.” I stare at him.
He looks amused. “All right. You have it. I won’t do anything to them.”
I let out a breath I don’t know I’ve been holding and then I purse my lips, forcing myself to step back from the intoxication his presence is surrounding me in, and first address the real issues at hand, “Were you ever going to tell me?”
13
Caleb
This isn’t how I wanted Kendall to find out.
Not like this.
But her reaction is anything but predictable.
I had expected a lot more shouting, maybe breaking a few things, a physical attack even. I had expected tears, accusations and threats of leaving.
But all of it pales in comparison to the almost graceful way she reacted. There’s a quietness about her, a lost look as she begins by asking me questions, and then the fury builds and in that fury, I’ve never seen her look so beautiful, that glitter in her eyes as she fights the desire to physically jump on me and beat me within an inch of my life.
I find myself lost in her, thrown back by my reaction to her.
She’s everything and more.
And right now, as she throws another question at me, I ponder over it.
‘Were you ever going to tell me?’
She doesn’t pull away from me and I take it as an encouraging sign. “Eventually. I just didn’t want you to leave. Not till you understood everything.”
“Leave?” Her eyes widen fractionally. “And go where? I have no home to go to. No job to sustain me. I’ve got nothing. When you offered me this job, you knew exactly what you were doing.”
I hear the sharpness in her tone, the incredulity.
“You take me out of the one home I have, give me things I’ve never had, so much so that it’s a lifestyle I become accustomed to, and then you expect me to walk away?” She takes a step towards me now, a mocking look on her pretty features. “You’ve been playing me from the very start, Caleb. Or should I call you Harry?”
“Harry died in prison.” I raise my hand and toy with the loose curl that dangling by her face. “He died when the FBI took him in for a crime that he wasn’t responsible for, only based on the fact that my father used to be a criminal.” I see the look of growing horror on her face and I continue, forcibly, determined that she see the monster that I’ve become, “He died, miserable and alone, after a very rigorous torture session and then Caleb was born. One of them managed to extract your name from me and they kept taunting me about what would happen to you once you left the orphanage and I realized that if not for me, then I had to survive for you.” I give her a smile that is both mocking and tender. “The man you’re looking at exists only for you. So, call me Caleb. I choose to be Caleb.”
Kendall makes a choked noise.
I move my free hand to cup her face, making sure she keeps looking at me. “I did manipulate you and I don’t regret it. I made sure you had a proper roof over your head and proper meals. I ensured you had so much money that you couldn’t spend all of it. The entire world will be at your fingertip when I’m done.”
She doesn’t say anything, just watches me with something that I interpret as terror. “Are you scared of me, Kendall?”
It’ll kill me if she is.
She’s the only person in this world who is capable of bringing me to my knees.
But she lifts her small hands, tears filling her eyes, and whispers, “I don’t want the world, Caleb. I just wanted you.”
I take hold of one wrist and bring her palm to my lips, pressing a kiss in the middle, my eyes on hers, probing, desperate as only she can make me. “And do you still want me?”
Her breathing is harsh as she admits, “God help me, I do!” She drags me towards her and kisses me.
I can tell she’s not accustomed to this, so I take control of it.
Then she pulls away just as quickly, leaving me bereft. “They tortured you?” She looks fierce now.
