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His fists clenched, his breath heaving, it took Rafe a second to realize the shift in the room behind him. He turned around to see four sets of raging eyes bearing down on him.
The presence that surrounded him in that moment set a chill into his bones like no other.
Desmond, Reiner, Lachlan and Roe.
Four rock-solid men advancing on him at once. All seething, all ready to tear him apart limb by limb.
And there, in the thick of it, Victoria diving between their hulking forms, her hands flailing, grabbing at forearms. She found her way through the wall of them and spun around, planting herself in front of Rafe. “Reiner—father—no—stop. You—”
“Vic—no—let them come,” Rafe forced the words out through clenched teeth.
He wasn’t worth her effort. She shouldn’t save him. He didn’t deserve it and she needed these men—all of them—protecting her. He wasn’t about to let her destroy her relationships with them for his wastrel arse.
“Stop.” Reiner threw his hand up. As a unit, all four men stopped advancing and looked down at Victoria. “Who is this man, Vicky?” Reiner asked. “Who is he, really? Was he helping Falsted?”
She blinked with a slight wince at the question, but then her head tilted up, defiant with the truth. “Yes, but you cannot hurt him, you don’t understand—you don’t know—”
Reiner snarled. “Des, take her out of here.”
Before Victoria could get another word in, her father plucked her up from the floor, tossing her over his shoulder and carrying her, screaming, hitting his back, out of the farmhouse.
At least she was safe.
The thought flashed through his head as he met her panicked eyes, a sense of peace settling over the chill in his bones even as certain death loomed over him.
She was safe.
She would always be safe with these four. There was nothing of more importance.
His eyes locked on her disappearing around the corner of the doorway, he didn’t see the first fist coming at his temple, slamming his skull into the wall of rock behind him.
Blackness.
{ Chapter 32 }
Seven days.
He’d been gone seven days.
Victoria looked out the tower window, searching the lands surrounding Seahorn Castle.
Cold. Windy. Forbidding.
Reflecting perfectly what was hollowing through her chest.
A week ago, her father had dragged her out of that decrepit farmhouse, her terrorized eyes locked on Rafe. Rafe had held her stare until the last, his dark brown eyes not wavering. He knew what was coming, and he was telling her with that one look that it was worth it.
Everything was worth it, for everything was for her.
Out of the farmhouse, her father had locked her in a barn until hours later when he’d forced her back into the carriage with Eva and Torrie to continue on to Seahorn.
Her aunts wouldn’t say a word about Rafe.
Not. One. Word.
Even though she could tell, by their pinched lips, they knew exactly what became of him. Yet the entire journey back to Seahorn Castle, not one word was uttered about Rafe. As if the lot of them ignored he ever existed, they could somehow wipe him from her memory.
She’d arrived at Seahorn numb and despondent, barely able to lift a hand to pet Fox whenTarrencethrust him into her arms, prattling about how much bigger Fox had gotten and how smart he was in learning new tricks.
