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To destroy the man who had hurt her.
No. To destroy thepeoplewho had hurt her.
The parents would be easy to find—he’d start with them. Then he’d figure out why her voice was so broken when talking about that man she’d loved.
Fingers on his jaw, turning his head toward her, his gaze to hers, when he didn’t realize he’d been locked onto the dunes again, focused on his plan of revenge.
“That’s why,” she whispered, the words barely audible about the wind. “That’swhy.”
“What’swhy, sweetheart?”
“I knew you’d react like this. Knew it before I even knewyou.” Her hand covered his. “And I knew it was even more true after I got to know your family, got to know the real you.” A squeeze. “A knight sweeping in. Avenging all the wrongs. I knew you’d get in, burst right through my walls, riding pell-mell for my heart.”
“Pell-mell?”
He shouldn’t want to smile. Not after what she’d told him.
Not after the last months.
Not after the fire—the second one, oranotherif he counted the cigarette burns—that had left Raven scarred again.
“Dangerous,” she told him. “You were dangerous for me. Then”—her voice dropped—“andnow.”
He scowled. “I wouldneverhurt you.”
“I know that, honey.” A long moment of quiet. “But that doesn’t change the truth of it.”
Dangerous.
Him.
That was…
Unfathomable.
“What did the man do to you?”
“He loved me,” she whispered.
“Baby.” Brushing his knuckles along her cheek. “Whatdid he do to you?”
She looked away, throat working.
“Did he hit you?”
A shake of her head.
“Control you?”
Another shale of her head.
Connor decided to make it crystal clear. “Did he abuse you in any way—emotionally, financially, physically?”
Quiet. Still. Then, “No.”
“Then what, sweetheart?” he asked. “What did your ex do to you?”
She looked back, tears glimmering in her eyes. “All he ever did was love me.”
