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Hayden grips my elbow, dragging me off Cato. “If she hasn’t run by now, she’s already half yours.”
“Fuck the half, man.”
“Since when did you want her?” Kieran asks in a tone that says it’s about time.
“There is something about her.”
They look at me like I’m stupid, and I drop back in my chair.
“I don’t like it. I can’t stop it either.”
“Does she know?”
I groan and they shake their heads at me.
“I never thought I would say this, but how dumb are you? She’s your fucking wife. Better make this work.” Kieran snickers.
“Thank you for the pep talk. It’s always helpful.”
“Any time, man.”
When the meeting ends, Kieran walks out with me. When we reach my car, he squeezes my shoulder. Deep in thought, he looks behind me and says, “I know you like I know myself. I have no fucking idea why we love to sabotage ourselves.”
“You believed in what you could hold on to, and that was our plan. We had our business goals, our careers. Relationships, though... You had no clue,” I say.
“Yes, then Aurora happened and everything else came second. She and Aiden are what’s important. The Syndicate is not the endgame. At the end of the day, it gives me more stress than pleasure. I almost lost her. Learn from our fucking mistakes. I love you. You’re my brother, my family. Believe me, misery is not worth it.
“That fucker never succeeded in making you into him, so let him fucking go. You put a bullet in Silas. Put a bullet through the things you couldn’t change as well. You were a teenager back then. Jenny never knew the difference between being in love with you and being grateful to you. Silas knew you had a heart and a conscience, and he wanted you to get rid of them. That motherfucker was everything but stupid.”
“I . . .” I pause, my throat clamming up.
“Say that fucking out loud.”
“I can’t stop feeling guilty.”
“You can’t force feelings. What happened was not your fault. Your fucking piece-of-shit father raped her. If you could go back, what would you do?”
“Jenny was in no position to choose and sleeping with her would have made me like him.”
“Exactly. That was the most honorable thing you could have done. Don’t ruin your future because of a ghost from the past.”
I shove my hands in my pockets and stare toward the forest.
“I already fucked up.”
“It’s in our nature. If Violet’s half as important to you as I think she is, give her your best and keep the worst for our enemies.”
I mull over his words the entire drive home.
I can’t believe I would still choose misery. My asshole of a father conditioned me better than what I was aware of.
When I arrive home, I stop at the base of the stairs. Violet stands at the top of the landing. She’s wearing a turquoise cocktail dress and sandals with delicate straps. Her natural hair falls down her back in loose curls. The breathtaking image opens my chest, flooding it with only her. With her dainty hand on the railing, she puts one foot in front of the other. I cock my head, my eyes gorging on pure beauty.
She’s not wearing a necklace, and fuck if I don’t want to put a collar on her. A diamond one. So she and the rest of the world recognize she’s mine.
“You look exquisite, darling.”
“Thank you.”
