Page 46 of Scorched Veil
Instead, I let her walk away.
And now she’s in hell because of it.
I’m coming, baby.
I’m coming to burn the whole world down to get you back.
17
SUMMER
The first three days with Storm passed in an uneasy kind of peace. He brought me to his apartment in the city, a sleek, modern space that felt too polished, like it was rented just to look successful. He gave me the guest room, ordered takeout every evening, and didn’t press me to talk. He was acting like my brother, but his actions felt off.
I haven’t called Kairo since arriving back on the mainland.I want to. I miss him.I think about him every waking hour. I pick up my phone and stare at his name, then put it down again. I dream about him every night, his hands, his mouth, his voice. I wake up, reaching across the bed for a body that isn't there.
On the fourth day, Storm tells me our father wants to see me.
"He's been asking," Storm says over coffee. "He knows you're here. He wants to talk."
"I have nothing to say to him."
"He knows what he did was wrong," he tells me.
I don't believe that. Men like Mario Rayne don't change. But Storm keeps pushing, and eventually I agree because part of me wants to look my father in the eye and tell him exactly what his fifty-million-dollar mistake cost me.
We meet him at his penthouse downtown. My father is standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out over the city like he thinks he still owns it. He turns when I walk in, and for a second, he just stares at me, like he can’t believe I’m real.
“Summer,” he says, voice rough. “You came.” He starts to walk toward me to give me a hug.
I stop halfway across the room, arms crossed tight over my chest, and halt his actions.
“Don’t,” I say. “Don’t act like you’re happy to see me.”
“Don’t be like that. I’m so sorry, sweetheart. What I did … selling you to Saint … it was unforgivable. But I was desperate. He was going to kill me.”
He’s not wrong, Kairo would have.
“Would it have made you happier if I were dead?” he asks.
My eyes narrow on him. What a manipulative asshole. Has he always been like this? Feels like the veil has been lifted regarding my father and he is exactly everything Kairo has told me he is.
“So, you traded me like a fucking asset.” My voice is calm and even. “You signed a contract and handed me over like I was nothing. Do you have any idea what that did to me?”
He flinches at my tone. “It was my life, darling, what don’t you understand?”
“You traded your life for mine.”
“He wasn’t going to kill you.” My father scoffs.
“You didn’t know that,” I argue back.
“The man seems obsessed with you. He was never going to harm you,” Storm adds.
That’s why they did it, they knew of Kairo’s obsession with me.
“You could have asked me. I would have done it to save your life,” I tell my father.
He seems taken aback. “Then why are you upset?”
