Page 104 of Scaled Daddy's Secret Heir
I let the word hang like a slap.
He looks away for the first time, just slightly. Down and to the left. Like he’s staring at the edge of a memory he can’t quite hold.
“I wanted to come back.”
I laugh, sharp and humorless. “Then why didn’t you?”
“I couldn’t risk it. The people who had me—they made it clear. Contact was death. For me. For you.”
“And now?”
He meets my gaze again. “Now they’ve reactivated me. They think I still belong to them.”
My breath catches.
“They sent you here.”
He nods once.
“To kill me.”
His silence is all the answer I need.
I don’t flinch.
I just whisper, “Then why didn’t you?”
“Because I never stopped loving you.”
The words are raw. Bleeding.
I close my eyes.
Goddamn him.
I want to scream. Want to slap him again. Want to drag him inside and collapse against his chest, just for one second. Just to remember what it felt like before the war gutted us.
But I can’t afford any of that.
Because down the hall, behind me, is a pair of small boots lined up against the wall.
I shift my stance without thinking, angling my body just enough so Kalev can’t see past me. My arms cross tighter, as if my frame alone could block a view into the world he doesn’t know about yet.
I feel the instinct coil tight in my chest like a fist.
Not yet.
Not until I’m sure.
His voice cuts through again—softer now. “You’re still guarding something.”
I shake my head too fast. “I’m guardingmyself.”
“No,” he says. “You’re not.”
I don’t answer.
He steps closer. Now he’s only inches from me. I can feel the heat of him, the tremor in his breath. His hand lifts—like he might touch me—but he stops short. Fingers hover at my shoulder, not daring to close the space.
