Page 69 of Bombshell

“There’s more to it,” she says. “It’s complicated.”

“Isn’t it always complicated with us?” I ask, leaning to brush my thumb across her lip. “But this? This isn’t complicated. I’ve seen them with her. It was everything I could do not to carry her out of that nightmare when I went to see her.”

“You went?” she asks in a strained voice.

“I assumed you knew.”

“I guessed, but...it doesn’t matter.” She sighs deeply. “Did anyone see you?”

“Felix. He brought her down to talk to me,” I say and hesitate before adding, “and Ginny.”

“Shit. That’s not good.”

But there’s something I can’t ignore any longer. “No one knew I was her father? Malcolm? Ginny?”

I don’t know why it stings. She owes me nothing. Not after I left her to carry this weight alone. Maybe that’s not what bothers me, though. I’d counted on Adair’s family being surprised at my change in circumstances when I returned. I’d even used her brother’s narcissism-fueled obliviousness to my advantage.

“Felix and Ginny both suspected. Ginny’s been acting crazier than usual since you showed up in town. Felix never bought my lie that I didn’t know who the father was,” she says.

“And your father?”

“He never bought it either, but Angus MacLaine could always be counted on to avoid difficult conversations if he had an out.”

“Why?” I ask. It’s the one question I need an answer to for my own sanity. “Why not tell anyone? If people had known, word might have reached me.”

“And let my father continue to wreck your life? I thought you left, and, even if you weren’t the one who made that video, I was so hurt and alone and scared.”

She’d acted on instinct. I can’t fault her for that. I can only spend the rest of my life making this up to her.

“And I stayed,” she continues, “even after...I stayed and I loved her when they didn’t. I stayed, and I protected her from all of them. I stayed and filled the cracks they left in her with all of my love, because they made certain I was powerless to do more. I stayed and watched them play house with her, because getting to be near her was better than losing her altogether.”

Kneeling in front of her, I take her hand. “I swear to you, no one is going to hurt our daughter anymore. I won’t allow it.”

“They have lawyers and money and contracts on their side,” she says, “and they made sure that I had no way to fight them when I realized the mistake I made. We can’t just walk in there and take her back.”

“I know.” It’s what stopped me from doing it earlier. “You needed resources. They kept them from you. I know some people who can handle things like this. I’m going to get a meeting with them as soon as possible.”

“Sterling, this whole town belongs to my family,” she reminds me in a brittle voice.

When I’d come back to Valmont, I’d found a different woman waiting for me in the place of the girl I left behind. I’d caught glimpses over the last few weeks here. The more we spent together, the more I saw her and that fiery personality I’d fallen for years ago. Now I understand what happened. Now I know why she stayed while they slowly chipped away at her. She’s come to life again slowly the more time we spent together, and now I see the mysterious piece of the story that explains everything. And I know what I need to do.

“It doesn’t belong to them anymore.” Truth burns in my words, because nothing will stop me. Not anymore. “This is our town now.”

“But—”

“There are things you need to know,” I stop her. It’s time I come clean, too. “Things that are going to scare you.”

She knits her fingers through mine more tightly. “No, it won’t.

For once, I hope she’s as stubborn as she sounds. I plunge into my other problems, realizing how insignificant they feel now. Judging from Adair’s pale face when I finish telling her about the Bratva, she doesn’t share that sentiment.

“I don’t just have problems,” I finish, “I have rivals. I have enemies.”

“No.” She shakes her head, but her hand doesn’t leave mine. “We have rivals. We have enemies.”

“Adair, I’m not sure you know what you’re getting in to,” I start.

“I’m starting then I look,” she says dryly, squeezing my hand. “And I’m all in.”