I wouldneverhurt him.
The very moment our eyes met, I knew I’d never be the same. Something inside of me shifted, and I didn’t recognize it then, but now I know thatshiftwas just him—filling all the cracks inside my soul. Tearing us apart would be as fatal as carving my heart from my hollow chest.
“His obsession with me runs parallel to how I feel for him. His fixation is matched by mine. The only gravity that needs to be understood is the one pulling us together. I respect you, Thea, but I’m not seeking your approval. He is.”
“You think I don’t approve?” Thea’s tongue popped against the roof of her mouth. “I know exactly who you are, Elijah. I’ve had months,years, to disapprove of you and still I don’t.”
Years?
“I’ve spent over a decade protecting him, and I will not abandon that instinct just because you've decided you like it when he calls you daddy.”
I didn’t fucking like what she was implying.
Daddywas the most important thing I’d ever fucking be, and the trust he gifted me with was so goddamn heady, it nearly took me to my knees. I’d sooner tear my bones from my muscles than do anything to damage my boy.
“I’m confident enough in my knowledge of you, Elijah, to know you’ll take care of him but remember what you saw in that folder, yeah? Remember how lucky you are to have—”
“What folder?”
Silas tore his hand from my shirt and started scratching at his forearms. He stumbled when he shuffled backward, his shoulders rigid and hunched forward. His eyes made sharp, frantic lines across the room as though he was searching for a hole to crawl into.
I was missing something, andfuck, I hated the way he tore apart his lip with nervous teeth. “Kitten, what’s wrong? If you want to bite something, come bite me.”
“Silas.” Thea pinched the bridge of her nose, her cheeks hollowing as she blew out a breath so excessive, her feet nearly came off the ground. “He doesn’t know?”
He flapped his hands once…
Twice…
Three times…
“No.” He finally said, but the word was so fucking strangled, I wondered how he got it past his throat.
“Silas, how could you not tell him? I thought you had a plan?”
“Plans get ruined.” His eyes were stone when he finally looked at her, his jaw ticking as his teeth ground together. “A stupid man in a stupid vest touched my Daddy, Thea, and it’s his fault that everything got ruined.”
“Silas—”
His fingers shook when he raised them, and I watched as he brushed them across his jaw. “He ruined everything when he touched my Daddy, and now he can’t touch anything. Not anymore.”
Thea choked on his words the moment she felt the intensity of them.
“Sweetheart?” A blaze tore through my body. “Did you hurt that man?”
“I had to, Daddy.”
One by one, I captured his hands, tangling his fingers in mine while I lifted them to my chest, encouraging him to claw. The familiar bite of his nails bore through me, and when I was certain he wasn’t going anywhere, I wrapped my palms around his face and lifted his eyes to mine. “Tell Daddy what you did.”
“I hacked into his car.”
“Did you crash it?”
He shook his head. “I deployed the airbag. He lifted his hands to save his face. I broke six of his fingers but he isn’t dead.”
Relief swept through me, and it surprised me the moment I felt it.
I wouldn’t lose one fucking wink of sleep over the thought of that man’s bones cracking beneath his skin but I didn’t want my boy to be a killer. Taking another man’s life was the ultimate theft, and there was no way in hell I’d let him carry a trail of bodies on his back.