The admission makes my stomach roll uncomfortably. I was good at school, but when they got wind of me living on the street, the teachers started asking questions and alluded to calling social services. I couldn’t go back to foster care, and so I had to stop going to school, a fact that has brought me nothing but shame over the years.
A large hand brushes through my matted hair, and I flick my eyes up to meet his. “It’s okay, Ember. I’ll figure it out for us. You just worry about being a perfect wife and mother to our children.”
“Children?” I ask, a fresh wave of panic battering against my chest.
“Of course. I need an heir. Two or three would be best, I think. You know how kids are these days. Gotta make sure at least one of them is useful.”
My mouth drops open in surprise at the same time the microwave beeps, tearing his attention away from me and my shock.
If I didn’t already know I needed to get the fuck out of here, I sure as hell do now.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
ORION
Ember’s eyes haunt me.
The fear as she stares up into the camera, her hands clutching at the white sheet for dear life.
She doesn’t look hurt, which only eases my mind slightly. Because I know better than anyone, physical pain isn’t the worst thing someone can feel.
It’s the emotional pain that will get you.
Max lost his mind when he saw the photos and started calling every lawyer he has on his payroll, asking about the laws around forced marriage, but seeing as it’s five in the morning, they weren’t overly useful.
Meanwhile, I’ve been stuck, staring at the images, analyzing every single detail. The background, the cot she’s lying on, even the fucking thread count of the sheet.
Killian woke up when I threw a chair through the wall of the office, storming into the room with his gun drawn like someone had broken in. Instead, he was met with the unhinged monster we both thought was long gone when I stopped killing people for money.
He’s working with a hacker on the footprint of the images, whatever the hell that means.
I don’t care, as long as I know we’re doing everything possible to bring my girl home.
God, the fear in her eyes.
I can’t stop thinking about it.
Truthfully, I think I’ll be haunted by that look for the rest of my fucking life.
It’ll be right up there with when I held her on the floor of my bathroom, watching as she slipped away and begging her to stay with me.
Yeah, I have a lot of memories of Ember that are going to star in my nightmares for the rest of my life.
Darius drops a coffee on the desk in front of me, and I thank him as he moves over to where Max has his head in his hands on the couch. We’re down to one chair on this side of the desk. The other one is currently hanging out of the wall.
If I wasn’t so terrified, I’d probably be able to find it in myself to be impressed by that.
Killian’s in the spot I normally sit in, his eyes moving over his laptop screen as he talks on the phone, but I don’t hear a word he says.
I’m just grateful as all hell I stumbled across him that night all those years ago, because I don’t think I could do this by myself.
I flinch when my phone vibrates in my hand, and Lucas’s number pops up on the screen.
“He’s calling me,” I tell them, unable to tear my eyes off the phone.
“Answer it and keep him on the line,” Killian orders, his own phone forgotten as his fingers fly over the keyboard.
I swallow heavily and force the Hunter to the surface. Appearing weak right now will only drag this out. Lucas needs to know he hasn’t broken me.
