“You brought me here to show me off to your family. Did you think I wouldn’t notice what your game was like? Was your plan to get me killed?”
"I didn't think you'd notice."
"Thirty million wasn't enough of an insult?" She shoved at me again.
"You had to go and invite the entire Turkish mob to join in killing me?" She slapped me again.
"Calm down, Stephanie."
"I should have never let you touch me. I should have killed you when I had the chance."
She lunged at me, and I grabbed her wrists, bringing them up behind her. We stumbled, falling against the rail, and she accidentally slipped on her dress and nearly toppled over. She cried out just as I grabbed her by the waist, bringing her back into the safety of my arms.
She grabbed at the lapels of my jacket, her breath ragged. "We're not good for each other, are we?" I asked her softly.
"Toxic," she sucked in a breath of air.
"I live to torture you, my Duchess. I'll never stop until you’re mine."
"Why?"
"Because I'm in love with you," I confessed.
Her eyes widened as I brushed my hand across her lips and down her neck. I had so many feelings I'd kept hidden for so long, I just didn’t want to hold them back anymore. Not that I wanted to.
"I've always loved you. Ever since Alan brought you into the family business. You were so magnetic. So smart. Too damn smart for him. Fuck, for any of us."
I ran my hands through my hair as I released her. I turned my back to her, gripping the railing, avoiding her eyes, and looking out at the dark canyons instead. The Hollywood sign gleamed in the distance, and a coyote's howl echoed in the deep silence.
"But you always treated me as if I were the enemy,” she said quietly.
"Because you were...to my grandfather. To my family. You were a stranger who had too much access. You knew too much, Stephanie, and as much as I tried to protect you, Alan got in the way."
She was suddenly at my side, leaning against the rail to watch me. "Were you the one who killed Alan, Caleb?"
I knew I was going to lose her if I gave her a wrong answer. Hell, I was going to lose her whether I told the truth or I lied. There was something about Stephanie Winters that made you want to tell her all your secrets. As if she could be able to keep them safe for you without holding any type of judgement because she wasn't without sin. She knew exactly what it meant to keep a secret.
I simply looked over at her. The wind played with the strands of her jet-black hair.
"You're so damn beautiful."
"That's not answering my question."
"What if I don't want to answer it?"
She looked out at those same canyons and then back at me. "Then I'll disappear, and you'll never find me again."
“That didn’t work for you the last two times.”
“This time it will, Caleb. 'Cause I’m done with all this. I’m tired of running.”
I wasn't sure what was worse, never seeing her again or dying. They were both the same in my book. Losing her would be equivalent to death for Caleb Killic.
"I'm going to ask you one more time…"
Her voice faded as I looked out onto the canyons again. The question stilled the air, and as I looked at her, I knew this was what I had to do.
Chapter 23
