Chapter 3
Denver
Once we’re alone, Axel lets out a breath. “I’m going to make a coffee. Does anyone want one?”
I shake my head, “No, thank you.”
Ranger shakes his head, too.
I remain standing, and my husband keeps his attention on my face.
The last time we were this close, he was holding our son and a box of matches in a gasoline-soaked room.
Evidence of his fight with Colt a week ago shows on his face, a cut by his eye, one across his nose, but other than that, he looks like Ranger.
“I’m sorry.” His voice is soft, but he looks as if he’s burying a knife into his chest and twisting.
I allow myself a long blink as the words strike my heart. “An apology will never be enough for what you did.”
“I know,” he says. “But I’m saying it anyway. Is our son okay?”
“Don’t call him that.”
“That’s who he is. Our son. Our child.”
Shudders rack me and I turn away from him. “Stop it. Please, just … stop.” My voice breaks, and I pray for the strength to hold myself together. To ask for his help when I want to put a bullet between his eyes.
It’s for Colt. For Holly. For Finn. For Ronan.
For the family.
I close my eyes and picture Colt’s face, imagining his arms around me.
“This is forever for me.”
I school my expression and face Ranger again. “I need you to support me in this.”
His laugh is cold. “Support the McEwans after all they did?”
“Finn told me everything, Ranger. He tried to help you, he tried to help me, but you refused all of it.”
“I didn’t need his pity.”
“Maybe if you’d taken it, you wouldn’t be such a fucking monster.” I somehow keep myself from screaming the words. “Finn was a good man. He cared about you. He looked after me after you ruined us.”
Ranger looks physically disgusted by the words and stands.
I keep my ground as he advances. “Looked after you? As if any man could care for you the way I do.” He rests his hand on the mantel, towering over me.
“You lived in my house for seven fucking years, Denver. Not once did you ever come to any harm. How long have you been here?” He reaches out to move my hair aside, and I flinch as he runs his finger down one of the healing cuts on my face.
“Finn failed you. Colt failed you. They’re paying the price for it now, aren’t they? ”
I glare up at him. “Say one more word about Colt, and I’ll shoot you where you stand.”
The rage in him is unbridled. Dangerous. Terrifying.
But when you’ve faced down a lion so many times, it’s hard to worry what it will do. He’s already torn me to pieces and feasted on the remains.
How else could he possibly hurt me?
“I got word this morning that Vince Capelli is dead,” he says, remaining close. Too close. He searches my face. “Murdered in his home. Throat slit. And isn’t it interesting that the man so eager to kill Colt gets his revenge, then ends up choking on his own blood?”
I frown. “How did you know he wanted to kill Colt?”
“Everybody heard about the bone-breaking incident. And if they hadn’t, then your little stunt in the restaurant spread pretty fast. Denver Luxe saves Colt Harland in a blaze of glory.
News like that gets tongues wagging.” He twists a lock of my hair between his fingers.
“Did you kill Vince Capelli, little bird?”
My heart beats so fast I can feel the size of it in my chest. “I didn’t have to. Someone beat me to it.”
His smile is slow and wicked. “Look at you. Look who I created.” I turn my face from him when he touches my cheek. “I was wrong to cage you, wasn’t I, little bird? To expect you to hold back?” He leans close, his breath warm on my ear. “Who’s the real monster?”
I swallow. “I didn’t try to kill a child in a pathetic act of jealousy.”
“Jealousy doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel,” he growls, seizing the back of my neck to keep me in place. “Jealousy is juvenile. Envy is pathetic. Colt took my heart from my fucking chest and tried to keep it.”
Pieces of who I was gather, a weaker form of Denver crawling to the surface. Desperate to please him. To apologize. To tell him it was a mistake, and I take it back. It’s a knee-jerk reaction to accept the harder road to ease my conscience.
I owe him.
No …
I owed him.
But I’ve paid enough.
I meet his eyes, our faces close. “He didn’t take your heart.
He took mine.” The pain that flashes through him emboldens me.
“He gave me truth where you only ever lied. He freed me. He loves me the way I deserve. He would never even dream of caging me.” He searches my face, agony shining in the darkness in his eyes.
“You destroyed me. Lied to me. Manipulated me. But worse than all that”—my lip trembles with the urge to cry—“you broke my fucking heart.”
He shakes his head, lips parting. “I didn’t … I didn’t know how else to love you.”
“That’s not my fault,” I whisper. “But now you’ll repay me for what you did. You need to make up for every lie you told by doing this for me.”
Ranger doesn’t move. He continues to crowd me, his hand fixed firmly on the back of my neck, his internal battle written all over his face.
A hand lands on his forearm. I hadn’t noticed Axel return, but he’s beside us, his attention on Ranger. “Let her go, Dad.”
Ranger looks at his son. The one he neglected, pushed away, cut out of his life, and then the moment I hid him, pretended to care. And for the second time in his life, he does as Axel asks. He steps back and returns to his place on the couch, appearing as close to royalty as a gangster can get.
He says nothing, he just gestures for me to speak. Axel stays by my side.
And I ask Ranger Luxe for a favor.
The conversation lasts an hour. I tell Ranger what I need from him, which includes him remaining in New York for a while. We need to appear strong, the heads of two powerful families on two coasts, something that’s never been done before.
Ranger listens and doesn’t object. I’m asking very little—we’re going to be living the day-to-day lives we did in San Francisco, the only difference being that our marriage is a lie.
But maybe that was always the case.
The first place we’ll be seen together is Finn’s funeral. I hate bringing him, especially with Colt’s mom being there, but I don’t have a choice. Everybody, friend and foe, will be in that church, and it’s the best way to hit the ground running.
When the conversation is over, I hug Axel.
“You can stay with us,” I whisper. “You don’t have to be here. You don’t owe him anything.”
He holds me tightly. “I can’t leave him like this.”
Axel has his troubles, but he’s got a good heart. It’s hard to believe he’s related to Ranger, let alone his son.
“What happened with Harriett?” I ask as I pull back from the embrace.
He sighs deeply. “I didn’t deal well. I dumped my real name on her and left.”
“Axel …”
“I know, but I had no choice. I needed to get home, and she was more bothered about whether you were coming to the wedding. She hasn’t called. I don’t think she will.”
I place my hand on his cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“Honestly … I’m not. I think I was so desperate for normality that I overlooked a lot of shit going wrong between us. It’s probably for the best.” He takes my hand and focuses on my fingers. “Me being here doesn’t mean I forgive him for what he did to you.”
My smile is gentle. “I know that, Ax. You do what you have to. There’s no judgment from me.”
I kiss his cheek. Ranger stands at the end of the hall, arms folded, watching us.
“Thursday,” I say to him, and he gives me a singular nod.
We leave, rejoining Alistair and Taf in the lobby. Without Axel with us, Alistair chooses to drive back with me.
My heart is heavy. My shoulder aches. I need pain relief, a bubble bath, and bed.
But there’s still too much to do.
“I assume he agreed.”
I stare out the window. “He did.”
“Good. One less thing to deal with. Is he coming to the funeral?” he asks, and I nod. “You’ll need to be on your game that day. Convincing. Strong. You can’t—”
“Alistair, my patience with you is constantly fraying, but today, it’s non-fucking-existent,” I say, turning my head to him.
“This is the only conversation we’ll be having for the rest of the day, so allow me to say a few things.
I know what’s expected of me. I know who to talk to and how to act.
I will do as I’m told. But if you ever, and I mean ever, question my loyalty to Colt and this family in front of Ranger or anyone else again, I will bring holy hell down on you.
Do you understand?” Our eyes are locked, and I refuse to look away.
“I just asked the man who took everything from me for a favor. If that doesn’t prove what this family means to me, then I give up. ”
I return my attention to the scenery beyond the window.
Alistair says nothing for the rest of the drive.