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"I'm fine "

"No you're not" he pointed out flatly , pinning me with a stare he continued.

"You've been this quiet since yesterday , I know you are worried about meeting father"

I tilted my gaze to meet his once again, since he knew it all there was no point denying it anymore.

"I'm really worried , what does all this mean?can't we just stay here with you?I know your family do dangerous things and I just don't want my daughter to get involved in any of it" I tried to say as convincingly as I could.

Okay.That didn't come out fine, something hard flashed across his gaze as he approached another step until there was no gap between us.

"I'll.never .put.her .in.any .danger" He breaths out enunciating each word slowly.

"You know how much you both mean to me" his gaze burned with bright intensity, searching mine.

I could feel the tension radiating from his body, I almost reached my hand to touch him but decided against, I don't think that it would help at this moment.

His gaze spoke the plain truth, urging me to believe him and I believed every word he said ,Still that wasn't enough to dispel my worries.

"I know you won't , you would never allow her to get hurt intentionally , but you have enemies , I don't want anything to happen to her just like......" My words to came to a halt when I realized what I had almost let out.

It didn't matter because he perfectly understood already

I saw sadness and raw hurt flickered in his gaze before it completely went blank.

"This is a part of who I am...I can't change the fact Gracie , not even if I wanted to." he spoke quietly.He stormed out of the room before I could utter another word, slamming the door close behind him.

I stared at the now empty room with the most sour taste lingering in my mouth and in the pit of my stomach.

I've hurt his feelings.

But what could I have done ?the feel motherly instinct in me wouldn't be able to bear it if anything happens to our little girl.

These past few weeks with him I had almost forgotten that he has a life outside, one he would have to get back to sooner or later.

Just like he'd said, he couldn't change that fact, even if he wanted to...

A sigh escaped my mouth as I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration .Why do I feel that we've taken a step backwards from all the progress this past week.

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HAYDEN

My fist punched hard against the tiled wall but I didn't feel the tingling sensation.My muscles were all tensed up.

She had been right

But that didn't make the truth hurt any less.

Often at times it was common in our business, it wasn't rare for someone to get hurt, just like mother and Jenny like she'd stopped herself from saying.I'll fuck with anyone before I let anything happen to either of them ,still it had felt like she was condemning me .Like our daughter would get hurt and it would be because of me.And it had felt like a punch to my gut .I exhaled roughly feeling the need to break things, the mirror in front of me looked so tempting....everything had been going well , the last thing I needed was a rift.

I already anticipated this during the past week, sometimes I had woken up during the night to stare at her wondering how she would take it....being introduced to the world I lived in.

"Fuck." I breath out in frustration as I walked out of the bathroom, there had to be a way to make her understand.....That there was no god damned way out of this.

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