Page 84 of Dirty Game

Need air. Need space. Need to feel something other than this crushing weight in my chest.

The roof is empty, Vancouver spread out below in glittering lights like fallen stars.

The wind immediately whips at my dress, pulling my carefully pinned hair free, and I kick off my silver heels, needing to feel something real under my feet.

The concrete is cold, grounding, real in a way nothing else feels right now.

I climb onto the ledge.

Not because I want to jump.

I don't have a death wish. I just need to feel something—the danger, the height, the possibility.

Need to remember that I'm alive, that I'm more than just a replacement for the woman downstairs with his child.

The wind pulls at my dress, making it billow like wings, and for a moment, I understand why people jump. Not for death, but for those few seconds of flight.

His son.

Varrick has a son.

Withher.

With the woman who carved her initials into his hip like he was cattle, like she owned him.

Who betrayed him to his enemies.

Who he loved enough to let live when everyone knows Varrick Bane doesn't leave loose ends.

And she kept this from him.

Kept his child a secret for five years, raised him somewhere, somehow, while Varrick built his empire, not knowing he had an heir.

The cruelty of it is breathtaking.

"Get the fuck down."

His voice comes from behind me, carefully controlled, but I can hear the fear underneath.

Good. Let him be afraid for once.

I don't turn around. "Why? If she's your forever, what am I?"

"Rosalynn, get down from the fucking ledge."

"Answer the question."

"You're going to fall."

"Maybe I want to." I spread my arms, letting the wind catch the dress. "Maybe falling would be better than being second choice."

I hear him move closer, his footsteps careful on the gravel. "You want to have this conversation while you're standing on a ledge forty stories up?"

"Seems as good a place as any." The wind pulls harder at my dress, and I have to adjust my balance. "Did you know? About the boy?"

"Yes." The word is raw, honest, and something I didn’t expect.

"Do you believe her? That he's yours?"