Page 28

Nic

I burst through the front door, the night air hitting my bare legs as Kai’s steady footsteps follow me down the porch steps.

“You show up at my fucking house, talk to my dad like an old friend—“ I whirl around to face him, my voice shaking with rage. “What the fuck was that, Kai?”

Kai stops at the bottom of the steps, hands in his pockets, completely unruffled. The streetlight catches the sharp line of his jaw, turning half his face into something carved from stone.

“Three days, Nicole.”

The words are soft, but they land like a punch. My pulse stutters, but I force my arms to cross tightly over my chest. “So, you know my father?”

Does he know he was Cass’s stepdad?

He takes a step closer. “What did I say would happen if you ran?”

I scoff, throwing my arms up, hoping he can’t see how badly my hands are shaking. “I’m not running. I’m just—weighing my options.”

He closes the distance between us, stopping so close I have to tilt my head back to hold his gaze. “Letting your ex put his hands on you is what you call ‘weighing your options’?”

My chin jerks up, heat flooding my cheeks. The night air suddenly feels too thin, like I can’t get enough oxygen. “He didn’t ‘put’ his hands on me.”

Kai takes another step closer and suddenly his heat, his scent—he’s everywhere, closing in.

“I told you what would happen if you ran,” he says softly.

“So, what, I don’t get to decide what I want?” I snap.

His head tilts, lips curling into something that isn’t quite a smile. “Of course. Except that what you want is right in front of you.”

“God, your ego knows no bounds.” My voice drips with sarcasm. But my pulse? It’s a frantic, fluttering thing in my throat.

Kai’s expression hardens, the calm cracking just enough to show the savage beneath. He strides to the passenger side of his car and throws open the door.

“Get in.”

I blink. “What?”

His jaw flexes, voice low and rough. “Get. In. The. Car.”

“Are you out of your mind?” I glance back at the house, where warm light spills from the windows, where Dad and Bea are standing, watching this disaster unfold.

Kai gestures to the open door. “Get in, or I’ll put you in there myself.”

The air between us crackles. My common sense wants to run. My pride wants to stand my ground and fight. But my legs—those traitorous bastards—begin moving forward until I’m sliding into the passenger seat.

I barely have time to catch my breath before Kai slams my door shut and stalks back to the house.

“What the hell are you doing?” I call after him but he doesn’t answer.

I watch as he steps inside. Minutes crawl by, my stomach twisting into knots, until he finally re-emerges while tucking something into his breast pocket.

“What the fuck was that?” I whirl on him the moment he slides into the driver’s seat.

“I simply told your father we needed to talk. At length.”

A sharp laugh bursts out of me—part disbelief, part fury. “You told my father—”

He cuts me off with a look. “Buckle up.”

The engine roars to life, the sound slicing through the quiet street as I fumble with my seatbelt.

Wherever he’s taking me—whatever this is—I’m not ready.

“What are we doing here?” I break the tense silence ten minutes later, when Kai pulls up at what used to be a playground, but is now overrun with tall weeds.

Rusty swings creak in the night breeze, the old slide casting long shadows under the single flickering streetlight

He turns to me. “I told you, I’ll give you anything you need. Just ask me.”

I scoff, “What, you’ll give yourself to me? Since you’ve decided that you’re the entirety of my desires?”

He lets out a slow breath. “Nicole. You are incapable of letting in anyone who isn’t family because you’re afraid they’ll hurt you even worse than you’re already hurting. You need familiarity to feel truly safe.”

I swallow hard, mortified and feeling about as transparent as glass. I open my mouth to argue, but nothing comes out.

Kai’s gaze softens as he points to the playground.

“This is where I was born.”

“This playground?”

“It used to be a trailer park.”

I clench my teeth against the ache in my chest. I knew he was born in Valencia but . . . a trailer park?

“I figured,” I say, the half-truth bitter on my tongue. “Since my father knows yours.”

He puts a knuckle under my chin, forcing my gaze back to his. “Did you also know that I was raised by a single father? That Malakai Keoni was foreman at the Aldridge Orchards? That he wasn’t paid for months at a time to ‘keep him in line?’”

His voice roughens. “That I begged and did stunts in Lake Orange to help take care of my baby sister?”

Oh, my God. Pain tears through my defenses as I look at him—seeing the boy he was. The one I’ve been piecing together in stolen fragments.

“I had no idea,” I whisper.

“I was scouted by a swim coach who saw potential in a kid desperate enough to jump into ice-cold water for ten cents.” His thumb traces my jaw.

“My father let the coach take me away and change my name to fit the ‘all-American boy’ image they wanted to sell.”

I swallow the tears clogged in my throat. “Because he couldn’t look after both you and Lana?”

Kai nods slowly.

Just like my father couldn’t handle his grief, a baby, and two other children, Kai’s father jumped at the chance to give his son something he couldn’t provide.

“Six months after I left, his trailer burned down. With him inside.”

I gasp, my vision blurry with tears. “Kai . . .”

He holds up a hand, his expression matter of fact. “After Lester Aldridge, his employer, gave his statement, the police ruled it as suicide and closed the case.”

His revelation settles over me, heavy and suffocating. The Aldridges have been my family for so long. They’re by no means saints, but this . . . this is something I can’t imagine they’d do. Or forgive if they actually did.

Still, something dark hovers at the edges of my mind. And even before the question leaves my lips, I’m already regretting it.

“Is that why you want me, Kai? Some twisted revenge? To take and ruin something you think belongs to the Aldridges?”

He turns to look at me, and his wounded, almost disappointed expression undoes me. Without a word, he takes out his phone, types quickly, then puts it away.

He pulls out of the park, knuckles white on the steering wheel.

“Where are we going?” My voice sounds small in the darkness.

“Home.”

Home. My stomach drops. Since moving back to L.A., he’s been living with his sister and her family.

Barely dressed and mid-confession-slash-fight and is hardly the time for an introduction to his family, but nothing Kai is doing tonight has made perfect sense to me.

The freeway signs blur past, and instead of turning toward Malibu, he merges onto an exit and keeps driving until we pull up to a sign marked Private Aviation Terminal.

My pulse spikes.

“Wait—where are you taking me?” I sit up straighter as the car glides through the gates of a private hangar.

Kai doesn’t answer, he just parks in front of a sleek white jet. The roar of the engines fills the silence as he gets out. He strides around to my side, opens the door, and holds out his hand.

“Let’s go.”

I gape at him. “Are you insane? I can’t go anywhere dressed like this!” I gesture at myself—oversized sleep shirt, messy bun, bare legs, and fluffy slippers.

His lips twitch, like he’s fighting a smirk despite his black mood. “You look fine. Come on.”

“Not on your life!” I cross my arms over my chest.

“Nicole.” Something in his voice sends a shiver down my spine. “Don’t make me carry you.”

I glance around. There’s no one here except the ground crew, and I know without a doubt he’ll do it.

I stumble out of the car, glaring up at him. He reaches into his breast pocket, then shrugs out of his blazer.

Before I can protest, he drapes his blazer over my shoulders just as the chill hits me. It’s maddening—how he’s always ten steps ahead, always knowing exactly what I need.

I grit my teeth as his scent surrounds me. It’s when I notice what he’s holding that I truly lose it.

“Bea gave you my passport?”

“Of course. I’m part of the family now.” His smile is sharp. “Isn’t that what you like?”

I sputter, ping-ponging between rage and disbelief, but he keeps walking, guiding me up the steps of the jet like this is the most natural thing in the world.

The crew greets him with polite smiles, and I feel their curious gazes darting to me—the crazy passenger in ratty sleepwear and fluffy rabbit slippers.

I’m taken aback the moment I step into the aircraft. Cream plush leather seats sprawl like an invitation to sin and glossy wood finishes whisper of the kind of luxury I never let myself want.

“Is this—yours?” I want to kick myself for the awe bleeding into my voice.

“And Lana’s, yes.”

Everything gleams with quiet wealth, but because it’s Kai’s, it’s not intimidating—it’s welcoming.

I fight the ridiculous urge to fling myself into one of those obscenely comfortable-looking seats and plant my feet, angry at how easily I’m forgetting this crap he’s pulling.

“Where the hell are you taking me, Kai?” I grind out.

“Sit.”

The command hits a raw nerve, and something hot surges through me. “Don’t fucking bark orders at me!”

Kai steps close, so close I tilt my head back to keep glaring at him, refusing to back down even as my pulse skitters wildly.

“I’m taking you to Gstaad,” He whispers, and the way he says it—like it’s already decided—makes me want to scream.

“I don’t want to go to Gstaad!”

“Tough. You’re going.”

The audacity of this man. My rage boils over, burning away the last threads of my control.

I shove him, hard.

He barely budged an inch and smirks.

Fucking smirks

Next thing I know, I’m pounding my fists against his chest. “You arrogant, controlling prick! I hate you! Hate you!”

Kai catches my wrists with frightening ease, holding them behind me at the small of my back with one hand while the other digs into my nape. His body crowds me against the cabin wall, then he bends to my ear, his dark chuckle sending ripples of awareness through me.

“No, you don’t, my love,” he whispers, his lips trailing along my jaw until they fuse to my lips. I resist for all of two seconds before the world dissolves into heat and hunger.

The kiss consumes me, my body greedily soaking in his taste as if I’d been starving for months instead of days.

God, I’ve missed this. I’ve missed him.

My fingers clench with the need to touch him, to sink into his hair, but he holds my wrists fast. His tongue slides against mine and I moan, my mouth opening wider in a silent plea.

He takes the invitation, claiming every inch of my mouth until I’m trembling against him, my thoughts scattered like ashes in the wind.

When he finally pulls back, my knees are weak, my breath coming in ragged gasps.

His forehead touches mine, dark eyes stripping me bare. “You don’t hate me, Nic. You need me. You’re falling for me. And we’re not coming back until you get used to it.”