Page 113 of Undeniably Corrupt

His mouth comes down on mine, and he kisses me like he’s never kissed me before. It’s a kiss filled with passion and desperation. With yearning and intensity.

“You’re mine. You and Hazel are mine.”

My eyes pinch shut, but the tears leak through anyway. He got that tattoo for me. Now he’s not just claiming me but my daughter too? My head falls to the center of his chest, and I grip his back, holding on, knowing I need to walk away but also knowing there’s no way I can now. Still, I have to try.

“We can’t be. Please, Vander, we can’t be.”

“But you are. I love you. I love you, Liora.” He drags me away from his chest and holds my face in his hands. “I fucking love you. Do you think I don’t know what’s going on? Do you think I don’t know who you’re running from? Now tell me why.” His eyes search mine. “Please, baby. You have to talk to me. I can help. I can.”

I shake my head and shirk his fierce grip before my face falls back against his chest and I cry into him. He loves me.

“Vander, I have to leave you.”

“Look at me. Feel me.” He holds me tighter. “I’m in this with you. I told you the other night. I’m in this.”

“No. You need to walk away. And it has to be for good this time.”

It reminds me of our last night together, only in reverse. The night in his dad’s tattoo shop when I snuck out to meet him. He said goodbye to me that night and told me that he wasn’t coming back. I cried nearly the entire time we had sex, even as he tried to kiss and apologize them away. I was heartbroken on top of already being heartbroken.

But that was then, and this is now. He’s not saying goodbye. He’s offering me a new beginning. It just happens to be one I can’t take, no matter how much I wish I could.

He slides off the table, taking me with him, but he doesn’t let go. He drags us down onto a chair. And he kisses me. With his hands on my face and our chests touching, he kisses me and kisses me, and he doesn’t stop. It’s swirls of his tongue and deep melding presses of our lips all interspersed with teasing touches and gentle caresses.

He’s showing me it’s not just words. It’s not just sex.

“I love you,” slips from my lips before I can stop it, and I know I shouldn’t have said it, but I need him to know. I love him, and because I love him, I have to leave him.

“Perfect. I love you more.” He pulls back and holds me still. “Now that we got that out of the way, talk to me.”

I balk. “Never mind. I take it back. I still hate you.”

He squints. “Stop being evasive.”

“I can’t tell you.”

He brushes my hair back from my face. “Why not? Tell me that at least.”

“Because my father will kill you if I do. Which is why Hazel and I have to go.”

33

Honestly, I already knew she was going to say something like that. And that’s not exactly an everyday thing someone says to you. It’s not as if her saying that is hyperbole or some off-the-cuff,my father will kill you if he catches you in my bedroom, kind of thing.

Her father isn’t a good man.

For one, he has an undercover FBI agent on him. For another, he sent that undercover FBI agent here to try to scare me and get more information on my relationship with Liora. More than that, he’s squeaky clean on the outside, and with minor digging, which doesn’t add up. That’s why Saturday night I did some major digging.

I knew the risks of that when I moved her and Hazel in with me.

I didn’t exactly have a choice because Liora wasn’t going to let me get her a place, and there was no way I was letting them stay in her apartment. Even if my lovely drug-dealing, woman-assaulting buddy will be going to prison for a long time, thanks to all the stuff I put on him. Regardless, I wouldn’t have slept with her still living there.

No, she needed to be with me. Hazel too.

I study her. “Where is this coming from? Why now?”

Her teeth snag her lip, and her eyes wobble. Someone got to her. She was threatened.

“Did your father come to see you today or Agent Vega?” And why didn’t I put this together sooner? Even though I didn’t see or notice anyone, her father clearly knows I came up to Maine and blew through town. He knows I’m onto him. He has to. Hell, he might even know I asked about Liora in the coffee shop.