Page 71 of Forbidden Fate

His body is warm. Alive. Real.

I shouldn’t find it comforting, but I do.

For the first time in days, I let myself fall.

I let myself fall against the man who is my captor.

And it’s the safest I’ve ever felt.

26

CRUZ

I wake with clean sheets tangled around my legs and Robin Bellamy curled against my side.

Then yesterday comes back.

All at once.

Fuck.

I really got myself into it this time.

I turn my head carefully.

Robin is asleep with one hand curled near her mouth, her dark hair spilling over the pillow, her lashes lying against her cheeks.

My stomach knots.

She looks peaceful.

I lie there for another minute, listening to her breathe. I don’t regret getting her out of there, but for a moment I think about what it all means.

Vega has spent years trying to get leverage over the Bellamys. Years. Money, threats, back channels, old debts, men in suits, men with guns.

Then Robin fell into his hands.

And I took her.

I opened the cage.

Vega will have my head for this.

Not a figure of speech.

He’ll literally take my head.

Zabala will help. He’ll enjoy it too. He’ll say he knew I was weak. He’ll say he knew the girl got under my skin. He’ll say I forgot who I owed.

Maybe he’s right.

Maybe I did forget.

Or maybe, for the first time in a very long time, I remembered something. That I’m human.

I stare at her again.

She’s not mine.