Page 33 of Trading In A Broken Heart

Here he was, handing me pieces of him that he’d probably never given anyone else.

“I couldn’t stop it.” His voice dropped lower. “I couldn’t save him.”

For the first time, . . . I heard regret.

“After that, everyone wanted blood.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Revenge.”

I understood him too well. My family wanted blood and revenge for everything.

“My family disappeared into the shadows instead. Giving the Saint-Merciers exactly what they wanted: the city.” His eyes lifted toward the water overhead. “Less attention. Less bodies.”

“C’mon, I know you wanted revenge too.”

“No.”

“Liar.”

His gaze slid to mine. “Every day.”

My heartbeat skipped. I took a step toward him. Fingers itching to graze his. Savion wasn’t really a monster. He just didn’t know how to cope with everything that he’d gone through. He needed love. He needed someone that could help him pull himself out of darkness.

“I hated him for that,” he spoke, bringing me from my thoughts.

“Hated who?”

“My daddy.”

I blinked. That, I wasn’t expecting.

“What?”

“I hated that he left.” His voice cracked so lightly I almost missed it. “I hated that I needed him.”

My forehead wrinkled. This was a son yearning for his father. My brothers didn’t look at shit from Savion’s side of things. Had it gone the other way and Daddy was the one who got killed, they’d feel the same as him. What they needed to give Savion was grace.

He stopped in front of another tank. Thousands of tiny fish drifted together. The room was silent except for the hum of the filters.

“This is why I like it here.”

I looked up at him. “The fish?”

“The stillness.” His gaze moved across the water and then locked with mine, and for the first time, I saw him. Like really saw Savion. This wasn’t a monster. This was a man that needed me. He needed my love, and I was gon’ stop fighting it.

Savion

A week later

“No! No!” I shot straight up in bed from the sound of Solei’s voice.

Swiping my gun from the nightstand, I climbed out of bed and trotted toward her bedroom.

“Please!”

An eerie feeling washed over me. I didn’t know what to expect once I walked through that door, but I was laying down whoever was in there fucking with her. I had this place locked down tight. No alarms were going off. Maybe someone slipped through the cracks somehow.

When I pushed her door open and entered her room, I didn’t find anyone in there with her. Solei was still lying in bed, swinging her arms everywhere.

“No! Please!” The wail that escaped her lips made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.