Page 36 of Stay Little Fighter

Not if she’s gone.

Not if her soul no longer walks this earth.

If I’m truly honest with myself, all I really want is the life I’ve been living this past week.

As broody and pathetic as I’ve been fighting it, I can’t deny that the time in the cabin was the most at peace I’ve been in years.

Maybe since before I pushed Chloe away all those years ago.

As much as I want to believe I still hate Kingston, I haven’t been able to get what he told me out of my mind. He had no reason to lie to me. He had no reason to make up some story about how my mother was on her way to file for a divorce when they were hit.

In fact, they benefit from me going back to Miami because me being with them puts an even bigger target on our heads from my father.

Ronan he’ll let go eventually, just the same way as he stopped hunting Chloe, but not me.

Not the heir to the crown.

Not the person he’s spent decades preparing to take his place.

He won’t let me go.

The car jerks to a stop, and my door is torn open by a frantic-looking Kingston.

His dark eyes lock onto Chloe’s pale face, and he immediately bundles her into his arms, taking off toward the doors without a word.

Ronan jogs to catch up with him, brushing his fingers over Chloe’s cheek as they disappear inside the hospital.

But I’m stuck in place, my body shutting down after everything we’ve been through the last twenty-four hours.

I’ve seen every kind of horror in my life. I’ve watched men die in the most grotesque of ways, and I haven’t flinched. But holding the love of my life as she fades away in my arms is not something I ever could have prepared myself for.

“Get out of the car,” Ryker snaps, and I drag my eyes to my open door where he waits with a clenched jaw.

Numbly, I force my body to move. I have to go inside, I have to be with her, but my mind and body aren’t working together the way they should.

His golden eyes are darker than I’ve ever seen them, but it’s how hard he has his jaw clenched that tells me he’s seconds away from losing his shit.

I barely make it out of the car before my back hits the side so hard the air rushes from my lungs.

A gun presses to my temple while his other arm presses over my chest, holding me in place.

I’m a big guy, but a pissed-off Ryker is relentless.

“We trusted you with her safety,” he grinds out.

Pressing my eyes closed, I force a breath through my lungs despite how they clench.

“You let her get shot. You let her be taken.” Each word that passes his lips is harsher than the last.

I don’t argue, because he’s right. I did.

I didn’t protect her…again.

I failed her…again.

If the last twenty-four hours have taught me nothing else, it’s that I don’t deserve to be in Chloe’s life at all.

Not that I really thought I did considering how I’ve treated her over the last fifteen years, but I thought maybe I could make it up to her. Maybe if she just understood why I did what I did, she would be able to forgive me.