Page 111 of Ice Covered Heart

A small table and two chairs were the only furniture inside the tight room. A chair strategically positioned on each side of the table. She’d sat down. Hunter stood near the right wall, just beneath a video camera.

A prison guard waited inside, too, near the door. And as she watched, that door slowly creaked open. The prisoner shuffled inside. Garish, orange uniform top. Blue pants. Hair buzzed. Nate used to keep his thick hair long so that it could curl. Not anymore.

His head was down as he seemed to watch his feet as he shuffled forward. His hands were cuffed in front of him, and a long chain ran from his cuffed hands to his feet—feet that were also locked together so that he had no choice but to slowly shuffle forward. One step at a time.

Hunter had spoken with the warden after their arrival. A hushed conversation. She knew Hunter wanted access to the visitor and correspondence records for Nate. He also wanted access to Nate’s cell.

Would that happen?

Nate glanced up. His bright blue eyes locked on her, and for a moment, she couldn’t breathe.

Shock flashed first in his eyes. On his face. Shock. Longing. Rage.

Killing rage.

Then he smiled at her. “Hello, gorgeous. I’ve missed you.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

A second guard had followed Nate into the room. The guard secured Nate at the table, pushing him into the chair and locking his shackles in place via some kind of hook in the floor. There was just enough room for Nate to lift his bound hands and set them on the table right in front of his body.

Nate surveyed her with a critical eye. “A little too thin these days, aren’t you? Shadows under your eyes.” He made a clicking sound with his tongue. “Oh, no, my poor Shelby. Are you not sleeping well?” One eyebrow arched. “Having nightmares? Or is it a guilty conscience that keeps you up at night?”

His voice was as she remembered. Deep. Warm. The faintest hint of the south because he’d been born and raised in Florida. He didn’t sport the deep, rich tan of his youth, not any longer. His skin was pale, but he’d grown muscles. Heavy, bulky muscles that lined his body.

“I didn’t expect you,” Nate added as his lips twisted. “I gave up writing to you years ago when you just returned all my letters unopened. Time passed, and you never came to see me. I thought you’d moved on.” A soft sigh. The second guard had moved to stand near the door, so there was now a guard on each side of the room’s entrance, watching them. “I guess you never forget your first, do you?”

“You weren’t my first.” That had been Andre, though he hadn’t even realized it. Not that she’d told him. She’d never trusted Andre enough, something she saw now.

In fact, when she thought of the men she trusted…

Hunter.

She trusted Hunter.

She could feel him. Watching. Guarding. Ready to attack at any moment.

Nate hadn’t even looked Hunter’s way, not yet. Instead, Nate’s gaze remained on her. She could feel that greedy gaze trying to gobble her up.

Not my first lover. But my first monster. That’s what you were. The monster in the dark who destroyed everything.

She held his stare. She’d…wondered if he was guilty. Wondered if he’d acted alone or had help. Wondered if maybe she’d gotten everything wrong but…

Being in front of him…

Chill bumps covered her body. Nausea rose in her throat. Her gut twisted and churned, and her reaction was so visceral that it took all of her control not to jump from the chair. Not to run from the room because⁠—

I’m terrified of him. He did it. I wasn’t wrong. I wasn’t.

She looked at him and⁠—

“I see you,” he murmured.

A shudder slid over her body. That was the same voice that whispered through her nightmares. His voice. She’d known it, deep inside, for so long, even if some of the other memories from that long ago night were gone or spotty or all twisted up. He did it.

“I see you…” A smile teased at Nate’s mouth, like he was making some joke that only he understood. “I see you brought a friend with you today. Scared to face me alone?”

Yes. “He’s not my friend.” But…