Severed Ties: A Dark Stalker Romance (Tainted Love Book 1)
Severed Ties: Chapter 28

“Because you’re mine.” I considered lying to her, even not responding at all, but she’s going to realize it soon enough. I can’t stay away any longer. I can’t just watch her sleep and keep her safe from a distance. It’s not enough. And if I’m honest with myself, it never was.

But I thought I could protect her from my darkness. I thought maybe I could stay away to keep her safe from me and my proclivities.

Her eyes bore into the side of my face, but the only sounds in the car are the hum of the engine and her breathing. I’ve shocked her with my admission and she’s scrambling to come up with a response, but I keep my eyes on the road ahead.

I don’t like bringing her to this side of town, but it’s necessary because now I know someone is after my sweet fawn. There’s no way I can let her out of my sight.

“What do you mean?” she finally asks.

“Exactly what I said, Clara. You’re mine. You have been since the first day I saw you, looking scared and broken. All I wanted to do was put you back together again.”

She makes a strangled noise, but her response comes a few seconds later. “But…but…we didn’t see each other for months.”

I chuckle and chance a look across the car at her. “No, Clara. You didn’t see me. But I saw you plenty.”

The silence that follows my admission drags on for minutes, each one bringing her closer to the realization that she knew I was lurking in the shadows the whole time. She felt my gaze prickle on her milky skin and my eyes burning into her when she walked down the street. She was always looking around, trying to replace me, trying to replace the shadow who had become a constant in her life, but never seeing me. She now realizes that the day she caught me across the street was no accident, and no one sent me to check on her.

She realizes that the devil has his sights on her and has since that very first day.

Before she can choke out a response, I bring the car to a stop and shove my door open as soon as I cut the engine. There’s something about allowing her to stew on the idea of me stalking her for the last nine months that has my cock stiffening in my dark jeans. Perhaps once she understands how long I’ve watched her and the lengths I’ve gone to in order to keep her safe, she’ll realize she’s not insignificant the way she thinks she is.

By the time I make it around to the passenger side of the car, Clara’s still staring out the front windshield in shock. I tear the door open and clear my throat.

“Come on, fawn.”

She looks up at me and the vulnerability dancing in her eyes almost takes my breath right from my lungs. She doesn’t allow just anyone to see this side of her, and even as terror filled her gaze this morning when she heard the voice on the other end of the phone, she still tried to hide how shaken she truly was, but the shields are down now, and for the first time since I laid eyes on her, I see how broken my little fawn really is.

She slips out of the passenger seat and looks up and down the street warily. At least she has enough sense to be afraid in an area like this, even if I’ll never let anything harm her again. The cold winter wind whips around us and she wraps her arms around herself as if it will do anything to ward off the bitter cold. I wrap an arm around her shoulders and tug her into me, feeling settled for the first time since she hit my back and my skin started crawling.

It’s strange how her touch can both settle me and have the demons chomping at the edge of my consciousness at the same time and when she peeks up at me beneath thick lashes, I can tell she’s waiting for me to snap the same way I did back at her apartment.

I guide her toward Ace’s building and up the stairs, not missing the way her eyes dart around with each creak of the wood beneath our feet.

“Where are we going?” she whispers when we reach the top landing.

I fucking hate this place and I hate bringing her here, but Ace refuses to move. He’s got more than enough money now, that’s what happens when you’re the best hacker on the dark web, but he says moving all his shit will be more hassle than it’s worth. The thought alone makes me roll my eyes, but I don’t bother replying to my fawn. She’ll replace out when it’s too late. When she can’t turn on her heel and run from me.

I shove the door open, and as usual, we’re greeted with darkness and the faint glow of computer screens around the corner. Clara’s eyes dart around the beat-up old apartment, the paint chipping at the corners and the suspicious stains on the carpet below our feet, and if I wasn’t holding her, she would have stopped in her tracks and hightailed it out of there.

“Twice in twenty-four hours. And you brought a friend this time.” Ace’s voice carries through the dim apartment, but he doesn’t bother turning. In fact, the only sound in the compact space is his fingers flying across the keyboard.

I roll my eyes and pull Clara farther into the room. She’s hesitant, her gaze bouncing off every surface as if it’s going to uncover the answers to all her questions. This is as close as I’ve ever allowed anyone to my life before the Saint James family found me, and even though I expected to feel agitated by that fact, the warmth of the small of her back beneath my palm settles me. “Hello to you too, brother.”

“How many times do I have to remind you that we’re not actually related?” he snaps without bothering to look at us.

“A few more, clearly.” I stop beside the desk and drag Clara against my side. “This is Clara. Clara, this is my brother Ace.”

She looks up at me and then at the man sitting in front of us, her brows knitted together. We don’t look anything alike, and she’s having trouble replaceing any kind of resemblance between us.

“You’re not going to replace any similarities here, sweetness. We’re foster brothers.” Ace finally drags his attention away from the screen and his gaze falls on my hold on her. I’m not surprised that’s the first thing he sees because he knows how much I hate being touched, but she’s different. She’s everything.

She nods her understanding as her tongue darts out and wets her lips. “It’s nice to meet you, Ace,” she says nervously.

His eyes flick from me to her and back again as if he’s trying to make sense of the sight in front of him. “Likewise.” He finally settles his glare on me. “I don’t have what you wanted. You need to give me more time. I have actual paid work to do around your bullshit.”

I roll my eyes and dig Clara’s phone from the pocket of my jeans. I drop it in the middle of the desk in front of him. “I need you to track the last phone call.”

Ace huffs out a sigh. “This is not my fucking wheelhouse, asshole.”

“Just do it.”

“No. I don’t work for you or the fucking Saint James family.”

I look down at Clara, who is looking anywhere but at the two of us.

“This isn’t a Saint James matter.”

Ace drags his eyes over Clara’s curves and I barely contain the growl clawing up my throat, begging to be set free, to claim my fawn as my own, so no man ever dares to look at her the way my brother is. “Isn’t she Wynter’s pretty little assistant? Therefore, making it a Saint James matter?”

I lunge for him out of instinct and for the first time since our childhood, he’s not ready for my attack. My tattooed hand wraps around his throat and a snarl tugs at my lips. “Do not look at her. Do not say shit like that about her. She is not yours and she will never be yours.”

Clara’s breathing falters behind me, but I know better than to turn my back on Ace. He’s deadly when he wants to be, not as sick and twisted as me, but just as able to end a life without a second thought.