“Okay.” Her cheeks turn a gorgeous shade of red before they pale.
Turn ashen.
Worry has my pulse racing, and yet I don’t stop walking. “What’s wrong?”
Abe calls out my name. I don’t look at him. Won’t take my eyes off Lilith.
“Talk to me.”
“Lockwood,” again with this idiot. “Want to grab some coffee later?”
“Can’t.” I give him the answer I always do. Then, “Lilith, hey.”
“You…” My chest twists at the sight of her quivering chin. “Don’t tell me you had an appointment to see a doctor, that this is why you were late. You’re not sick, right? I can’t lose you. Please.”
While I don’t have any terminal disease, I am sick.
Sick to my stomach with fears I never considered until tonight.
Like what if I’d had a test subject locked in my storage unit the day Lilith was brought into the hospital?
If I’d taken a day or two longer to kidnap Renata, she might have convinced the court to give Lilith back to her.
And by the time I’d gotten to her, Lilith might’ve already been dead.
But killing her mother is my secret, so I shove those thoughts aside. I lock everything into a tight box and bury it deep.
Focus on her.
“No, little devil.” My level tone and serious glare earn me another one of her precious smiles. “Nothing like that. I’m fine. Not going anywhere.”
“Good.” Relief crosses her face as I tug her into a corridor to our right. I’m going to make sure she feels calm and happy for the rest of her life. “It would’ve been a dick move, you know, leaving me so soon. And just when I was starting to like you.”
“Starting to?” I play along, needing more of her carefree, teasing tone. “You wound me.”
“Okay, not starting. I like you. I mean, how could I not? You’re pretty cool for an old”—when I growl, she lets out the sweetest laugh—“erman.”
“This older man is going to rail your pussy tonight.”Beep, and my ID badge lets us into the consultation room. “All night.”
“You really think you have it in you, olderman?”
“Call me older again.” I shut the door behind us. “I’ll fuck you so hard.” I slam her back against it and flick the light switch on. “You’ll be begging this older man to stop.”
“So this is what this is all about?” she whispers, her hands reaching for my chest. “Sex?”
A low groan escapes me the moment her fingers curl into my shirt. As tempting as she is, I take a deep breath and force myself to calm the hell down.
“No, this isn’t about that.” I cup her cheeks, leaning in to brush our lips together. “Lilith Rayne.”
“My name.” Her eyes fly wide open, her voice barely over a whisper. “You know who I am.”
“I also know that it’s taken me too long to remember it.”
When her hands shake so badly they fall to her sides, I tighten my hold on her cheeks, anchoring her to me, where it’s safe.
“It’s just that, when I look at you, I can’t see anything other than this gorgeous, funny, perfectwoman. Not a kid. But I should’ve remembered.”
“Now that you do…” Shame, I think, makes her eyes dart to the floor. “Do you remember the bruises too? The swollen eyes? The missing patch of hair? How pathetic I looked?”