he made damn sure everyone knew of it. And Sean held it all down while we were both away.”
Snow continues to drift between us, and I shiver in my jacket as Tobias stands and crushes out his cigarette. “I was twenty-four when I made my first million, and I began networking on a corporate scale by the time Dominic graduated high school. Tyler went into the service. Sean kept it together here. So, I spent my time between here and France, strengthening the network, finding old relatives to help us. By my twenty-fifth birthday, we were more of an international movement, not a small-town organization. And for a while, I lost sight of our original goal. So had everyone else, and over the years we only got stronger.”
“And then I showed up.”
He dips his chin.
“By the time you came back, we had hundreds of members in all combined chapters, and we were growing by the day. Dom had graduated MIT and made it his mission to eradicate future money problems by stealing chunks at a time from white-collar thieves that I hand-fed him, all the while stocking our arsenal and recruiting more brothers. It was only a matter of time with Roman, but when you got here, and Sean and Dominic discovered you, they moved in thinking they had you under control.”
I nod, knowing that story all too well.
“Now you know I was searching for my birth father, which is why I was distracted in France.”
I nod.
“By the time I got to him, he was too far gone. I’ll never really know who he was.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine.” His eyes drop, and I know it’s anything but fine. “I just couldn’t leave him the way I found him.”
“You did a good thing.”
“Did I?” He swallows. “I don’t know. The way my mother spoke about him.” He shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
“He’s being cared for, that’s a good thing.”
He runs his teeth over his lip and eyes me, and I know that part of the conversation is over.
“When I found out what was happening, of how they were hiding you, I flew home to handle it. And fuck,” he runs his hands through his hair, and it’s all I can do to keep from touching him. His guilty eyes roll over me, and he darts them away.
“Their punishment wasn’t just about you. I had to remind them of why we started this in the first place. I sent them to live with one of the partners I trusted in France. He kept them focused, let them in on everything I’d been building while I refocused on our original plan. I was one move and a handshake away from taking over when you and I struck our deal.”
I’ll still never be able to place how I should feel about the betrayal on all sides, nor the guilt of being Roman’s heir.
Tobias sighs, setting the book on the lounger and clasping his hands together between his thighs. “I understood your need to care for her, Cecelia. And you had been through enough already. And I railroaded you out of anger when I returned. You were never supposed to be a part of this for good reason.”
“You keep saying that, but that’s not the way it played out.”
“No, because I allowed myself to get lost in you the way they had.”
I bite my lip, eyes stinging.
“I found myself wanting so much to protect you from it all because you were so innocent. The first time I saw you, you were just some kid that had no idea her father was crooked, and that’s the way I always pictured you until the day I came to you at the pool.”
Everything changed the minute our lives collided.
He keeps his eyes lowered, his dark lashes blinking the snow away. “You were the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen in my life. You went from the awkward bratty kid to the most beautiful, most vivacious, fucking temptation I’ve ever come across. I was so mad they discovered you and hid you from me. And then I was run over when I walked up and was confronted by the most infuriating damned woman,” he shakes his head. “but it felt like a punch to the gut knowing…”
“Knowing I was with them.”
He nods solemnly, his voice bittering with every word. “I kept my distance and kept watch over you. I had no intention of anything happening. But when you came out in that clearing calling their names, wearing that