Page 123 of The Pinkie Pact

"Me neither," I admitted, still feeling regret about that.

"And then I remembered something strange from last summer when I worked at his law firm, a look two female employees had given each other when he was nearby. At the time, I kind of just ignored it. But it was like it seeped into my subconscious only to reappear a few days after that terrible night."

Where on earth was he going with this? Pausing, he took a long drink of water before focusing his attention back on me, rubbing my hand with his thumb.

"So," Kieran continued, "I was really pissed off at what he did to you, and he kept denying it whenever I confronted him."

I'd never seen Kieran look so angry.

"Then I remembered that look between those two employees, and I decided to go investigate," he said, his voice hard.

Holy shit!

"And that's when I found out who my dad really is."

"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry."

That was it. At the sadness in his eyes, at the way his shoulders slumped forward, I couldn't hold myself back, and I moved forward to wrap my arms around him as he gratefully leaned into me, resting his head against my chest.

"It really, really sucks to learn that about your own father."

"I can't even imagine," I murmured against his hair, stroking his back with my hand.

We stayed like that a long while as I tried to offer Kieran my comfort, just like he'd done for me in the fort. Slowly, all the ugly details came out, how his dad had slept with some of his employees, how he'd used his power as a partner to pursue females.

Damn, he was disgusting.

Kieran had confided in his mother eventually, and after she recovered from her shock, she became involved and used her own resources to investigate, horrified that her husband had acted that way.

And that was why Kieran and his mom had been able to handle the news breaking because they'd had a head start and actually were the ones behind the entire thing. Plus, they both knew it would all come out to the public at some point, so they were somewhat prepared.

"Why didn't you tell me all this while you were going through it, though?" I asked.

Now sitting upright on the couch, Kieran shrugged. "We weren't exactly in the best place, the two of us. And I also didn't want to burden you with it so soon after... well, after you experienced it yourself."

I couldn't help smiling at him, at his thoughtfulness. There was just something about Kieran, something about the way he seemed to always think of me, always support me, even though he was going through his own personal hell these last several weeks.

Returning my smile, Kieran leaned backward against the cushion, letting his head fall back. He looked so tired, making me wonder about the emotional toll on this family right now and how exhausting it must be to deal with it all.

Standing up, I reached for his hand. "Come on, babe. You need to sleep."

He stood up as well, stretching and yawning as I walked him over to my bed where he collapsed. I helped him out of his shirt and then his jeans until he was in nothing but his boxers. Then I tucked the comforter around him as he seemed to drift off into oblivion.

After I used the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and changed into a comfy t-shirt, I returned to my bed and snuggled up with him, facing him, admiring his beautiful features and long lashes resting against his cheeks as he slept.

But he surprised me by slowly opening his eyes, looking straight into mine. "Thank you."

The swell of emotions that suddenly spiraled through me caught me totally off-guard.

"You've been—" he tried to continue.

"Shh," I said, stroking his hair. "Just sleep, baby, and let me cuddle the fuck out of you."

The expression on his face as he smiled was unbelievable, but he let his eyes close as I brought my body in closer and wrapped my arms and legs around him, absolutely loving the closeness I felt with him.

Lightly rubbing his back, I thought about what he'd done, how he'd stopped his dad from hurting anyone else, despite the pain it caused for himself. The magnitude of Kieran's actions struck me, how he'd sacrificed so much to do the right thing.

God, he was truly an amazing person who stuck to his values and actually did something about them, even under awful circumstances.

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