Page 51 of His Dark Purpose

“Your sons are always welcome here, but a little notice might have been nice…” Kyle’s fingers stroked over her bound foot. “After all, you and I are kind of in the middle of something here.”

Aren’t we always?

“Based on the missed calls, he tried to let me know.” She flicked back to her inbox. “And I had another message when you were downstairs. Maybe that was him.”

Finding his name on her device, her tummy lurched at the two unread messages she found. She read the first quickly.

Mum, it’s Seth.

I’m out of jail and I’m here at Brock Hall.

Wanna let me in?

x

“Oh God.” Her hand rose to cover her mouth as she scanned Seth’s second inquiry.

Mum, is everything okay?

“What?” Kyle prompted.

“Seth was here last night.” Her pulse accelerated as she admitted it out loud, her gaze flitting to see what time Seth had sent the missive. “He was here before midnight.”

“But hecan’tbe.” Kyle glanced around the room as though he expected her eldest son to appear from the en suite. “He’s obviously not here.”

Apprehension furled in Amy’s stomach, threatening to rise as nausea. She was desperate to see Seth again—especially since he’d asked her not to visit him in prison—but the idea of him just turning up there in the middle of the night spelled trouble. ‘Trouble’, it seemed, had become Seth’s middle name.

“Well,” she blew out a breath. “Apparently, he was…”

She was loathed to mention it, but Seth had become something of a master burglar before he was finally put behind bars. The idea that he might have arrived there, not heard back from his mother, and taken matters into his own hands was all too probable. Seth wasn’t like Jonah. He wasn’t compliant, and if he wanted something, he tended to just take it.

Her gaze floated back to meet Kyle’s stare. “Is it possible he let himself in, and we didn’t notice, sir?”

“Let himselfin?” Kyle’s chin rose. “This isn’t a hotel, sweetheart. It’s my house!”

“I know!” She didn’t like the edge to Kyle’s voice. “But you wouldn’t let me talk to him, sir, and if he came here looking for me, he wouldn’t have been easily dissuaded.”

“You’re saying he would break in?” Ignoring the final knot at her ankle, he rose to his full height. “I mean, I have great security, little girl, but it wasn’t designed with convicts in mind.”

“He’s my son, sir!” Offense bubbled at his inference. “And he’s just finished repaying his debt to society.”

“That’s as may be, but you’re saying his first act as a free man might have been breaking into Brock Hall.”

Shit, she was saying that, wasn’t she?

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “Seth isn’t good at hearing the word no.”

You two have that in common.

She stopped short of vocalizing the final line, but she wondered if Kyle could see the implication in her expression.

“For fuck’s sake.” Kyle stretched his neck as though the last few hours had been a trial for him, but Amy wanted to scoff at the idea.

Aside from his sudden urge to confess,hehadn’t been inconvenienced. He hadn’t been the one cuffed to the bloody bedstead for hours or denied access to a toilet.

“I’ll call him.” Frantic to take control of the situation before her lover and eldest son collided in a blaze of egos, she searched for Seth’s number. “Let me speak to him and see where he is.”

“Fine.” Kyle’s jaw clenched as he collected the bucket she’d been forced to endure and carried it to the bathroom. “You do that, but he’s going to have some fucking explaining to do if he’s broken into Brock Hall.”

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