Page 56 of His Dark Purpose

“Remind me,son.” Kyle’s smile grew as he turned Seth’s own tactics on him. “I don’t recall.”

She cringed at the way he’d taken the bait. Seth was a young man and just out of prison—he still had growing up to do—but Kyle should have known better than to lower to her son’s level.

“An inevitable product of your age, I guess?” Seth’s chuckle was dark, revealing a facet of her son she hadn’t witnessed since he’d played the unruly teen and provoked Graham. “But I’ll remind you.” He paused, ensuring he had everyone’s attention. “You came to the house and spoke to my dad. I was the one who let you in.”

“At Aspen Way.” Kyle’s lips curled. “Yes, I do remember. You were the sullen little boy dressed all in black. Moody, mouthy, and in need of a firm hand.”

“Hey!” Seth countered, standing almost as tall as Kyle. “Fuck you!”

“Please.” Tugging the blankets around her, she edged away from the bed. “Don’t talk to each other that way.”

“That’s how I know who you are.” Seth’s chin rose as he ignored her input. “And it makes me wonder why you’d want my mum after all this time.”

“Seth!” She raised her voice that time, irked by the way he’d described her. She was getting older, but she wasn’t a washed-up old rag Kyle had found on the path outside.

“I want your mother because I love her.” Kyle’s stare bored into Seth. “Is that too difficult a concept for a Neandertal like you to understand?”

“William, please!” It was strange using his first name, especially in a moment of high emotion, and the narrowed gaze he shot her suggested he hardly approved. “Seth was wrong to break in, but he’s done nothing to hurt anyone. Can we hear him out?”

“Youloveher?” Seth’s snide tone captured Kyle’s attention. “Yeah, right. That’s why you kept her handcuffed over there.” Her son gestured to the bed behind her. “I saw you earlier…” Seth’s focus traveled between them. “I saw the way she begged you to release her, and I know an abuser when I see one.”

She gasped, recalling the moments her son was referring to and dying inside that he’d witnessed any of them.

“You were here then?”

“I was here.”

Seth turned to her, his face solemn. Her little boy had aged beyond recognition in the years he’d been in custody. The strapping man standing before her was far more physically impressive than she remembered.

“What were you doing hiding in the shadows?” Kyle scoffed. “Not that this has anything to do with someone who broke into my house, but if you were so sure I was acting against your mum’s will, why didn’t youdosomething?”

“You know how fucked up this is, right?” Once more, Seth’s gaze scanned them both. “Not only the things you two were doing, but me… having to encounter them.”

“You should never have been here,” Kyle reminded him.

For the first time since things had heated up, she was inclined to agree. If Seth was so desperate to get into Brock Hall, he should have made his presence known, not lurked in doorways.

“What did you do between then and now?” Kyle’s eyebrow cocked, her pulse elevating at the loaded gesture. “Where have you been?”

“Here and there.” Seth’s smug undertone was doing him no favors. “Nice place you’ve got here, by the way, old man.”

Kyle’s glare landed on her, exasperation etched onto his handsome face. “Are you hearing this, little girl? He’s been loitering around my house all night… doing God knows what! Am I supposed to just stand here and take this?”

She heaved in a breath, despondent to be caught between two men she loved and increasingly unable to defend Seth’s actions. She’d guessed at his desire to gain entry to the property by illegal means but couldn’t understand why he’d have hung around for so long without making himself known. It looked suspicious—making it even harder for Kyle to ever trust Seth—and begged the question about what he’d been doing in the time she and Kyle had been having their heart-to-heart.

“Maybe itisbetter you wait for us downstairs, Seth?”

He’d managed to dodge that request, but if all the two men were going to do was wind the other up, there was no point in prolonging the exchange. Perhaps talking downstairs with a cup of tea would help inspire more gentlemanly behavior.

“So, nowyouwant me to go?” Seth snorted, shaking his head as he went on. “I can’t believe this, Mum. I came here for you… to protectyou!”

Kyle scowled. “Protect her from what?”

“From you, you moron.” Seth poked a finger at Kyle. “Jonah told me he’d spoken to you, and he didn’t believe a word you’d said about Mum.”

“Jonah said that?” Memories of the call Kyle had shared with Jonah returned to her in a rush. She’d been in a rather compromising position at the time and unable to speak to him, but she’d hoped Kyle’s deflections might have persuaded her son.

Obviously not.

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