Page 32 of Stolen Hearts

Because they were dead-on.

Now the thing she was trying so hard to keep sealed was exposed under Denver’s scrutiny.

“Rhae.” His gentle tone brushed over her senses. “Who are you hiding from?”

She unthreaded her fingers from her hair and lifted her head to meet his gaze. Her heart thundered in her chest. The last thing she wanted was for Denver to know, because she knew exactly how he’d react. Denver Malone wasn’t one to sit still while someone he cared about was threatened.

“Rhae. Tell me who you’re hiding from.”

She issued a heated breath. “My father’s business partner.”

She felt him go dead still, each inch of sinew hardening to solid granite. Gone was the playful dimple in his cheek. In its place was a tendon flickering with tension as he locked his jaw.

He blinked just once. “What happened?”

Unable to look at him, Rhae’s gaze drifted to the computer and the website he’d just wiped her identity from. “When my parents died, he stepped in.”

“I didn’t know your parents were dead.”

“We never discussed our pasts.” Because there had been no future for them.

Except now a future was possible.

“They died in a car accident. I’m the quintessential orphaned child, right down to the reason behind me becoming a psychologist—to help people deal with heavy feelings I struggled with after it all happened.”

His stare settled on her, kind and coaxing. “Go on.”

“He helped out with legal stuff, house repairs, groceries. He was a fixture of my life, even as a legal adult once I didn’t need him anymore. He was kind…until he wasn’t.”

Denver’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt.

She couldn’t tell him everything. Couldn’t describe the way Robert Ravencroft had slipped into her life like a savior, then twisted her grief and vulnerability into something possessive and wrong.

She couldn’t tell him about that OB appointment, where Robert had shown up uninvited, offering totake care of everything. Pushing abortion like it was a business decision. Then when she refused, he offered to raise the child with her—his version of a perfect little family.

“I didn’t see it at first,” she whispered. “Then…he started showing up. At random places. Watching.”

Denver leaned forward. “Where?”

Her stomach rolled. “The daycare.”

His expression darkened instantly.

“I never told him where I enrolled Navy. But he was there. Outside, watching through the glass like he had every right.” Her voice broke. “I lost it. I pulled Navy out that same day. I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t risk it.”

His fists clenched at his sides, slow and controlled. His knuckles whitened.

“He freaked you out,” he said. “Now he’s freaking me out.”

She looked up at him then. From the set of his shoulders to the fire in his eyes, he was totally special ops bad-ass. She’dknown it would come to this if he found out. And still, seeing it now made her breath hitch.

“I took the job here because I needed to disappear.” She pressed her fingertips into her temples. “I needed somewhere safe and private, off the beaten path, where someone like him couldn’t just walk in.”

Denver pushed off the desk, closing the gap between them. When he crouched in front of her, her throat tightened with tears she never let fall. He didn’t touch her, but his presence loomed, intense.

“You should’ve told me.”

“I didn’t want you involved.”

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