Clara squealed and charged toward me.
Fear hot and fierce shot through my body as her little arms wrapped around my legs and squeezed. Holy f**k. Don’t lose it. Don’t. The world swam. Infernos blazed. Blood scraped my veins with tiny daggers.
“Kill her.”
“Bleed her.”
“Do it, Operative Fox.”
Zel grabbed Clara and tore her off me, backing away quickly. “Don’t touch him, Clara. Ever.”
Even though my entire body felt as if I’d been whipped and mutilated after the heavy crush of orders, I was lighter that I’d ever been. I was positively buoyant because I’d held on.
A child had hugged me, and I hadn’t broken. She was still alive, and I’d proven to myself I could find freedom.
It was the best f**king feeling in the world.
Clara tried to free herself from Zel’s grip. Her little face shone. “You mean it? I can sleep over? And you’ll make me a sheep?”
Before I could answer, she threw herself at Zel, almost tackling her to the ground. “Can we, mummy? Please. Please. With a cherry on top?”
Zel smiled, brushing some unruly flyaway strands from Clara’s forehead. “How about you let the adults talk? I think I spy a polar bear down the corridor. Just don’t go too far.”
“Oh really? I want to pet it.” Clara took off in a whirl of purple, sprinting out of hearing distance.
Zel slowly stood upright, and I fought the urge to take a step back. Her eyes blazed with green fire. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
She was so f**king strong. So fierce in protecting her offspring. My heart swelled to ten times its normal size, suffocating in my chest. It’d only been a couple of weeks, but I would always be indebted to this woman for bringing me back to life. And because I owed her my life, I could never let her leave.
“I’m honouring our agreement.”
“What f**king agreement? I don’t remember signing away mine and my daughter’s life to come live in your freaky-ass home. You can’t say things like that in front of a child. Now she’ll be broken-hearted and disappointed and she’ll hate me when I take her home tonight.” She stormed forward. “Because that’s what will happen, Fox. We. Aren’t. Staying.”
I balled my hands. “I’m not asking you to marry me for f**k’s sake or even stay forever. If you never want me to come near you again, I won’t.
“All I want is the right to take care of you. Give me a purpose. Let me provide for you, and be there for you. That’s all I’m asking.”
Zel’s bottom lip wobbled, but her face darkened from angry to livid. “You think I can’t take care of her on my own? You think you’re strong enough to swoop in and fix everything?” She dragged hands through her hair, barely holding onto the tears shimmering in her eyes. “What part of ‘I don’t want you near her’ didn’t you understand?”
I advanced, forcing her to take a step back. “I understand perfectly. You’re a f**king hypocrite. One minute you’re here for me. Healing me. Giving me everything you have even when all I do is take, and the next you want to withhold everything from me and paint me as the devil. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how much you forgive me. You’re a f**king saint to even speak to me after the things I’ve done. But I warned you at the beginning that I sense things people try to hide.”
Grabbing her elbow, I held her tight. “Let me tell you what I’ve come to know. You’re drowning in sorrow. You look at that little girl as if she’s the most precious diamond in the world, and you’re terrified of losing her. And that cough? You reacted as if she could die instead of it being a simple affliction. I think there’s something big you aren’t telling me and I want to know.”
“Let go of me, you bastard. You think you’re so clever, but you don’t know anything. You don’t know what it’s like to be a single parent. To be solely a mother and no longer a person who can chase their hopes and dreams. You didn’t have your life turned upside down by an accident only to have that accident be the best f**king thing to ever happen to you.”
“Didn’t I? Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve been saying? I’ve been a f**king prisoner since I was six years old. You’re the only person I’ve been close to in my entire life. Is it so wrong of me to ask for more? To request that you stay with me and give meaning to my f**king sorry excuse for a life?”
I shoved her away. My heart bolted around my chest, and I needed a fight. I needed to throw my fist into something flesh and bone and let out all this rage.
Fuck!
Zel stood glaring, panting hard. Her eyes flew up the corridor where Clara had disappeared. I didn’t worry she wasn’t visible. There was nothing but statues to entertain and no way out unless she came back this way.
“You’re impossible,” she muttered.
“No. You’re impossible. Shit, I’ll give you the remaining one hundred thousand now if it’ll help sway you. Hell, I’ll triple it if you stay. I’ll give you anything you want—just agree to stay for a few days at least.”
Zel shifted, eyes darting around the space, searching for answers. “A few days?”
I wanted to sigh in relief. I’d won. This match.
“That’s all I’m asking.” It wasn’t, but she didn’t need to know that.
Zel slumped, all the fight fizzled from her limbs. “What are you trying to do, Fox?”
I ignored the soft defeat in her voice and murmured, “I’m not trying to do anything. I just want the opportunity to share your daughter—if only for a brief while.”
A crush of vulnerability filled me, and I dropped my head. I was tired. So tired. “Please…I need her in my life. I need you.” Swallowing hard, I captured her hand and relaxed a little when the conditioning stayed blessedly absent. “Please, Hazel. I’ll give you anything you want. I’ll pay you any sum you desire. Just stay. Give me another chance.”
Her eyes bloomed with fresh anger. “You think I’m that shallow? That you can throw money at me and allow you to buy me and Clara?” She snorted. “We don’t come with a f**king price tag, you idiot. You could offer me a million, and I wouldn’t stay if I thought you’d hurt her.”
“I swear on my life I will not raise a finger to hurt her. You have my absolute word.”