Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ryker

So, it was as I'd suspected. My father had gone to her and caused her to break things off, but that didn't change things between us.

Instead of coming to me and telling me this so we could work it out together, she'd done as he ordered. Which meant she didn't trust me enough to protect her… she didn't trust me .

I'd revealed things to her that I'd never told another living soul. I'd trusted her with things I'd never expected to disclose to another, and she hadn't done the same with me.

I couldn't forgive her for that.

"I knew he went to you," I stated.

She recoiled like I'd slapped her, and a look of horror came over her face. "You knew he threatened me and my mother?"

"No, but I figured it out."

She blinked rapidly as she looked from me to Tucker and back again. "Why… why didn't you say something?"

"Why would I? You made your choice."

Her mouth opened and closed; the devastation on her face pulled at my conscience. I knew how overwhelming and terrifying my father could be, especially to someone not used to dealing with him.

Ellery only had her manor and mother; she didn't have power or wealth to protect her. She'd only had me… and then she chose not to have me.

I buried my sympathy and understanding. Fuck my father and fuck her.

"I thought I was doing the right thing," she whispered.

I didn't respond.

"I did what he asked of me, and he took her anyway."

I pondered her words as I battled the tumult of emotions rolling through me. He'd taken my mother from me too. I knew what that was like, how badly it hurt, yet… Ellery had done worse to me, and she'd done it for him .

I didn't have any sympathy left in me. It was all gone.

"If you'd come to me and talked to me about it, I would have told you that's exactly what he would do, no matter what he said. I know how he works. If you had come to me, I might have stopped it from happening, but there's nothing I can do now."

* * *

Ellery

I could barely breathe through the terror clawing at my chest like an incessant, murderous thing. My hope was withering beneath his cold indifference and hatred.

Not only that, but I'd done this to him. I did this to the man I loved. I turned him into this man who could barely stand to look at me.

"I was trying to protect her," I whispered.

He didn't respond.

"They want five thousand carisle to free her."

"So, you're here for my money?"

"I'm here for your help! I don't care about your money, I never have, but I don't have it. I'll give you half the manor and all the horses. We'll continue to work on it for you. I have to get her free. She's innocent, Ryker. She's innocent."

Ryker leaned back in the chair and clasped his hands behind his head as he sank lower in the seat. He stretched his legs before him.

"You don't have anything I want, Ellery."

"She doesn't deserve this!"

"No, she doesn't, but you can offer your manor to Ivan; he'll take it in exchange for her freedom. My father wants to see you beg; give him that, and he'll leave you alone."

I stood there, my mouth ajar as anger rose to replace the anguish trying to overwhelm me since I entered this place. Yes, I'd messed up when I ended things with him instead of talking to him about his father, but that's because I had so many other secrets he didn't know about.

Because of those secrets, I'd known everything would end between us anyway. When his father came to me, I'd had no choice but to end things, but it had also been a reason… other than me … for things to end.

I'd hidden behind that. I could see it now, and in trying to protect myself, my mother, and him, I'd turned whatever feelings he had for me into a hate so thick I couldn't penetrate it.

None of that mattered. What mattered was my mother sitting in a dungeon because of me, because of him , and while Ryker didn't know it, I could never offer the manor in return for her.

The king would have us all removed from the property. We'd have nothing, and I wouldn't let that happen to my mother.

She was innocent, and he could help, but instead, like his father, he'd prefer to punish me. "How like your father you've become."

That got a reaction as a muscle twitched in his cheek, and his eyes slid toward me. When our eyes clashed, the hatred burning within didn't steal my breath again; it solidified my determination to get to him, to make him see… to hurt him too.

And there was a way to do that, as he was very wrong about one thing.

When he turned away from me, he ran his hands up the woman's thighs and smiled. My hand went to my pocket and the reward poster I'd tucked away there.

"You're wrong." My voice's low, gravelly tone came out as more of a growl. Tucker's eyebrows rose, but Ryker and the woman refused to acknowledge me. "I do have something you want, something you've spent months searching for… or I should say some one ."

Confusion marred Tucker's face, and the woman's head turned toward me, but Ryker didn't acknowledge my words as his hands slid back to grip her ass. I ground my teeth together and contemplated punching him, but my next words would cause more damage than my fists.

"I know who the Hooded Robber is. I've always known. The whole. Fucking. Time we hunted for him, I knew ."