Page 116 of Callous Shot

“Yeah,” he whispered. His voice cracked. “I couldn’t stop staring at your family, so full of love and happiness, and all I could think was why? Why are we supposed to be the good guys, but we don’t show any affection? Why is anger and disappointment the only thing between my parents and me? Why don’t my parents love me?”

My jaw clenched. I was about to start my new villain arc, and the first two people on my hit list would be those fucking cold, callous assholes who had dared to make my boyfriend feel so unloved.

“I hate them. They fucking failed you. They don’t deserve you. They deserve to rot in prison for life for what they did to you.” Lincoln’s mouth twisted, and I was instantly on alert. “Link? What aren’t you telling me?”

Rubbing his hand across his face, he inhaled shakily. “That was the same night my father broke my arm. He’d been drinking, and when we got home, he continued drinking. I went to my hiding place, and he—no, my mother found me first. I guess she’d been drinking too, and she started screaming about how my brother was gone and it was somehow my fault. I-I answered back. I shouted that it wasn’t my fault, and that was when my father showed up, and he— Shit. All I remember was agonising pain and then waking up in the hospital with my father threatening me. I had to tell everyone I’d fallen.”

I was fucking horrified. Tears burned my eyes. Tears of pain for the man I loved, and tears of fucking rage for the evil fucking bastards who had deliberately brought suffering to a small, defenceless child with no way of fighting back.

“Lincoln. Whenever they get out of prison—if they get out of prison—I promise you I’m going after them. I don’t enjoy torture, but I’m going to break every single one of their bones, one by one, and then I’m going to set them on fucking fire and watch them burn alive. Happily.”

“Baby.” He sighed. “I’m a little disturbed that I find this psycho side of you appealing, but they’re not worth it, I promise. I spent so much time wishing they would love me, and you know what? Now I’m glad that they never did. I feel nothing for them.”

“Good,” I said savagely. “They deserve nothing from you. They deserve to rot in jail for life.” And die a very painful death.

“At least I had Mike. It was difficult when I was growing up because he was barely an adult himself, trying to get his career started, and then Tilly came along after a one-night stand… But now we’re close, and he and Tilly are the two people who keep me going.”

“They love you.”

“They do.”

“I’m so glad you have them,” I said sincerely. “And now you have me too.”

“Yeah.” He gave me a soft, affectionate smile. “Okay, let me get through the rest of it. When my father first mentioned Operation Foxglove…”

By the time Lincoln had finished talking, I could understand exactly where he’d been coming from when he’d thought that he had to deal with his dad’s threats alone. Honestly, if I’d been in his situation, if I’d been brought up the way he had, then I probably would have done the same.

“We’re a team now, and you don’t have to deal with anything else on your own again,” I promised him. “Ever.”

Our eyes met, and he swallowed hard. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I love you,” I said. “I’ve never been more sure about anything.”

His eyes widened as he stared at me in disbelief.

“I love you,” I said again. “I love you so much.”

“Dan.” He took an unsteady breath, rapidly blinking his dark lashes, and then he smiled, soft and small and shy, and just for me. “I thought I would struggle to say this, because it’s not something I get to say, or hear anyone say to me. But somehow, you make it easy.” His hazel eyes were fixed on me, brimming with emotion as his mouth formed the words. “I love you.”

How was it possible to smile this widely? My mouth felt as if it was going to split open. “I thought I heard you say something in the mansion about the love of your life.”

“Of course you heard that.”

“I did. And just so you know, you’re the love of my life too.”

He pulled me into a kiss. “Fucking love you, baby. So, so much.”

“Mmm. I made my favourite enemy love me.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

With a growl, he slanted his mouth over mine.

Much, much later, when I was on the edge of sleep, Lincoln leaned in, brushing his lips over my ear.

“Sometimes it feels as if I’ve been waiting all my life for you,” he said quietly.