“You don’t have to say anything. I want what’s mine, what I served time for.”

I gulped. “You didn’t have to kidnap me.”

“You’re right,” he said, his lips hovering, almost touching mine. “I didn’t have to kidnap you, but I wanted to, and I always get what I want. The last eight fucking years notwithstanding, of course. You made sure of that.”

He shifted his weight to the side and brought a key to my wrists. The lock released, and I pulled free of the bars.

“Get up,” he said, rising to his feet.

The floor tilted in a dizzying whirl, but once I regained my bearings, I stood before him, face-to-face with the man I’d wronged. He was just as gorgeous as ever, though his green eyes told me things he didn’t voice. They hinted at how my actions had ruined a good person, because the one before me was anything but.

My heart ached for the guy I remembered, with his deep laugh and teasing grin. The same mouth that sneered at me now used to curve into the sexiest smile when he caught me staring. I’d fallen hard, enticed by the irresistible contradiction that was Rafe Mason, a guy who displayed a quiet, gentle aura, yet used brute force on his opponents inside the cage. His only crime had been catching the eye of damaged goods.

“Why’d you do it, Alex?” He moved, blocking the opening of the prison and hindering any chance I had to escape.

I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling sick as I recalled the day they arrested him. The media had splashed footage all over the news, and I’d never forget the way his head hung in shame as they hauled him outside my father’s gym where he trained, hands cuffed at his back as if he were really guilty. Sometimes, merely being accused of something, even when innocent, could psyche a person into experiencing false guilt. Zach was an expert at that particular mental warfare.

“I asked you a question,” he snapped.

The moment had arrived, the one I’d dreaded for years, but my mind drew a blank. What could I tell him? There was no excuse or explanation that would make this right. Even the truth didn’t excuse sending an innocent man to prison. “I’m sorry,” I said, fighting tears. “You have every right to be angry.”

“Are you refusing to give me an explanation? Don’t you think I deserve that much?”

I dipped my head, thick hair falling forward and shadowing the shame warming my cheeks. What he deserved was nothing less than the truth, but it caught in my throat, perpetually trapped by my need for him to never find out about Zach and me. “I can’t give you one. It won’t change anything.”

“I see.” He came closer, hands bunching at his sides, and ordered me to lower my arms.

I backed up, hating how my body throbbed with indecent anticipation. My eyes burned, but I hadn’t cried in a long time, not since my mother died and Rafe had embraced me while I lost it. That seemed like a lifetime ago. I blinked several times, willing the tears to dry up, but the sight of him lowered the gates. Something fundamental in him had changed.