Aleck’s spine stiffens and I scoot closer between his legs, looking up at a man who would take a beating, not showing an ounce of emotion or pain, to stay a part of the family he craved having.

That’s why he’s become so controlled, his security depended on it.

“If I didn’t learn how to not show interest in things, Hayden would make it his mission to take it. And he had the one thing in that house I never did…”

“What was that?”

“Fox blood. The one girl I ever had feelings for in high school ended up in his bed. All my friends would slowly gravitate to him when he’d take them on weekend trips to our house in Maine, the Hamptons, anywhere without inviting me. My tires were always slashed, my credit cards always mysteriously disappeared, and the middle-of-the-night beatings happened a few more times until my sophomore year in high school when I finally choked him against my wall and told him I’d never let him touch me again. I actually thought I’d see fear in his eyes, but all I saw was a glint of a challenge accepted.” A small laugh puffs in his chest. “The only people he couldn’t take from me were Preston, and Richard and Midge. I was always afraid they’d stop loving me because of him, but they never did. And I hoped the fights would eventually end between Hayden and me. I’ve tried to forge past them, but he never stops. Hating me is ingrained in him now. It’s just part of who he is. Who we are.”

“Listen to me,” I say, lifting onto my knees, sliding my hands over his face. “He should have been better to you, but he wasn’t. Your birth parents should have been better to you, but they weren’t. You can’t change these things, but you can choose to be beyond them. You trying to remain unaffected only pushes you to explode in moments like this. You’re giving him what he wants; your attention.”

Aleck’s hands slide across my skin, his fingers close, digging into my lower back as he pulls me closer. He presses his forehead to mine. His tone now a whisper. “I won’t let him pull you into it. I won’t let him make you a game.”

“You already have. When you said what you said in the suite instead of just standing up to him with honesty, you made me a game. But you can fix it. Ignore him. That is his kryptonite.”

“I have been ignoring it—”

“No, you’ve been refusing to react to it, but you’re very much giving it attention. Your parents love you, I’m here with you, you have everything you need, Aleck. Take a deep breath, and exhale him away, once and for all.”

His forehead presses harder against mine, his hands gripping, holding my body close to his. “I have everything I need,” he repeats.

My cheeks warm under his touch and my stomach swarms with flutters from his words.