“He doesn’t give a shit about me,” I told him. “I haven’t seen him in weeks. He doesn’t care. He hasn’t phoned. Asked me to report in. Sent an email. Requested I meet him for lunch. Asked me to come over for dinner. It’s just about control. He’s perfectly fine knowing I’m where he wants me to be doing what he wants me to be doing. But that’s it. He’s nothing to me for reasons that are obvious. But I’m nothing to him too. And that doesn’t make sense for the simple fact I’m his child. It seriously doesn’t make sense for the not-simple fact that he taught me the lesson he taught me.”

“No, it doesn’t,” he agreed, and I noticed his eyes intent on me. “Does that hurt?”

“No.”

“Baby, he burned you. Your dad. Your father did that to you. I can’t comprehend that. And it wasn’t for some jacked sense of family devotion and loyalty that he did that.”

“It doesn’t hurt, Sebring.”

He stopped stroking my jaw and cupped it, starting with ill-concealed disbelief, “Olivia—”

“It would hurt someone normal,” I whispered. “I’m not normal. It isn’t like a phantom limb, something you had, used, needed and missed when it was gone. I never had that. I never had love. Devotion. Loyalty. You can’t miss something you’ve never had. Even when they had me tied down and he was pouring the oil on me, my mind wasn’t even there. I felt it happening but it was just something happening. It hurt. It hurt unbelievably. But I wasn’t there. My mind was where it always was. Somewhere else so I could survive and not go totally fucking crazy.”

I stopped talking.

Then I went still.

Because Nick was still. The air was still. The room was still. In fact, I fancied the earth stood still as he stared at me, the rage that he’d successfully tamped down before burning blatant in his gaze.

“Nicky—” I whispered, inching up his chest.

“You’re out of that warehouse, yeah?” he grunted.

“I…” I nodded uncertainly because I hadn’t told him yet about my change in job and I didn’t know if he was telling me to get out or confirming I was out. “Yes. Do you—?”

“Babe, I know everything,” he declared, answering the question I didn’t completely get out. “Just get that. I know about your sister’s labs. I know Raid Miller found the man whose job you’re doin’ now. And I know since Raid brought him back that no one has seen that man.”

I felt my eyes grow huge but Nick wasn’t done talking.