Shea accepted the call and my heart seized.
Those sweet eyes immediately locked on me. But they weren’t shining with happiness. They were fucking tormented. Swollen and red and brimming with tears she was doing her best to keep from falling. Shadows played around her, fed by the tiny lamp glowing from her nightstand. Her face twisted, agony written in every line.
Anger clawed at my insides. It was instant. The essential need to protect and defend.
A sob tore through her when she met my gaze. “Sebastian.”
My jaw clenched. “What happened?”
Her eyes squeezed closed and her mouth trembled. “Martin.”
The name shot me from the bed. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been waiting for it. Expecting it to strike from her tongue the second I’d seen the look shrouding her face.
Didn’t mean it didn’t send rage blistering through me, boiling in my veins, singeing my skin.
Felt like I was burning alive.
I ripped at my hair. Frantic, I looked around the room for my things. My gaze narrowed as I calculated just how long it’d take me to hop on a plane to hunt the fucker down.
Almost six weeks had passed since the last time we’d heard from him, and I’d gone and let myself relax. Took comfort in the time.
Realistically knew it would come to this, but that didn’t stop the boundless hate from rapid firing through every nerve ending.
And I didn’t even know what the piece of shit had done.
I paced, glancing back at Shea sitting there in the middle of her bed as I made each pass. Both of us coming apart.
“Where’s Kallie?” I finally managed to grate out, not sure I could take the answer. My mind tossed through every scenario.
“In her room. Asleep.”
Relief slammed me. I scrubbed both hands over my face, dragging them down as I looked to the ceiling. That tiny bit of solace had me slumping down at the edge of the bed, my back to Shea, head in my hands. I was doing my best to rein it in. But those urges were there. The need to fight and defend.
Fists and fury and unrelenting rage.
To stand up for my family.
To make it right.
“Sebastian.” I heard Shea’s plea clear as day. Knew she felt it, too. What I was itching to do.
Reluctantly, I looked back her.
“Don’t,” she begged through a whisper.
I swallowed hard. Containing it was almost too much. Violence skimmed beneath the surface of my skin. My hands clenched into fists, released, then fisted again. It was an act I might’ve hoped would soothe, but it only served to coil the anger tighter.
I shifted to face her. “Tell me.”
Quivering lips tugged at one side as she fought emotion, and all I wanted was to reach through the screen to get to her.
I hated we were so far apart.
I wanted to be there.
Holding her.
Protecting her.
Didn’t take lightly to the vows I had made.
My attention trailed the bob of her delicate throat as she struggled to form the words.
“I was served this evening.” She pulled in a rasping breath and forced it out. “He’s seeking full custody of Kallie.”
“Fuck,” I cursed, jerking my attention to the far wall. Bitterness burned. My knee bounced like a fucking short-circuited jackhammer, every cell in my body prodding me to get up and go. To fucking do something. Because sitting here idly sure as hell wasn’t going to fix this.
This was what we’d expected, wasn’t it? Relentless nagging that had smoldered low, just out of sight, a warning that the asshole wasn’t ever gonna let her live in peace.
A sob tore from her, and her confession tumbled over me like a rockslide as she cried through the slur of words.
“I’m scared. God…I’m so scared. And…and that’s exactly what he wants. He wants me scared. To know he’s in control. He wants to remind me he knows how to hurt me and he won’t hesitate to do it.”
“Why, Shea? Why the fuck does he want to hurt you so bad?”