4

Linda

Ileft,walkingquicklyaway from them. I was in shock, and my legs were shaking as I stumbled down the stairs. Seeing his face after all these years had sent my head reeling. Axel Linden had gained a couple of steel-gray hairs at his temples, but aside from that, he didn’t look different at all. The same handsome face, the same ripped, muscular body. The same cruel, piercing glare.

The bastard who’d left me without anything and anyone, a single mother alone in New York.

I stumbled through the dining room, onto the street. It was raining lightly, and the pavements were slicked as I jogged away.

I had to get to the subway, into a cab—anything. Macy was at home and I was going to pick her up from Sara’s apartment, hold her, cuddle her, and get as far away from the monster pursuing me as I could.

“Wait!” cried a dark voice, after me. Frantically, I broke into a jog and rounded the corner, nearly bumping into a couple wandering past with some designer bags. The money on these streets never ceased to amaze me.

“LINDA!” cried Axel, and I shivered to hear my name said like that, called after me, like it had been me who’d left him, who’d abandoned him, and not the other way around…

But there was nowhere to go. At a four-way intersection, I stopped, turned, and saw Axel, jostling amongst the crowd behind me. The rain had gently slicked his hair, and he looked more gorgeous than ever. But the sight of him following me gave me chills.

“Linda,” he said, and stepped towards me. “It’s been…years.”

He’d opened his arms and was reaching for me. For a moment, I thought about what it would be like for him to wrap them around me once again, after all these years of wanting him. Even though I hated myself for wanting him. Even though I could never forgive him for what he’d done.

“Don’t touch me!” I barked, and I was astonished at the power in my own voice. Axel looked like he’d just been slapped in the face.

“Are you okay, lady?” said a guy behind me.

“This guy bothering you?” said another, looking Axel up and down. He looked quite the picture in his dark suit and designer tie, his hair neatly combed and gelled into place. His trimmed stubble. There was no denying that he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen. But his eyes had gone cold once again.

Axel turned. “Fine,” he rumbled, and began to go. This was it. This was what I wanted, wasn’t it? I’d never see him again.

“Wait,” I called.

He turned around.

“Can we talk?” I said.