Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52932 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52932 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
“Okay.”
I’ve lost Hadrian, my first love, but I’m slowly gaining a deeper understanding of myself. I thought about escaping my father’s world, but now there’s no stopping where my future leads.
I’ve come to learn what it means to truly care for someone. It’s the greatest gift Hadrian could have given me, and it’s made me realise I have to be there for my father. From now on, I have to focus on becoming what Da needs me to be. I have to be stronger, more resilient, and step into the shoes he’s created for me.
From now on, I’ll close my heart to everything else and embrace my family’s legacy.
FIVE
HARLEY
Present Day
The tension in the room is palpable. I didn’t think I’d ever see Hadrian again, yet the man who stole my teenage heart is standing in front of me, staring at me as if I’m something to eat. Maybe I am and he’s about to devour me. Anything would be better than having to talk to him.
I’m almost thirty. I should be over these emotions, but apparently, my feelings for Hadrian haven’t diminished. And even though the difference in our ages no longer matters, I still see him as a mature, unattainable man.
I’ve become used to ignoring my feelings, though. When Hadrian walked out and didn’t look back, my young heart was crushed. I closed myself off to the possibility of having a relationship with another man because I never again wanted to experience hurt in the way I did back then. I’m different now to the girl I was thirteen years ago.
I don’t want to live the rest of my life running my father’s organisation, but when my father developed heart problems and became increasingly unwell, I promised him I would take charge until he was well enough to take the reins again. And I won’t let him down.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, faking my bravado and not wanting Hadrian to see just how shaken I am by his presence.
“Where’s ye da?” His deep, rumbling tone vibrates through me, even though he’s a few feet away.
I know I shouldn’t still feel so attracted to the man who nearly broke me, but hearing his voice does something to me I can’t explain and can’t deny.
“He’s… takin’ some time off,” I tell Hadrian. “I’m running things for now.”
His eyes lock on mine, their colour as alluring as it was all those years ago. I didn’t fall in love with him because of his looks, though. There’s more to the man in front of me than just his outer appearance. He worked for my father, but there was always a gentleness to his rough exterior. It was that side of him that I wanted for myself. He told me I was too young for him, but there was only a handful of years between us. Granted, I was sixteen at the time. But it didn’t matter to me, because I knew what I wanted. Only, he didn’t want me.
“What do ye mean?” There’s a new, Irish twang to his northern accent, and I have to fight the smile that threatens to tilt my lips.
I shrug, turning away from him, and look out at the port that’s busy with people rushing to and fro.
“He’s not been doing well, and I’ve had to step up and take the lead,” I tell Hadrian. “If you need somethin’ then you come to me. If I can’t help, I’ll ask Gordon to deal with it.”
“And who the feck is Gordon?”
I don’t want to tell him anything about what’s happened to my da. When they left, we had a few months of troubles with rival gangs. But when my father hired Gordon as his right-hand man, things got better.
The problem is, I don’t like Gordon, and he doesn’t like me. I know if I were to tell Hadrian everything, he’d more than likely kill the man.
“I’m askin’ ye a question,” he says, his voice deeper now, rougher. There’s a gravel to his words that reminds me of the evening I asked him to kiss me, and he told me no.
Hadrian thought of me as innocent back then, and I guess I was. He wanted to make sure I enjoyed my childhood, as he put it, not look up to a man who killed, maimed, and tortured others for a living. After I started working for my father, though, I saw things that ensured my innocence was nothing more than a lie.
Over the years, I’ve tried to forget Hadrian, but nobody else has ever come close to igniting the same desire that I felt for him.
“Gordon’s my father’s right-hand man, and he’s been helping me run things while Da is healing at home,” I finally bite out.
He leans in closer, surprising me with the scent of his cologne. I remember that smell. It was the one I’d get lost in while trying to keep a clear head around him. I never succeeded.