Buttons and Grace (Buttons 6)

“I told him that, but he didn’t care. He said there’s nothing you guys can do about it.”

I couldn’t go to the police or threaten him to release her. But I could certainly talk to him. “I’m surprised this happened.”

“I know. He’s not the Cane I met. When I first met him, I knew he was better than all the others. I knew he had a soft spot, a soul. He was always so good to me, so thoughtful. And to see him like this… It’s scary.”

“Cane used to be a bad man. But those days are over.”

“They were over,” she said. “But now they’re back. I set him off, and now he’s a different person. I really don’t think he’s ever going to let me go.”

I ignored the ravioli placed in front of us and felt the steam waft up and hit my face. I knew Cane was hurt when Adelina said she didn’t love him, but I didn’t know it would push him this far. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Please. I tried to explain to him that I care about him. My wanting to leave has nothing to do with him. If my parents lived down the street, I’d stay with him. But they live on a completely different continent. I can’t stay here just for him, even if I do have feelings for him. That’s all. I think he thinks he doesn’t mean anything to me…which just isn’t true.”

“Maybe he doesn’t understand that,” I said quietly. “I’ll talk to him. I’ll get this whole thing sorted out.”

“Thank you. When I try to talk to him, he doesn’t listen to me.”

Cane had really gone off the deep end to act this way. It took him so long to shift from being a ruthless criminal to a compassionate hero. It would be a shame to wipe all of that away for nothing.

“Do you think he’s right?” she whispered.

“What?”

“He did so much for me…and I owe him.”

“No, Adelina. You don’t owe him anything. He did those things for you because he cared about you. You never asked him to save you. I know he would have done it anyway even if he knew your relationship was going to end.”

“I’m not so sure,” she whispered. “You’ll see what I mean when you talk to him.”

“Okay.”

“Crow might be able to help, too, but I feel bad for asking since he’s been through so much.”

“He doesn’t mind. Crow is the one person in the world Cane will listen to. We can use that to our advantage.”

She reached across the table and placed her hand on mine. “Thanks so much for helping me. I feel bad for asking since you guys have already done so much.”

“Don’t feel bad. We don’t mind at all. Really.”

She pulled her hand away and looked down at her food. She reached for her fork and finally took a bite. “It’s pretty good.”

“Lars made me put on ten pounds after I moved in.”

She chewed another bite. “But it was totally worth it. This is delicious.” She poked at the food in the bowl then looked up at me again. “Sometimes I think I could love him. But after this happened…it made me realize it’s better that I don’t.”

My heart fell into my stomach when I heard what she said. If Cane had just been patient like I told him, things could have been different. But he let his anger get to him, and now he’d pushed her away. I couldn’t blame her for feeling this way.

Who could?

* * *

When Cane pulled up to the front of the house in his black car, I walked outside and met them at the roundabout. As if Crow wasn’t still severely injured, he got out of the car and held himself perfectly upright, like there was nothing holding him back at all.

He looked at me with slight amusement in his eyes, as though he thought my concern was comical. “Button.”

I stood on my tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. The embrace would have lasted longer if I weren’t upset. Adelina had already left and drove back to Cane’s house, so I could speak to him without her there.

Crow pulled away and knew something was wrong. “What is it?”

Cane walked around the car, in a leather jacket with sunglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. I didn’t notice it before, but he did seem distinctly different. His shoulders were more rigid, he wore a grimace rather than a smile, and he seemed moody—just the way Crow was. He came to our side and stood beside Crow. “We took a look at the property and liked what we saw. Our earth science guy said the soil composition was perfect.”

“That’s great.” I couldn’t care less about the property they were acquiring, at least, not right now. “So, Adelina stopped by…”