ilt. “I know you were with Neville in a car when this happened.”
She pulled her hand from his and covered her face. When her shoulders shook, Tanner eased onto the side of the bed.
“Talk to me. What’s going on?”
“You shouldn’t be here,” she cried into her hand. “He can’t know you’re here.”
The curtain behind him slid aside and Tanner glanced over his shoulder to see Cash and Jax. He held up a hand and the two slowly stepped back outside and closed the door.
“Neville can’t know I’m here?” Tanner clarified. “Did he threaten you?”
Melanie shook her head and dropped her hand back to her lap. “No. He threatened you.”
Tanner laughed. “Honey, I’m not afraid of your ex-husband.”
“You don’t understand.” Her watery eyes practically begged him. “He’ll ruin your career. He wants to buy you off to keep you out of the baby’s life and mine.”
Rage filled Tanner at the thought that some low-life politician thought for even a second that money could buy him.
Tanner reached up to wipe her damp cheeks. “It will never happen.”
“I told him you’d never take money,” she assured him. “But maybe if you stay away from me, maybe he won’t feel threatened? I don’t know. I have no clue what to do to save you at this point. He’s worked up some preposterous scheme to remarry me—”
“Like hell.”
Melanie shook her head. “No, I’m not marrying him. But if he thinks you’re a threat at all . . . Tanner, please listen. Just go.”
Part of him wanted to shake some sense into her, but the rest of him couldn’t get beyond the pain that consumed him. She’d tried to do all of this on her own. She’d not trusted their relationship enough to let him in, to let him take over and protect her.
“Why didn’t you come to me?” he asked, unable to keep the anger from his tone. “Why were you so adamant about keeping me locked out of this?”
Melanie dropped her head against the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. “I never wanted this for you. I wanted my old life separate from my new. I was doing a good job of it, too, until he discovered the pregnancy. I mean, he was texting and sending messages through his assistants, but the pregnancy put him over the top, and when he threatened you . . .”
Melanie turned her head and stared at him once again. “Do you not get that I trust you with my entire heart, Tanner? My life is yours, but I couldn’t let you get hurt.”
“You don’t trust me with your life.” Those words no doubt hurt her . . . they hurt like hell to say out loud. “Maybe you want to, maybe you even think you do, but you would’ve been completely up front with everything if that were the case.”
Melanie’s chin quivered as she bit down on her lip and turned her head away. “Just go,” she whispered. “I’m tired.”
Damn it. This was not how he wanted to leave her. He wouldn’t leave her like this.
Tanner reached for her good hand and stroked his thumb across her knuckles. “You’re done doing things alone,” he vowed. “I’ve said this before, but you’re going to see that I don’t scare easily. You’re tired because you’ve carried the weight of this burden for years. It’s my turn.”
She jerked her attention toward him, her entire body tense. Eyes wide, she shook her head. “Tanner, when I said go, I didn’t mean from the room. I meant from my life. I won’t keep our baby from you. I’d never do that, but you and me . . . we just can’t do this anymore.”
Another round of rage rolled through him. He braced his fists on either side of her hips and leaned forward until he was a breath away from her face.
“Like hell we can’t. You already told me you love me. There’s no going back, Mel. We’re a family and I’ll be damned if someone, anyone, is going to destroy that.”
He kissed her for the briefest of moments before releasing her. Tanner came to his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets as he stared down at the woman he loved lying in the bed.
“Rest up, Melanie. I’ll finish this fight.”
“I don’t want you in my fight, Tanner.” Her voice cracked, but she tipped her chin and stared across the space without blinking. “We can’t be together anymore.”
“Because you’re scared?” he demanded.
Melanie pursed her lips and blinked. She pulled in a deep breath as she squared her shoulders against the stark white pillow.