Defiant Heir (The Heirs 3)

I swallow hard before I walk closer. “Kao?”

His head snaps in my direction, and pain flits over his features before the granite expression returns. Then he growls, “What are you doing here?”

“I called her,” Noah admits. “Someone needs to talk some sense into your stubborn ass.”

“Can everyone just fucking leave me alone?” Kao snaps.

I flinch from all the anger coming off him, and my heart begins to beat heavily in my chest.

“Can you stop throwing a fucking tantrum for one minute?” Noah barks at Kao. “For fucks sake, you’re impossible!”

I let out a gasp when Kao stands up from where he was sitting on the side of the bed. His movements are filled with rage, but my heart splits right down the middle when I watch him reach his hands out to feel where he’s going.

I can’t move a muscle as Kao comes toward me. His hand connects with my arm, and it makes him freeze.

I begin to reach for him, but then he shuts his eyes, and with his voice low, he hisses, “Out of my way.”

Ignoring him, I step forward and wrap my arms around his waist. I press my left cheek to his chest and say, “I won’t. You’d be there for me, so let me help.”

His hands settle on my shoulders, and he pauses. I feel his breath stir my hair, but then he pushes me back. Letting out a bitter sounding chuckle, he says, “You’re scarred.” He shakes his head, and moving me to the side, he lets go of me. “Nothing’s going to change that.” Another bitter chuckle grates against my ears.

“Kao!” Mr. Reed snaps.

“What the fuck?” Noah growls.

Devasted, I can only stare at Kao. The fact that he’s disgusted with me rips my broken heart clean from my chest.

A foreign emotion creeps into the empty space left in my rib cage. I’ve always been able to hug and touch Kao. Whenever I wanted to. He was my person. My love. Not being able to comfort him is the worst torture. But having him being repulsed by me – makes it feel like a gaping gorge is being torn open between us.

Everything I ever thought I knew about Kao Reed is stripped from my memory until I’m staring at a stranger.

How could I be so wrong about him? I thought he was kind, loyal, and strong.

I was wrong.

This stranger is cruel. My Kao wouldn’t care about the scars. He’d tell me they don’t matter.

Sucking in a painful breath, I close my eyes as I turn around and start to walk away from him.

“Fallon,” Mr. Reed calls after me.

I stop outside in the hallway, and it’s hard to meet Mr. Reed’s blue eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologizes for his son’s behavior.

It takes all my strength to fight back the threatening tears, and I manage to smile, welcoming the pain in my cheek. “Don’t worry. Kao’s going through a lot.”

Mr. Reed reaches for my arm and gives it a squeeze. “And he’s stubborn. Please, give him time.”

I nod, my smile not wavering. “Of course.”

“Thank you.”

I watch Mr. Reed hurry back inside, and feeling like half a woman, I dazedly walk to my room. Once inside, I shut the door behind me, and then my lips part as I let the devastation wreak havoc through me. I gasp for air and clutch at my shirt over my heart.

Oh, God. Make it stop. It hurts too much.

A sob tears through my throat, making my neck cramp.

It feels like Kao died in the accident.

We didn’t survive.

The door slams into my back, and I stagger forward. Jase comes in, and the second his eyes land on me, he darts forward. His arms wrap around me, and I cling to my cousin, desperate for him to make the pain go away.

“I’m here,” he murmurs while rubbing my back. “It’s going to be okay.”

I shake my head and pull away. Using the back of my hand, I wipe the tears from my left cheek. “It won’t. He hates me. He’s… he’s disgusted with the scars.”

“What the fuck?” Jase’s eyebrows knit angrily together. “Who?”

Just remembering what Kao said has my face crumbling again as I gasp, “Kao.” I move back into Jase’s arms. “He hates me.”

“Shh.” Jase’s arms tighten around me. “Kao’s in shock. I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”

Jase’s words offer me no comfort. It was too easy for Kao to change. One moment he wanted a relationship with me, and the next, I’m nothing to him?

The question only deepens the heartache, and it makes me feel like I’ll never be whole again.KAODad and Noah are pissed off with me. Actually, that’s an understatement. But I couldn’t care less. I can’t face what I’ve done to Fallon, and they won’t understand even if I tried to explain.

My emotions keep alternating between rage and guilt, both equally debilitating. It feels as if I’m at war with myself.