Here With Me (Adair Family 1)

He reached for her. “Robyn—”

“No.” She jerked back from him, the flatness obliterated by her rising fury.

“Robyn, I’m asking you to do this for me. If you care about me, please.”

“If I care about you?” She gaped at him, disbelieving. “Lachlan … if you care about me, you wouldn’t dare ask me to do this. It’s not about asking me to run away from this coward, to let him win—it’s not about that. It’s only slightly about you trying to wrap me up in cotton wool when we both know it’ll suffocate me. What it is about is you giving me an ultimatum. Asking me to be someone I’m not, just to soothe your fears.” Tears filled her eyes, gutting him. “That’s not love. That’s emotional blackmail.”

Suddenly, it felt like rocks were piled on his chest. His breaths were shallow through the restriction. “I can’t … I can’t get in any deeper with you if I’m constantly worried about your safety. It’ll drive me mad.” Understanding dawned. Robyn was the worst kind of woman he could have fallen in love with. Her courage would always put her at risk. He stood up, pushing his chair back with force. “I’m sorry. This isn’t going to work between us.”

Her tears escaped as she stared up at him in hurt shock.

Lachlan couldn’t stand it.

Cursing under his breath, he marched from the room. Every footstep that took him from her, he prayed she’d call out and change her mind, that she would prove to him she could be low risk when he needed her to be.

She didn’t.

And he didn’t stop walking away.

So.

That was that.

“Lachlan?” He heard Mac call his name, but he kept on.

He stormed out of the hospital and into chaos.

Camera lights flashed in his eyes as he was immediately set upon by bodies. “Adair! Is it true your stalker killed another woman?”

“Look this way, Adair!”

“Lachlan, can you tell us what happened? Who is the victim and what does she mean to you?”

“Is it true her name is Robyn Penhaligon? Who is she to you?”

Seconds from punching the bastards out of his way, they were forced back by Mac and Ada, and Lachlan was hauled into the safety of the reception area as hospital security ordered the paparazzi to remain outside.

Lachlan spun out of Mac’s grip, searching the hospital for the nurse. “She told them,” he spat, ready to take his rage and frustration out on anyone who would use him like this. They had Robyn’s name!

“Lachlan, calm down, calm down.” Mac guided him forcefully into the men’s restroom.

“Get off me!” He shrugged off his friend.

Mac checked the stalls to make sure they were alone and turned to Lachlan, grim-faced. “It’s very unlikely it was the nurse, Lachlan. There are a dozen people in that waiting room who heard you declare yourself for Robyn.”

That was true. It didn’t make him feel any calmer.

“I’ll call security to come collect you.”

“Put them on Robyn. They have her name.” He considered something. “They’ll connect the two of you. They’ll harass you too.”

“I don’t care.” Mac scowled at him. “What happened?”

Deducing his meaning, Lachlan turned away. “I’m not discussing it with you.”

“I’m her father, Lachlan. Tell me or I make you tell me.”

He looked back at him, eyebrow raised. “I’m your boss.”

Mac narrowed his eyes. “Don’t give me that bullshit.”

“We broke up. All right? It’s fucking over. You want to leave me, fine.” It wasn’t fine. None of this was fine.

It was so bloody far from fine, Lachlan felt like he was coming out of his skin.

“Explain.”

He gave him the gist of it.

“Ah, Lachlan.” Mac leaned against the wall, scrubbing a hand down his face.

His gut twisted in knots, and he glared at the restroom’s tile floor. “Call the team. I need to get out of here. Put however many men you need on Robyn.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

Exhausted, drained, and aching with misery in every part of his body, Lachlan stared unseeing at his friend. “It’s my mistake to make. Now can you just do your job?”

With a heavy sigh, Mac pulled his phone out of his pocket to call the team.

33

Robyn

Mac offered to pack up my room for me, but I wasn’t about to run away now. Not after everything.

Instead, I told him to wait for me in his SUV outside on the castle driveway. He’d already returned to the cottage while I was in the hospital, so he had no packing today, just chauffeuring.

The castle staff were grim and subdued as I passed them in the halls. The very walls of Ardnoch seemed to have soaked in the gloom of everyone’s emotions. There were few club members left, staff were still furloughed, yet there was security everywhere. It felt like a prison, not a luxury escape for the rich and famous.

I was sad for Lachlan.

Even as I seethed with hurt, grief, and fury, I could still hate that he seemed to be losing everything.