Rain looked through the endless drawers of bikinis, but there was not a one-piece to be had.
She didn’t mind her body.
Throughout her life, she’d always been the bigger girl. Others often called her fat. Daniel had always said he loved her, until he didn’t, when his resentment became too great. There was more of her to hold on to. She squeezed the black bikini in her hands.
After wriggling out of her shirt, she quickly changed into the bikini, and seeing as it was only her and Evelyn, she ran to the pool and jumped in.
Evelyn was a strong swimmer. Rain had been taking her baby girl to the pool not long after she learned how to walk. Her daughter loved the water, was a natural in it.
She swam all the time until Daniel got … sicker. Then most of Rain’s time was spent at home, taking care of him.
Rain pushed those memories out of her mind. There was no room for them, not as Evelyn splashed her way toward her.
She couldn’t believe that it had taken being captured by a bad man, a monster, for her daughter to finally have a smile.
Evelyn hadn’t enjoyed the past couple of years. Rain knew that. She had stopped trying to see her father, and then, she wouldn’t talk about him.
Moving to the city, they had found a small apartment, and Rain had found the picture of Daniel in Evelyn’s closet, face down on the floor, hidden.
Picking Evelyn up in her arms, she spun her around, lifting her.
Her baby girl screamed and laughed.
Rain chuckled, losing herself in the moment.
After dropping Evelyn in the pool, she spun her around and then held her close.
Her daughter splashed away, and Rain chased after her.
She didn’t know how much time they spent in the pool but instantly became aware of three things. Her fingers had started to wrinkle from being in the pool too long. It was dark outside. Wolf stood at the pool edge, watching the two of them.
Evelyn rushed toward him.
Her chest seemed to tighten as she saw her daughter climb out of the pool and then speed walk toward Wolf, who then picked her up.
To Rain, it was like seeing a moment between father and daughter. Only Wolf wasn’t Evelyn’s father.
“Dinner is waiting,” Wolf said.
Evelyn yawned.
“The guard will take you back to the house. I’ll follow with your mother,” Wolf said.
Once again, her daughter didn’t fight Wolf.
She watched as the guard held out his hand, draping a towel around Evelyn before walking away.
Rain got to the stairs and hauled herself out of the water.
“You need to stop acting like Evelyn’s father,” Rain said.
“I’m not doing any such thing.”
“Don’t you see what is happening?” Rain asked. “She is putting you in that position and you are going to hurt her.”
“Why am I going to hurt her?”
“Look around you, Wolf. I’m not a fool. You didn’t come by any of this legally. I know what you were doing with those women, and I know what is at stake. I will do whatever it takes to keep my daughter alive, but don’t pretend to be something you’re not.”
Chapter Six
“Don’t pretend to be something you’re not.”
Those words went around and around Wolf’s head.
He wasn’t trying to pretend to be anything. There was no reason for him to pretend. He had no one to care about. No rules to follow that said he had to be anything. Still, he knew what Rain meant.
Evelyn treated him like a father.
He found it sweet, charming even.
Staring at the picture of the two in his hands, he held the key in his fist.
His curiosity was going to be his destruction, but he had to know more. The information Mitchell had provided him was all well and good on paper, but it didn’t exactly give the details. It didn’t explain who Rain was, or why she had fallen for such a man. He wanted to know who his competition was, and that in itself was fucking crazy.
There was no competition.
Daniel was gone.
Dead.
But his memory still lingered.
Getting to his feet, he left his office and went to the front door. He didn’t need to stop to order people what to do. They knew the drill.
Keep Evelyn safe and Rain from running away. Stop them from leaving his property but don’t kill them. Anyone else, kill for entering or leaving. They were simple instructions. Of course, Mitchell and Wolf were the exceptions to his rules.
No one got in unless he said so.
His car was already parked out front. Climbing behind the wheel, he reversed out of his parking spot and drove the mile toward the front gate. Typing in the code, he waited for it to enter, then driving forward, he waited for the gates to close before he took off.
He’d already typed in Rain’s address into his car, and the woman’s voice gave him directions filled the car.