Chapter 26

Liam

Her slap still burned my cheek as I stalked down the corridor, but what burned more was the memory of her voice…

“You don’t get to take her from me. Not again. Not like this.”

I told myself that I wouldn’t give in. I told myself that I would not let her get inside my head. And yet that was exactly what I was doing.

The guards followed at a safe distance, silent as I made my way to the east wing where Anastasia had been taken.

My chest ached with each step that I took, and for a few seconds I found it harder for myself to breathe as I approached her room.

I told myself I was in control.

I told myself this was for her own good.

I told myself that this was going to be the way that she would know me as her father, that she would understand that I was no stranger to her.

But then I saw her.

And something in me cracked something that I did not think existed, something that I did not even want to understand or t