I knew she meant my father. If I was upset.

I still wasn’t sure. I was glad he was gone, but I was still trying to figure out what this meant and what the next step was.

The important thing was I wasn’t alone anymore, and that made a huge difference. We were going to be fine.

Unfortunately, not as fine as I wanted, though.

“I have no money, no home, a wife, and a probably pregnant girlfriend,” I said, trying to tease.

But even I knew the amount of shit that needed to be cleaned up when I woke up tomorrow. I had a lot to do.

She was quiet for a moment, but then said, “I wonder if it’s easier to get an annulment if the marriage was never consummated.” She let the words hang in the air a minute. “If it was never consummated.”

I looked down at her, knowing what she was worried about. Did I sleep with Ari…

I reached around and turned her chin toward me. “It’s called fraud,” I explained. “When you enter into a marriage with no intention of consummating it. I’m way ahead of you, Devil.”

An embarrassed little smile tugged at her lips, and I could see her shoulders relaxing.

Marrying Ari got me into the house and put them all under my thumb. I was a means to an end. It didn’t take long to face the fact, though, that I could barely tolerate eating a meal with that woman, let alone take her to bed. I knew who I wanted.

She lowered herself onto the floor, dangling her legs over the side just like we did when we were kids.

“Banks won’t want the inheritance,” she pointed out. “You can contest his will if you want.”

I let out a breath and sat down next to her, leaning back on my hands and looking out through the leaves in the tree that hid us from the world.

“Fuck it,” I said. “He was right. She’ll do better with it than I would have. And I don’t want anything of his anyway.”

She nodded, but no worry creased her brow. She almost looked happy, and with her hair blowing behind her and those same dark pink lips, she was eight again, and I was eleven, unable to stop looking at her.

She faced out toward the house, and I was glad she seemed to like it up here.

“What do you see?” I asked.

She inhaled a deep breath and then fell slowly back, lying down on the floor with her legs still hanging over the side.

A little smile played across her lips. “I see us spending the night up here.”

I came down on her, taking her face in my hands and heading for her mouth.

Hell yeah.

Damon

Present

Slamming the car door, I clicked the lock and walked around, jogging up onto the sidewalk as I shivered.

It was going to snow soon. I could feel it.

I yanked up the zipper of my pullover and stuffed my hands into my jean pockets as I opened the door to the theater and walked inside. Warmth hit me, and a couple of employees made eye contact, but looked away again when they realized it was me.

I’d been coming every day to drop Winter off and pick her up, so they knew why I was here.

Plus, the whole town knew what really happened at the tavern last week, and even though no one was crying about it, they still moved to the other side of the street when they saw me coming. They put their heads down, stayed out of my path, and answered extra polite with one- or two-word sentences when I ordered food or got gas in my car.

In fact, I’d noticed they were doing the same thing when they saw Will or Rika or Kai, too. All of us, in fact.

It was like the town had a changing of the guard or something and people weren’t sure if they should be scared.

I headed past the concessions and the stairs leading to the mezzanine and gallery levels, and opened the double doors, heading into the ground floor of the theater.

Music filled the room, while Winter moved about on stage, sliding and turning, her whole body in every move she made like it was all a single unit instead of individual parts.

I descended the small pathway toward the orchestra section, watching her, the long, gauzy gray costume flowing in layers around her legs and her hair flying around her as she spun and bent backward. There were no words to describe how beautiful she was.

But everyone was soon going to find out. Michael and Rika were sponsoring a small tour for her as an opening dance at other theaters and festivals, and if it went well, we’d go from there. Her twenty-minute show would take a couple more months to get ready, but she was already rehearsing and outlining the performance.

And while it was good, she deserved everything coming to her, and I wouldn’t stop anything or do anything to discourage her. I wondered what the hell I was going to do now, too. The only thing I was ever good at was basketball, and that ship had sailed. I didn’t have the temperament to work well with others, and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with my father’s money or his businesses. Banks had it, so it was staying in the family. That was all I cared about.

I wasn’t taking his money, and I wasn’t fucking asking my friends for anything. Everything Winter and I built would be ours.

“Damon, are you here?” I heard Winter call out.

I looked up at her, not realizing the music had ended.

“Coming,” I told her.

I climbed the few steps off to the side of the stage, and walked over to her, picking her up and wrapping her legs around me like I’d done every day the past week when I picked her up from rehearsal at five.

She smiled down at me, threading her fingers through my hair, and kissed me.

“Lookin’ good,” I said.

“Yeah, you’re prejudiced.”

“I don’t lie.”

She snorted, and I carried her backstage, toward the dressing rooms, so she could get her things.

She started kissing my cheek, leaving little butterflies across my face, to my ear, and down my neck. I wanted to get her home and in the shower with me. Right now.

“How was your day?” she asked, nibbling my ear.

“Fine,” I mumbled, enjoying her attention too much to think of more to say.

I’d dropped her off at eleven this morning and went to Kai’s house to collect my snakes that Banks had been taking care of, and then I went to my apartment at Delcour and my room at my father’s to clear out the rest of my things.

I should’ve been looking for work, but right now, I just wanted her home before the snow started, and then I’d keep her up all night trying to make a kid we definitely couldn’t support yet.

We reached her little dressing room, and I let her down, watching her go pack up her bag and pull out her change of clothes and strip right there. I took the bag, half-tempted to plant her ass on the vanity and go right now, but…it was cold. I’d wait for the hot shower.

“Ready?” she asked, dressed in jeans, flats, and a cable-knit sweater.

Giving her my arm, I led her out of the room, through the backstage area, and out the rear exit and into the alleyway.

“Can I drive?” she teased.

I laughed under my breath. “You know the rules.”

Late, dark, and no witnesses.

We walked around the corner of the building, coming to the street, and I dropped her bag in my trunk before unlocking the car. As I opened my door, though, she stopped at hers and spoke to me over the hood.

“You know,” she said. “There’s stuff in the house we can sell. Art, furniture, rugs…I have some jewelry, too.”

“No.”

“Damon—”

“I’ll handle it,” I cut her off but kept my voice as gentle as possible. “I’ll get a job. I’ll deal with it. Don’t worry.”

It wasn’t that I expected her to do nothing, or that she wasn’t a partner in this, but I exposed her father. It was my responsibility to fix this and give her back the life she was used to. A life she deserved.

And it was definitely not okay for me not to be doing something.

I’d find an income. A legit one.

She opened her door, and we both climbed in, Mikhail jumping from where he waited in the passenger’s seat to the backseat to make room for Winter.

I ruffled the fur on his head, but my phone rang in the console where I’d left it, and I picked it up, seeing a local number.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Damon Torrance?” a man asked.

“Yes.”

“This is Grady MacMiller,” he introduced himself. “From Hiberian Bank?”

It sounded vaguely familiar.

“Yes?” I stuck my key in the ignition and started the car.

“Listen,” he said. “I know this is going to sound extremely odd, but I have to try. I came by to appraise the Ashby house yesterday while you were gone.”

That’s why his name was familiar. Banks owned the house now as part of my father’s assets. She was trying to get the books in order, and she’d warned me someone was coming by.

It was also a reminder that Winter probably couldn’t sell anything inside the house. Banks owned every stitch. I rubbed my eyes in frustration.

“Well, I brought my children with me,” he continued. “Unfortunately, the nanny was sick, and my wife has been—”

“Yes?” I interrupted.

Jesus.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “Excuse me. Anyway, we saw the treehouse, and the fountain maze, and I inquired with the security at the house, and they told me you’re the designer. Is that true?”

“The designer?” I repeated, seeing Winter quietly listening beside me. “I—uh, no. I built them, if that’s what you mean. What’s this about?”

“Well, my children loved both features,” he burst out. “Absolutely adored them. It was like it was Christmas morning. I feel so weird asking, given who your father is—or was—I’m sorry for your loss, sir,” he added. “But I have to ask. You wouldn’t be willing to build another like it, would you? At my home? For my children?”

“Another what?”

“Treehouse and fountain maze.”

I scoffed. “Uh, no. Sorry.”