CamdenI sigh, thinking that I should follow her, thinking that I should probably go and talk this through, but I’m too tired.I wait for a few moments, until I can’t hear her footsteps down the hallway, and then I leave the room and I walk over to Dante’s office, knocking lightly on the door.“Come in,” he calls, and Mia is perched on his lap, looking about to burst and smiling at him. She kisses his cheek when I walk in and nods at me as she walks out the door, seeming to know that we need some time alone.“Hey,” I say tiredly, plopping down in the chair across from his desk.“You look like shit,” Dante says bluntly, and I snort.“Thanks a lot,” I grumble, but I know he’s right. I haven’t been sleeping well without Kendall in my bed, and I don’t like to think about what that means. It’s just that I got used to it while we were away, that’s all.“You seem conflicted,” he continues, and then he gets up and pours us both a drink.“You’re an angel, Dante.”He laughs. “Maybe a fallen one
KendallElora and I head out to the pool the next morning as if nothing happened. She doesn’t comment on Camden or my pregnancy, just acts like everything’s normal. I don’t ask what she said to Camden. I’m too embarrassed.I can’t be angry at her for taking up for me, but I hope that she didn’t tell Camden anything personal – like how I’ve had a crush on him basically my whole life.I feel like I look a little chubby in my bikini, so I wear a one piece with cutouts right above my love handles.“You look great in that suit,” Elora says, as if she knows I feel insecure.I smile at her gratefully. I was wrong last night to accuse her of wanting me to be invisible. I know it isn’t her fault that she’s so beautiful and straight-forward and that guys flock to her.She’s always been lovely to me, and instead of apologizing, I lean against her and she hugs me from the side.All is forgiven, just like any other time we’ve ever had a fight. It’s one thing I love about being friends with Elora
Kendall I meet Elora in the dining room with a plate in front of her and sit down next to her.“You need to eat something,” Elora says, but my stomach feels funny after talking to Camden.“Elora ,” I say seriously. “I need to talk to you.”She looks up at me from her plate of fruit and slides it to me. “Okay, but you should eat.”I take a piece of honeydew and eat it slowly, and it does make my stomach feel better.“This thing with Camden,” I start, and she waves her hand dismissively.“I’m not upset with you or anything, babes,” she says easily. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”“That’s the thing, though,” I argue quietly. “I want to be able to make my own mistakes. I know that I’m not very experienced and that you are, but you make lots of mistakes.”Elora scoffs. “Tell me about it.”I continue without looking at her. “So, I need to know that you’re not going to interfere. Not with Camden, not with this baby.”“That baby is my niece or nephew,” she argues. “I’m going to interf
CamdenAfter my swim, I go to shower and spend some time in my room, making calls. Angelo is my first call, since he’s nearby.“Camden, what’s up?” he answers, sounding out of breath.“Are you busy?” I ask him, and he scoffs.“There’s been nothing going on for weeks,” he complains. “I’m bored out of my mind.”“Good to hear,” I mumble, “because I’ve got something really exciting coming up.”“Oh, do tell,” he says brightly.Angelo is a bit of a loose cannon, but everyone knows he gets the job done.“Marco Barone,” I say, and I can practically hear the grin in Angelo’s voice when he answers.“Oh, hell yeah.”“He’s hiding out underground,” I tell him. “Abandoned warehouses in the slums, that kind of shit.”“Sounds like a good time. When are we moving out?”“Soon,” I tell him. “I’ll call you once I get the location.”“Perfect. I just got a new piece and I’ve been dying to use it.”I laugh and hang up the phone. It’s good to know that I have people on my side, especially Angelo. He’s always
Camden Dante snorts. “No, not really. It was hard. It’s hard to change, Camden. But it was worth it. I did it for Mia and for our little girl.”“When’s she due?” I ask.“Soon,” he says. “Any day. I worry myself sick thinking about Mia going through labor.”I swallow hard. I hadn’t thought about that, not yet. It’s like the baby is just some possibility, some future problem. I hadn’t thought about all the pain that Kendall will have to go through. I think about the scar on her face, how angry that scar makes me.Not because it makes her less beautiful. Because Marco Barone had been the cause of it. Been the cause of her pain and trauma.I hate him, and I want to take him out. That’s why I need Angelo, and that’s why I need Dante to give me the location. At least he’s finally agreed to it.“I don’t know if I can do it,” I admit.“Do what? Go after Marco?” Dante asks.I shake my head. “That, I can do. I mean about changing. About being a different man for Kendall.”“You can do that, too
KendallI’m full and tired by the time dinner is over, and I go to lie down for a few minutes. It’s still early, but I fall asleep nevertheless.I wake up late at night. Looking at my phone I notice that it’s two in the morning. Someone is banging on the door and I squint at the doorway.“Come in,” I call, and Camden all but falls into the room, stumbling toward the bed.“Are you going to see anyone else?” he asks, his words slurred, and I just stare at him, sitting up in bed with the duvet still over my body.“What the hell are you talking about?” I ask. “You’re drunk.”“So?” he asks, walking over and climbing onto the bed clumsily, plopping down beside me on top of the duvet.“So, you don’t know what you’re saying,” I say, looking over at him and fighting a laugh. His dark hair is falling into his face, his shirt half unbuttoned, showing bronze flesh in between. He smells like whiskey. “Have you been drinking all day?”“I am stressed,” he says. “You’re having my baby and you’re goin
Kendall He takes my ankles in his hands, slides them across his shoulder blades so that he can press his mouth closer against me, latch around my clit, sucking so hard I see stars.“Oh, my god,” I gasp.“Not god,” he says sharply. “Say my name, principessa.”“Camden,” I manage, trying to breathe. “Camden, please...”I trail off, still having some dignity, enough to be slightly embarrassed that I’m begging him.“Please what, principessa?”“Please make me come again,” I whisper, and he doesn’t waste any time, suckling on my clit and pumping his fingers still inside me.I shudder all over when I come a third time, and then he removes his fingers, getting up on his knees and fumbling with his pants before shoving them down and freeing himself.I’m so blissed out I can barely move but it turns out that I don’t have to. Camden flips me over onto my stomach, spreading my thighs with one of his.“Ready, principessa?” he asks, and I’m not sure I am. I don’t know if I can come again without ex
CamdenI’m hungover as hell when I wake up in Kendall’s bed, and I barely remember the night before. I know that I should stay in bed with her, wait until she wakes up, but I can’t remember what I said to her.I know it must have been something stupid, because of the way I was feeling when I left Dante’s office.My head was spinning and I felt like I needed to see her, needed her viscerally, the way you need food or water to survive. I know that I said something that might hurt her later, when I tell her that I didn’t mean it.They say in vino veritas, which means in wine, there’s truth, but is that true? Did I mean whatever I said to her last night?Can I face her now?My plan is to play dumb, pretend like nothing ever happened.“When are we going back home?” Elora asks when I walk down to the kitchen. “I’m worried about Mama.”“I hired someone to help around the house and I’ve been calling her,” I defend, but I know that isn’t enough. Our mother won’t tell us when she’s not well, a
Sadie It was hard to break that bond between a child and parent, and no matter what Ralph did, I think there would always be a part of Megan that wanted that connection with him.“I hope so,” Cyrus told her. “He’s going to try. That’s what’s important.”Megan regarded him a long moment before saying, “I’m glad he’s going to try.”Cyrus smiled softly. “Me, too. I promise you, Megan, I’m going to take care of you and protect you no matter what. Okay?”The corners of her lips curled up at that. “Okay. I love you, Uncle Cyrus.”“I love you, too, Megan,” he replied. Then, he looked up at me. I couldn’t help but smile back at him. My heart swelled, and I fell even more in love with him at that moment. I wanted to explain my feelings to him in more depth, but we needed to talk away from Megan. I didn’t want to confuse her even more as Cyrus and I tried to figure out the stuff between us.“All right, is there anything else you want to talk about?” Cyrus asked, turning back to Megan.She blin
SadieA week after Ralph’s arrest, things finally felt as though they were getting back to normal. Ralph was charged with breaking the restraining order. True to his word, Cyrus didn’t press any other charges. Ralph would spend a little time in jail before his trial, and then, it was up to the courts to decide his fate.I didn’t worry about him, though. I focused on Megan and helping her overcome the latest trauma she’d been through. I hated that she’d gone through so much at such a young age. It wasn’t fair. She deserved so much better. I wanted to make it my mission in life to make up for all that she’d suffered. I wanted all this mess with Ralph to fade into distant memories for her. I wanted her to be happy. More than anything else in the world, I wanted her to just be a normal, six-year-old girl.We were out on the terrace one day, coloring, when she looked up at me and asked, “Sadie? Is my daddy gone forever?”I frowned at her and replied, “What do you mean, sweetie?”She hesita
Ralph stared at me. I could tell he wanted to argue.I waited for him to say something, anything, that I could use to shut down any chance he had left of getting close to Megan.To my surprise, though, he reluctantly nodded. “All right…all right. I’ll…I’ll do what you say. So long as you promise you won’t stand in Megan’s way if she wants to see me someday.”I regarded him a long moment before releasing a long sigh. “I promise. I won’t stand in her way. And I promise that I will take excellent care of her.”Ralph dropped his head, looking defeated.“I know you will,” he whispered.At that moment, I heard Sadie rushing back to us.“The cops are on their way,” she gasped when she reached me. She looked between me and Ralph and then gave me a relieved smile. “I’m glad to see everyone is still in one piece.”“Barely,” I grumbled.She wrapped her arm around mine and hugged it.“Thank you,” she whispered.I smiled down at her, but I then caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning
CyrusI was at the very end of my control. My temper was about to snap. I kept reminding myself of Sadie’s words. Of my promise to her, but it was getting damn difficult to hold myself back. Ralph would just not give up. He kept pushing and pushing, bringing up Kate’s name and claiming Megan as his.It was infuriating. He kept saying he was a changed man, but he wasn’t taking responsibility for what he’d done. He wasn’t owning the fact that Kate wouldn’t have driven off the road that day if he hadn’t chased after her. I didn’t care that it was an accident. I didn’t care that he thought he loved her.In the end, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter because Kate was still gone. And she was gone because of him.“You know what, Cyrus?” Ralph growled. “You think you’re so high and mighty. You think you’re so much better than I am, but the truth is, you failed Kate just as much as I did.”My whole body went cold. “What the hell are you saying?”Ralph had the gall to glare at me. “If you thou
I couldn’t comprehend that. It made no sense.“How could you claim to love her and yet hurt her as much as you did?” I asked in a soft, cold voice. “How could you love her, but you put your hands on her? Hit her and scare her? Manipulate her, so she remained submissive and broken?”“I was messed up,” he answered in a pathetic tone. “I know I was. I know what I did to Kate was wrong. If I could go back and redo everything, I would. I’d love her the way she deserved to be loved. I wouldn’t lay a hand on her, and I’d do everything I could to make her happy. There is nothing I want more than the chance to undo all that I did, but I can’t. It’s too late for me to make things right with Kate, but it’s not too late for me to make things right with Megan!”I stared down at him, debating whether or not I believed him. To be honest, he did seem to be truly remorseful. I didn’t think anyone could truly fake this kind of emotion.Still, just b
CyrusI waited until Sadie and Megan were out of the maze and out of sight before I turned back to Ralph. He hadn’t moved, which was smart of him. If he’d tried to go after them, things would have gotten bloody. I didn’t want to break my promise to Sadie, though. She’d been right about needing to keep my temper in check and not attack Ralph. I couldn’t risk Megan’s wellbeing or her placement with me.I also didn’t want Sadie to look at me like I was a monster. I didn’t want to disappoint her. She was counting on me to take care of this matter and protect our…family.Our family.I couldn’t believe she’d said that. It made my chest swell with eagerness, pride, and hope. She wanted us all to be together. She was staking her claim on me and Megan, and it made me happier than I could have imagined. However, that happiness was overshadowed by my anger toward Ralph, who appeared as the only remaining obstacle in the way of the happy and whole life that I knew I could have with Sadie and Mega
CyrusIt felt like an eternity before I reached the estate. Ralph had several hours of a head start, at least, and Sadie wasn’t answering her phone.“Pick up, damn it,” I said, clenching my phone so hard I was surprised I didn’t crack it. “Why aren’t you answering?”I tried one more time, but still, she didn’t pick up.A million thoughts were running through my head, and none of them were good. I couldn’t stop imagining all sorts of terrible scenarios. I was growing more and more afraid that I was going to be too late. What would Ralph do to them if he got to them first? I didn’t want to believe that he’d actually hurt Megan, but Sadie? Ralph had no reason not to hurt her if he thought she was in his way.When I finally reached the estate, I was in a state of utter panic. I sped up the driveway and came to a screeching stop in front of the house. Throwing open the car door, I bolted to the front door and burst into the house.“Sadie!” I called out. “Megan?”When there was no answer, I
SadieThe house felt empty without Cyrus. It was strange. There were still staff members around and security guards, but it seemed as though a significant presence was absent. Like something was missing from the estate.I maintained a cheery expression for Megan’s sake, but inside, I was a mess. I was afraid for Cyrus’ safety, first and foremost. Despite his confidence that Ralph wouldn’t dare do anything to him specifically, I wasn’t so certain. If Ralph was desperate enough, who knows what he’d try and who he’d go after?Apart from that, though, I just missed him like crazy. He’d only been gone a few hours, but it felt so much longer. I didn’t really understand why I was so desperate for him to come back. It was only going to be a couple of days…it wasn’t an unreasonable amount of time. Maybe it was because things between us were so undefined. We were together, but we weren’t, and it was hard not to let my insecurities creep into the edge of my mind without Cyrus around to put them
Cyrus“You listen to Sadie while I’m gone, all right. Be a good girl.”Megan nodded, her big eyes wide as she stared up at me. Morning had come far too quickly, and I was getting ready to hit the road back to the city. Sadie and Megan were standing in the driveway next to my car to tell me goodbye. Megan was still in her pajamas, and Sadie wore a pair of yoga pants and a tank top I desperately wanted to rip off her. She gazed at me with a worried expression, but I could tell she was trying not to let her anxiety show in front of Megan.“Will you come back soon, Uncle Cyrus?” Megan asked, reaching up to grab my hand. “I don’t want you to go.”I gave her a tender smile and lowered myself, so I was squatting in front of her.I patted her head and said, “I’ll only be gone a day or two. I promise, you won’t even notice I’m gone.”She stuck out her bottom lip. “Yes, I will.”I chuckled and nodded. “All right, maybe you will because you’re a very smart girl. You’ll have Sadie, though. You tw