Would he?
“Why the hell not?” I snap.
“Well.” I hear the creak of the sheriff’s chair in the background as if he’s sitting back in it. “He said if you really cared, you’d be here,” the sheriff reluctantly relays. “Simple as that.”
“Who?” I ask, even though I know the answer.
“Khalil.”
Ending the call, I stare at the wall, feeling my fury and pain boiling me alive from the inside even as the happy, contented sounds of Braxton, her men, and their son float up the stairs from where they’re all having breakfast together.
A moment later, I’m making a mad dash to the bathroom to empty my guts into the toilet. I brush my teeth once I’m sure there’s nothing left, and then I crawl back into bed, and I don’t get out again for the rest of the day. I call my mountain men again the next day and every day for a week, but I’m met with the same resistance and the same demands each time.
Come back to them or forget they ever existed.
Khalil most of all was adamant that I couldn’t have it both ways. And at the end of that first week, they stopped answering the phone altogether.
AURELIA
The thick velvet drapes are shut, plunging the gorgeous room into total darkness. It’s for that reason that I have no idea what time it is, but I’m still in bed when the door creaks open. It’s not unusual for Braxton or one of her guys to bring me food or try to coax me out of bed, but I hardly eat and their encouraging words always fall on deaf ears. Sometimes, it’s Oni who struts over to my bedside, with the click of her thin heels, to speak to me sharply, but the tough love doesn’t work either.
I don’t react to their presence as I wait for whoever’s turn it is today—Rich’s, I think—to leave the food, say a few words, give up, and go.
It’s been our routine for weeks now.
What I don’t expect is for Bound to throw out the entire playbook and start from scratch.
I hear the curtains being drawn open and wordlessly turn away from the sun now streaming through the windows. It’s not the first time they’ve tried that tactic. The next time I’m forced out of bed to shower and vomit, I’ll just close them again.
I close my eyes, waiting for them to go already.
Instead, I feel the bed dip and then confusingly, footsteps quickly retreating from the room until they fade. I assume it’s a tray of food, which they usually leave on the nightstand, so I keep my eyes shut until the bed dips again and they fly open.
I feel the sheets shift and still at the realization that someone else is in the bed with me. Slowly, my gaze travels down the length of the bed as my heart pounds and I hold my breath. Myeyes are the only part of me I allow to move as I search the now-lit room.
The door was left open, either in invitation or a firm command, something they hadn’t tried before.
“Bah bah!”
And neither was this. My gaze finally lands on the one-year-old currently crawling up the bed toward me. He shrieks happily when he notices my attention and then sits back on his bottom once he reaches my thigh.
“Hey, buddy,” I sit up and pull the baby into my lap. “What are you doing here, huh?”
“Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.”
“Sure, sure… I was just feeling sad. That’s all. It’s really not that weird.” He pauses and looks up at me with his little lips open. “Okay, maybe it was a little weird.”
“Oooooh-ah,” Coda coos.
“Yes, I do think Khalil was being a jerk, but it’s kind of my fault. I hurt him. You see, I left them behind for a reason, and even though they can’t see it now, I still think it was the right thing to do. It was the only way to protect them. My uncle is an evil man, and he must be stopped.”
“Vrrrrrrrrm!”
I nod at the car-like sound. “When you’re right, you’re right, little man. I got to get up.”
Coda squeals and kicks his chunky legs excitedly.
Gathering the pillows, I quickly build a pillow fort around him before I grab my phone from the nightstand and turn it on. I ignore the messages that come in—mostly from Oni—and text her the name she asked me for the day she dropped me on Bound’s doorstep before I climb from the bed and shuffle into the en suite. I leave the door open though, since I can see Coda on the bed from here, and then I get ready for the day.
