Page 131 of Intoxication

Her laugh was light, telling me that her initial reservation had made a retreat. “Does he know you’re here?”

“No.” I slipped my hands into my pockets and moved to the window. “I wanted to see you first. To tell you how beautiful I knew you’d look on your wedding day.” I wasn’t surprised to learn she’d chosen to marry in the observatory. She’d fallen in love with that place the second she walked in there.

“Thank you.”

I stepped closer to her and was glad she didn’t move away as I would’ve expected her to. “You’re happy, right?”

“Yes.”

I let out a slow exhale. “Then, I’m happy for you too. I’ll see you downstairs, okay.” She nodded. At the door, I turned. “Sianna?” When she looked up, I smiled. “I really am happy for you. We can be friends, right?” The sudden glaze to her eyes told me I’d done right by her. I winked and walked away. On the other side of the landing, I took a deep breath and knocked.

When it opened, my father’s eyes grew wide. “Rayden?” my name came out in a rush before his lips broke in a broad smile.

“Hi, Dad.” Without a word, he stepped back, inviting me to enter his bedroom.

Thirty minutes later, as I watched him kiss his bride, I knew I’d made the right decision. For twenty-five years, he’d give me life, love and happiness, and the choice to make decisions. Good and bad ones. And for that alone, I was eternally grateful.

He’d suffered along the way, never complained and never had the opportunity to love intensely. Today, I’d changed his life. I gave my father what he truly deserved.

Unconditional love.

He once asked me to believe in fate and if I looked back over the last two and a half years, it was strange how fate had played its hands—working in mysterious ways to bring together two people destined to love hard.

Perhaps there was still something in store for me. I grinned as my mobile rang. Distracted by my father and Sianna greeting family, I answered. “Hello.”

“Rayden?” A slight crackle then. “It’s Zena.”

Startled, I looked at the phone. “Whoever the fuck this is, that’s a sick joke,” I hissed.

“It’s not a joke, Rayden. I need you. I can’t talk long.”

The nervousness in the woman’s voice knotted the tendons in my back. And while every nerve in me yelled to cut the call, I stepped away from the noise. Out of stupidity or desperation? I wasn’t sure. “Who the fuck is this?”

“Ask me anything,” she whispered.

For one crazy moment, I wanted to believe her. “If you’re Zena, what was the last thing I said to you.”

“Even when you cry, you’re beautiful. Even when you’re angry, I want to kiss you.”

I stumbled on the words and grabbed the wall to keep from falling over. “Zena,” I whispered. The line went dead in my ear.