Page 139 of Ex Somnis

“Be good, sweetheart,” Ridge calls after me, but I ignore him.

“What was that?” I ask once we’re both inside Derek’s car.

Derek pulls out of the spot. “I was letting him know I’d do my best to keep his woman safe. The same thing he’s been trying to do for mine.”

It makes my heart ache. Both of them are doing the only thing they can right now in trusting someone else with the person they can’t protect themselves.

When the Vaughn mansion comes into view, Derek’s hands tighten on the wheel.

“We’ve been here before,” I say, looking at his profile. “You were already brave enough to step inside once.”

“I know.” His eyes are fixed on the window to Tessa’s room. “But I didn’t see Mrs. Vaughn then. What if she throws me out again?”

I frown. “Again?”

He huffs. “It’s been over a decade. Do you really think I didn’t go there when I heard what happened to Tessa?” He pulls through the gate. “I wanted to visit her, but Mrs. Vaughn made it very clear that I wasn’t welcome.” His jaw tightens. “Since then, I’ve stayed away, because… because she loves her too. She was scared, and I didn’t want to make it worse.”

I sigh.

That is what brought us all here in the first place. Him stepping back, thinking Tessa was better off without him in the picture.

“No matter what happens in there, you are not alone. Okay?”

He nods but doesn’t look convinced in the slightest when he parks in front of the Vaughn mansion.

We walk up to the door together, and Nora opens it before we’ve even knocked.

She looks at me for a long moment, then a sob breaks out of her, and she pulls me in with both arms. I hug her back and say, “Thank you,” into her shoulder.

She makes a sound that’s not quite a word.

“Is Tessa okay?” I ask, kicking myself for not calling to check immediately. “Her breathing?”

“Yes, no change, but what happened, Lennon?” She pulls back and looks at me, her hands still on my arms. “What happened to you?”

“I’m going to tell you everything. But we might have to sit down for that. Can we come inside?”

At the mention of we, she looks past me.

The moment that follows is a long one too. Nora’s eyes find Derek, and he immediately straightens, but not in a confident way, more in a bracing-for-impact way. Like every muscle in his body suddenly remembers every ugly thing that was said between them.

He tries for a smile, but it goes terribly. The man looks like he’s attempting to survive a kidney stone through positive thinking.

“Derek.”

His shoulders tense, and something in Nora’s face breaks entirely, and she steps around me, straight to him.

“Oh no,” I mutter quietly.

He looks like he’s expecting another hit, but instead, Nora grabs him and pulls him in for a hug, and Derek’s eyes go comically wide.

“I’m sorry, Derek. I am so, so deeply sorry for how I treated you.”

He doesn’t say anything, but his arms tentatively come up around her, hugging her back.

Well, if that isn’t a good sign.

After the weird yet beautiful welcome, we spend half an hour inside with Nora at the kitchen table, telling her as much as I can. How Tessa is doing, 5D, Lucien, the promise Tessa made, the tethers, and how they work. That not everything is lost, and how we need to make a plan to get her out of that promise.