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He nodded slowly. “Yes, love. I’m so sorry. He’s dead. He was killed, and his body was found. I went and saw it. It’s him.”
I was a little bit dizzy. Michael must have noticed because he sat me down at the counter. For long moments, he just held me and we breathed. I had to think. “The Russians killed him?”
“No.” He frowned. “That’s the other part of this. Your sisters are being informed now, too.Justinkilled him. I found Justin. Well,hefoundme.When I arrived in Venezuela, he was there. He’s not okay. So not okay, in fact, I almost didn’t recognize him. Things went really badly with your father. I can’t imagine just how badly, but Justin killed him.” Michael visibly swallowed. “He wants to get better, so I…I brought him to a rehab inCalifornia. He’s there for the foreseeable future. And I…I’m not sure exactly what else to say. Did I make a mistake?”
I put my arms around him and squeezed. My father was dead. My brother killed him, and now Michael was trying to save my brother. “Thank you for trying.” I kissed him because I had to. “I…I just want to lock up here. I just want to lock us away so nothing can ever hurt us again.”
He nodded. “Nothing will touch you, Bridget. Or our baby. Not our life. I promise you that.”
I believed him because I had loved him forever. And I always would. What we had was ours, it was real, and he was mine.
EPILOGUE
Michael
Stephen shook me awake and I jumped. I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep on the plane, but apparently exhaustion caught up with me.
“We’re landing,” Stephen said.
I nodded. “Okay.”
How long have I been out?It had been a long month of trying to get everything finished so I wouldn’t have to travel for work anymore. At least until our little guy—due in five weeks—turned a year old, if I met my goal.One year home with Bridget and the baby.
Stephen didn’t move, and I stared at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Bridget just called me.”
She called him? “What did she want?”
He sighed. “Looks like…it looks like there was a small car accident. Her uber and another uber. She’s okay, but it seems to have put her in labor. So she’s…she’s in labor.”
Five weeks early.She was in labor five weeks early?What the fuck?I looked down at my phone. Did I sleep through her calls?No. She didn’t call me.
Stephen gripped my arm. “She knew you would panic, so she called me instead so I could keep you calm. We’re landing. You’re going to be there shortly. I’ve called a helicopter already. You’ll be there in twenty-minutes, okay? You’re going to be there, and she’s okay, just a little banged up.”
Panic?It didn’t begin to describe how I felt in that moment. But I’d keep it together, because that was what I did. “Call her sisters. They need to get here. She won’t call them herself because she never wants to be a bother. She worries because they have kids, but they need to get here. They’ll want that, too.”
Stephen nodded. “Okay.”
I picked up my phone.On my way. I love you. There was nothing else to say.
I loved my redhead. I knew our baby would be fine. He’d be tiny but he’d be fine. I’d manifest it into existence, even though I didn’t believe in hooey-dooey stuff like manifesting. I sat back in my seat. Everything would be okay. That was all there was to it.
Six months later
I sat up in bed. The nightmares didn’t happen as often but sometimes they still rode me. Where was Bridget? It was the middle of the night, and we weren’t home. I had to remember that.The beach house.Yes, that was where we were. I’d rented a beach house next to the two where her sisters’ families stayed. All of them were there.
Jumping up, I rushed from the room. There she was. Suddenly, I could breathe again. Bridget held Eric in her arms, rocking him and humming as she looked out the window.
“Little guy okay?” Usually, he slept great. We got lucky that way. He let us sleep for the past two months, the wonderful boy.
She turned at the sound of my voice, her lips lifting in a smile. “I think he’s teething. Either that or like his father, he doesn’t like sleeping in new places.”
I grinned at her. Seeing her with him was the best part of every day. I couldn’t get enough of them. “Come back to bed.”
“I didn’t want to wake you.”
We went back to the bedroom together. “You shouldalwayswake me.”
