Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
“Shh.” She laughs.
I bend down and place a soft kiss on her lips. “This is not where our story ends, little dove. I will fight for you.”
48
Phoenix
Last night, Alaric told me he loved me. Words are just words without action.
Today, I have to speak to my father. Alaric might be calling him to form a truce, but I need to speak with him first.
We’ve never spoken about the island, and it’s time.
It’s time for me to tell him everything, including that I’m pregnant.
When I’m standing in front of the room my dad stays in, I knock once before he answers.
He’s dressed and ready for the day. Me, on the other hand … I’m still in my pjs. I didn’t want to risk missing him.
“Phoenix, are you okay?”
“I lied to you yesterday.”
He moves aside and lets me in. I walk past him and sit down at the table.
“About the hospital?” he asks as he stands behind a chair across from me. His fingers wrap around the top, and I can see his knuckles are white. “What did you lie about?”
“The doctor did tell me what was wrong, or rather—” I stop and take a breath. “I’m pregnant.”
As soon as I utter the words, I hear the crash, and the chair is on the floor now.
“The bastard.” He starts to curse and pace. Then he’s reaching into his pocket. The next thing I know, he’s pulling out a gun.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to kill him. I might not have protected you then, but I’m—”
“Stop!” I scream, and he looks up at me in shock. “You will do no such thing. I love him, and he loves me, and it’s about time you listen and hear me. If you touch Alaric, I will no longer be in your life.”
“But—”
“No buts. We haven’t talked about the island, but it’s time. It’s time you know he saved me. Not once, not twice, but three times. I fell in love with him. He’s not the man you know, and for me, you will form a truce. He is the father of my baby. I love him, and you will talk to him. And if you think this is one-sided, it’s not. For four years, he thought you killed his brother—”
“I didn’t.”
I hold my hand up. “I know that, but he doesn’t. I told him, but whether he believes it or not is irrelevant because he still is willing to sit down with you. To talk and to move forward because he loves me that much. Now the question is, do you love me enough to do the same?”
“Of course.”
“Then call him and set it up.”
“I will do this for you because I love you, and you’re my daughter. But that doesn’t mean I will ever trust him. If he so much as lifts a finger wrong where you are involved, I will kill him. Do not ask me not to.”
“Understood.”
* * *
My father does as I ask. Today, we are all going to meet. Where, though? Not on Alaric’s boat and not here in the hotel. Someplace public, maybe? In the end, we decide against all of that. We are all only as good as our word. If Alaric hurts my father, he won’t be in our baby’s life and vice versa.
The dock by the yacht is the destination. Alaric has parked his boat at a private one close to the city, so we will meet there.
It’s a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky. As soon as we pull the car down toward the boat, I see him.
His hair looks lighter in the sun. I had forgotten that when the sun hits it, he has blond highlights scattered through the brown.
“Are you ready?” my dad says to me, and I nod. Together we walk down to where Alaric has set up a table. There are three chairs. I sit between the two men as a buffer.
It’s tense at first.
“I love her,” Alaric says, and I’m shocked he starts there. “I’m here for her. For my baby.”
“I’m here as well.”
“Then I’m going to ask you this, and I need you to be honest—man to man. I will not seek vengeance no matter your answer, but I need to know. Did you order the hit on me four years ago? Did you kill my brother in my place?”
“No,” my father says without hesitation.
“Okay.”
I look at the two men I love most in the world, and then I focus on Alaric. He has spent years trying to seek justice for a death that should have been his, and he is willing to take my dad at his word.
“Now what?” I ask.
“If your father says he didn’t do it, then I trust you, dove, to know that he wouldn’t lie to me. He wouldn’t risk you. But the question still stands … who tried to kill me? There have been two attempts on my life, both involving you,” he says to my father.