by Callie Hart
He sits very still, digesting my words. His head is still hanging, like he’s bracing for the worst news of his life. Maybe this is it. I could seriously just have delivered the most terrible news Zeth Mayfair will ever receive. God, I hope I haven’t. I’m praying that’s not the case when he lifts his head and I see the tears in his eyes.
“Thank god,” he whispers.
A wave crashes into me, so strong and powerful that I can feel the relief reaching down and taking hold of me, so intense that my head spins. I let out a choked sob and then clamp my hands over my mouth, trying to hold back the other, louder sobs that are building in my chest. Zeth jumps up out of his chair and rushes to me, taking hold of me and lifting me off the sofa into his arms.
“I can’t believe it,” he says, whispering into my hair. “Don’t cry, angry girl. Everything’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay, I promise. I swear to you. Fuck, I love you so much.”
I cling to him, barely keeping my shit together. Ahh, who am I kidding? I don’t keep my shit together at all. I cry until his t-shirt is soaked with a patch of my tears, and my throat is aching so badly that it hurts to swallow. I was too afraid to even let myself imagine that he might take this news well, so the fact that he’s comforting me, telling me everything’s going to be all right, that he loves me, makes me feel like my heart is overflowing.
“Can you see it?” I ask. “Can you see us having a family? Do you think it will make you happy?”
Zeth lets out a shaky breath. He presses his forehead against mine, closing his eyes. “I’m already happy, Sloane. I don’t deserve you, and I don’t deserve this baby. It’s a fucking miracle. The most precious fucking gift. I don’t…I just don’t want to fuck it up.”
I cup the side of his face in my hand. How did the stars align so that I would meet this man? Both of us have walked such very different paths, our lives guiding us in such different directions, our pain and our suffering carving us into two vastly different creatures, and yet somehow fate brought us together. We found that our differences brought us closer to one another, and our pasts held no power over the future we might share if we wanted it.
And now, a baby. Our baby. Still such a strange, alien thought, and yet I feel like another piece of our puzzle has snapped into place, revealing a little more of the story of our lives together. Who knows how many more pieces there are yet to be revealed. Who knows what the end picture will look like. All I know is that this man holding me in his arms is raw, and dangerous, and volatile, and he is fierce, and protective, and kind at the same time.
“You’re not going to fuck it up,” I tell him. “You’re gonna knock this out of the park, Zeth Mayfair.”
He kisses me like a man drowning, then, crushing his lips against mine as if I’m his oxygen, I’m his life force, and he just can’t get enough. I kiss him back, clinging to him, unable to get close enough. When he cuts the kiss short, I take the opportunity to ask him one more time. “Please don’t go to New York, Zeth. Please. I need you here, with me. Alive.”
He looks conflicted, his eyes flickering with anger. “I’ll stay. I’m not going anywhere now. But, shit, Sloane. This thing’s going to come to a head one way or another. I’m going to be ready. It’s not just you I have to think about now.”
He’s right, naturally. The warehouse burning down isn’t going to be an isolated event. When it comes to money and power, men and women alike transform into people entirely unlike themselves. It’s an addiction, and just like any form of addiction, the addict will do anything and everything they can to feed their vice.
The Italians will be back. The prospect is a frightening one, almost too frightening to think about right now, but if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that Zeth will be true to his word. He’ll keep us safe. He won’t let anything happen to us.
I feel stupid for having waited so long to tell him. Michael was right; I should have trusted him. I feel weightless as Zeth carries me upstairs to our bedroom. I’m sure now that having this baby won’t break us.
Quite the opposite. In fact, strange though it might seem, I believe that having this baby might just end up being our salvation.
The End
Acknowledgments
Firstly, a confession: I am not a doctor. I love writing about Sloane’s work, and I do my best to make sure everything is as accurate as possible. When it comes to patients’ conditions and the medication administered to them, I always really try to ensure the veracity of the information I include, but sometimes a lay person’s understanding of human biology and medicine means that errors might occur. I apologize in advance if any such mistakes have occurred within the pages of this novel, and I humbly ask for your forgiveness.
Secondly, another confession: I am an English! I live in the states now, and I do write using American English. My books are all edited to check that the content is geared in that direction, however sometimes my English brain will speed way ahead of me, things might get missed, and grammar and spelling might be anglicised. If this happens and you see a rogue U or S in a word, or you’re not 100% familiar with a particular turn of phrase, rest assured that I’m not illiterate and it’s simply my Blighty roots shining through. Again, please forgive!
Now we get down to the good stuff. The thanking part.
In no particular order of favourites (see what I did there?), huge thanks must go to Tyler Chesser, Kirsten Stomberg Bumpus, Alice Kulbat, and Jessica Roscoe for cheering me on with this project and keeping me writing. Jess’s alter ego, Lili Saint Germain, must definitely be thanked for sprinting with me, so that I managed to get words down on paper while I was on the road.
Thanks to Fiona Wilson for the fast, efficient editing. Thanks to Rebecca Shea for the Starbucks coconut macchiato suggestion—that shit kept me going more than you will ever know! Thanks to Gemma Curran, Kylie Sharp and Emma Keating for the continued support you show me every time I write a new book. I am endlessly grateful for the time and energy you put into helping me.
Gemma Sherlock, thank you for signing up to help me muddle through this whole crazy author gig. Your assistance means I get to do what I love most: write.
Lastly, thank you to you, Dear Reader, for continuing to follow Zeth & Sloane’s story and to invest in their rocky, romantic, crazy, adventure filled lives together. It’s very easy as an author to forget sometimes that the people you write about every day aren’t, in actual fact, real, and to know that you guys have gotten as lost as I have in this journey is the most rewarding thing in the world.
Thank you
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Callie Hart is the author of the international bestselling Blood & Roses Series. She considers herself a true citizen of the world, having lived and traveled in many different countries. Her passion for writing can only be topped by her love for reading. When she’s not buried in a book, you can find her lost in Game of Thrones or some other fantastical world.
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