by Lana Grayson
“I’ve missed you, Sarah,” he said. “It was not my intent for my only daughter to run away from her family.”
“I never doubted any of your intentions.”
“Then you should know how much I regret letting you slip from my grasp.” His lips twisted into a smile. “I should have broken your legs when I had the chance.”
He tried. It took weeks for the bruises to fade.
“We’re leaving.” Nicholas’s warning would chill my champagne. “This is over.”
I refused to let another Bennett seize my hand and force me after them, even Nicholas. “We have a few matters to discuss.”
Darius agreed. “Let’s go home then. We’ll have a nice conversation before your punishment.”
“I am not selling my shares of the Bennett Corporation.”
Max and Reed swore. Nicholas didn’t react.
“If you refuse to sell, I can no longer protect you,” Darius said.
“You never protected me.”
“I left you alive, didn’t I?”
“Hardly.”
“A testament to my restraint.”
“You have none.”
“Why would I use brute force with you, my dear?” His voice hardened. So did other parts of him. “A pillow does quite nicely.”
Too much. I trembled. My step-brothers frowned, but they didn’t know the pleasure Darius took siphoning my breath and suffocating me within the same sheets where Nicholas and I tangled in beautiful passion.
I wouldn’t let him intimidate me. Not within a roomful of strangers, not in front of my step-brothers.
“I will retain my control of the Bennett Corporation,” I said. “Though my schedule is quite inflexible. I won’t return to the headquarters and will instead require a web connection during all board meetings. My votes will cast via the internet or by Nicholas’s proxy.”
“Why, of course. Anything to make you more comfortable.”
I didn’t blink. “And I will expect your resignation as CEO before the end of autumn.”
My step-brothers tensed. I wasn’t done.
“It’s over, Darius.” I held his gaze. Every second lost in the stare of his decay-brown eyes rotted me from the inside out. “You forced me into this war, and now I’m ending it.”
He sipped his drink. “How so?”
“I plan to destroy the things you value most. Your family. Your power. Your company.”
“Ambitious.”
I gestured to my step-brothers. “I’ve taken your sons. I’ve inherited a stake in your company. I will seize complete control of the corporation before claiming every corner of the Bennett Empire for my own.” I lowered my voice, smiling so the suits and gowns mingling between paintings wouldn’t decipher my threat. “And after? You will have nothing to protect you from me.”
Darius arched an eyebrow to Nicholas. “She’s feisty tonight.”
I owned it. “I’m far more challenging when you don’t have me bound and gagged.”
“Pity we have no gag tonight.”
“You never will again.”
Darius stilled, his leer chasing the shivers along my spine. My stomach twisted, but I didn’t dare let the sickness take me. Not now.
I needed this moment. This closure. This pride.
And Darius existed only to crush it.
“My little Sarah. You seem so different from the last time I saw you. No tears. No screaming.”
I stiffened. Nicholas didn’t react.
“Now here you are, poised and graceful. You’ve really changed during your travels.” Darius words slithered over me. “Something gave you this confidence to confront me, to punish me for all those terrible things I did. It does make a father proud to see his daughter with such spirit. Such glow. So full of…life.”
Nicholas took my hand. I swallowed the bile.
“Celebrate your momentary freedom. I won’t tolerate this insult in public, but I assure you…” His words penetrated and pained. “I will reclaim what is mine.”
He reached for me but took only the champagne from my grasp.
“So good to see you again, my dear.”
I trembled. “The pleasure was entirely yours.”
“It always is.”
He brushed past us. I couldn’t wait. I refused their guiding hands and escaped from the gallery to dart into a supply closet and let the sickness pass, undignified, in a janitorial sink.
It wasn’t possible. It shouldn’t have been possible.
No one could tell. Not yet.
I heaved into the darkness. Nicholas rubbed my back as Reed and Max covered the entrance, ensuring no wayward guest crossed my moment of weakness.
I recovered, but the dread coiled in my emptied stomach.
Darius knew.
8
Sarah
My morning sickness sucked more at night. I wasn’t sure how that was possible.
I flopped into my third bed of the week, too exhausted to even wrap the blankets over me. That was fine. Less to untangle when I inevitably got sick.
It was like the baby tried to escape from my mouth. That was a more horrifying proposition than what would happen in seven months.
In six and a half months.
When we wouldn’t be able to run anymore.
My family hadn’t visited our summer home in Santa Barbara since before Dad’s chemo. I hardly recognized the beach house—though it wasn’t like we spent much time here. Dad forced Mike and Josiah to work even on vacation, and Mom had an irrational fear of jellyfish, rip tides, and whales. When I was little, most of the vacations ended early from arguments, harvest crises, and sunburn.
But I’d missed the beautiful house. What was intended to be a multi-million dollar home-away-from-home stood empty and hollow without Dad’s tirades from the kitchen or Mike and Josiah testing their boogie boards on the staircase.
It was hardly a home without a family.
Nicholas knocked at my door. I claimed my childhood room with the pink walls, a queen bed, and a bay window—Hamlet’s preferred seat. Nicholas didn’t question the posters or books on the shelves. I rose before he poked through the antique dollhouse in the corner.
“Max will stay with you tonight.” Nicholas buttoned his suit jacket. “Reed will be back in the morning. I’ll fly in from San Jose tomorrow afternoon once I meet with a prospective client.”
He tried to reassure me, as if I’d be worried without him close.
And I was.
But every night I pushed him from my bedroom as my world tore apart. I couldn’t let him stay. I’d only fall back into his embrace. Surrendering to that desire would end in our disaster.
I loved Nicholas Bennett with every shudder of my breaking heart, even if it was his cruelty, greed, and ambition which first trapped me within his captivity.
I had bound myself to a monster and imagined I was safe.
I trusted the demon while praying for salvation.
I was a fool.
Nicholas delivered on his promised evil, and yet his hand guided me into a perfect submission that soothed my fears and crumbled the defenses that shielded me from his control.
I loved him, and, because of my own weakness, I made him the most dangerous man to my unborn child.
“I’ll be back as quickly as I can,” he said.
“Because you think I need protection, or because you think I’ll run?”
Nicholas wasn’t insulted. “Because you need me. Because our baby needs me.”
“Please don’t talk like that.”
“Sarah, nothing in this world will stop me from loving you. And there isn’t a damn thing you can do to keep me from my son.”
“Nick—”
“The pregnancy changes nothing.”
“It changes everything.”
“Only if you let it.”
I squared my shoulders, though my full height was nothing compared to Nicholas’s strength, his poise, the solid force of his authority. “Don’t pretend to un
derstand how I feel.”
“Then tell me how you feel. Talk to me, Sarah.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“That’s not true.”
“For us, it has to be.” I stared into his eyes. “I’m pregnant. I’m six months from losing everything my family ever built. My future is ruined because Darius Bennett lusted for more wealth.”
“You think I would take your farm from you?” he asked. “Sarah, you still hold the entirety of the Josmik Trust. You have more influence over my company than I hold over your fields.”
I closed my eyes. “I won’t have this same fight with you.”
“Then stop fighting and start trusting me. For once. This will be over soon, and then you and me…” He touched my cheek. “You, and me, and our son can start our family, and I can give you every comfort and security you deserve. Sarah, I’d give my life to keep you two safe.”
I pressed my finger against his lips, marveling in the warmth and memory of how they once memorized every inch of my body. Now they murmured dangerous possibilities.
“Please don’t say that,” I whispered. “It might come true.”
“I have too much to live for. So many depending on me.”
His hand slipped low, touching my tummy.
Nicholas and I once swore to reveal all our secrets. No more hiding contracts or assumed infertilities, vengeful boards or family tragedies. We promised, we vowed it to each other, and our fragile bond frayed as every lie was revealed.
It wasn’t secrets separating us now. It was that truth I couldn’t give, and the honesty that bore only pain. What would happen if the baby was a product of hatred and violence?
If it wasn’t Nicholas’s son?
If it wasn’t a male heir?
“Get some rest.” Nicholas reluctantly pulled away. “I’ll return as soon as I can.”
He closed the door behind him, and I collapsed on the bed.
My hand trembled, but I lifted my shirt, only above my navel, only high enough to reveal little more than a puffy flatness. Still secret.
I rested my hand over the warmth. I wished it hadn’t been the first time I was brave enough to touch.
I curled into bed, napping even though the sun had barely set. I woke halfway between a wave of nausea and an intense craving for something salty.
Gross.
I rested, head in my hands as the sweat poured off of me.
Equally gross.
He knocked on my door. I wasn’t in any condition for visitors. Max entered anyway.
His silhouette filled the entire doorway, but his size and strength reassured me. Despite the tattoos, penchant for using belts in unconventional applications, and adopting a sullen silence since I revealed the pregnancy, Max was my perfect teddy bear.
A very large, very temperamental teddy bear that happened to spank instead of cuddle.
“Hey, baby,” he said. “Can I come in?”
I flipped on the bedside lamp. “Since when do you ask permission from me?”
“Times change.”
“Yeah. There’s a Bennett in one of my childhood bedrooms.”
“Soon to be one more.”
Apparently. I cradled a pillow from the stash on my bed. Pink pastel and shaped like a sand-dollar, the pillows were early 90s hideous, but Mom ordered them for every room.
“Mike and Josiah hated these pillows.” I picked at a loose string. “But they were great for pillow fights. Josiah and I would gang up on Mike.”
“Cute.”
I squeezed it tight. “It’s weird here without them.”
Max’s words edged hard and impatient. “Look, I’m just checking to see if you need anything.”
“I’m fine.”
“Okay.”
A pause. I arched an eyebrow.
“So…goodnight?”
He turned, but his hand gripped the door frame. Too hard.
“If I were Reed, what would you need?” he asked.
The question came too quickly. “What?”
“If I were Reed, and I asked if you wanted anything, what would you need?”
“From Reed?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Answer the fucking question.”
I flinched. He apologized, but he didn’t mean it.
“If you were Reed…” I didn’t see a point in lying. “I’d ask you for a foot rub and we’d watch something stupid on Netflix until I fell asleep.”
Max said nothing. It couldn’t have offended him. I shrugged.
“But he’s whipped. You’re not.” I smirked. “You’re not into that.”
He ignored the implication. “What if I were Nick? What could I do for you then?”
That was an easier question, but it hurt to answer.
“Nothing.”
“You sure about that?”
I wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of Max’s head games. “It’s complicated.”
“How complicated can it be? You’re having his kid. That’s as simple as it gets.”
My mood swung every which way, and this time it skipped the tears and burst into anger.
“You think it’s that simple? You aren’t the one carrying the baby. You aren’t the one getting sick ten times a day. You aren’t the one who’ll have to explain to her Board of Directors why she’s carrying the child of her family’s greatest enemy.”
“And you’re making it worse by refusing help and doing it all on your own.”
I refused to look at him. “We’re done talking about this. I’ve suffered through enough doctors and exams and morning sickness today. I can’t deal with anything else.”
“You better start dealing.”
The rage prickled. I blinked angry tears. “And how would you deal with this?”
“Easier than you. I would have known from the beginning this was going to happen.”
“Oh, screw you, Max. You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t deny a Bennett,” he said.
“Get out.”
Max wasn’t even apologetic. “You never considered it was a possibility.”
“Because it wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“You weren’t supposed to fall in love with Nick either. Surprise.”
Why was he being such an ass? “And instead of ruining just my life, we’ve ruined two.”
“Lot more than that, baby.”
My fingernails dug into the pillow. “Good. Then you understand why I’m doing this. I have to think about what’s best for my son.”
“Your son.” He emphasized the word. “We hope.”
We all needed to hope that the baby was a boy. I refused to answer Max otherwise.
“Did antagonizing my dad at the art show fit into your plan for what’s best for the baby?”
“I had to confront him.”
“And now we’ve spent a week running your ass all over Central California to stay out of his sight.”
“I’m not afraid of him.”
“Yes, you are. But you think you can hide from him if he’s six feet under.”
“Don’t tell me the thought doesn’t excite you.”
“Sure, it does.” Max crossed his arms. “But I was the one he beat on for twenty-seven years. I’m the one he abandoned when I started to limp. I’m the one who deals in blood to prove I’m still a Bennett. So yeah, the thought excites me. But, baby, revenge doesn’t look good on you. Leave it to the ones who are already damned.”
“I didn’t start this war, but I’ll end it,” I said. “And if that means murdering a man who has no right to exist outside of hell, then I’ll do it for myself and for my child.”
His child.
Nicholas’s child. It had to be. They’d have to believe it was.
Max stepped inside the room. I tucked the pillow closer to me, but he didn’t speak. His hand brushed aside my hair, and I swore he saw where the deepest bruise had lingered on my cheek.
&nbs
p; “What happened to you, Sarah?”
I said nothing.
“For two months, you ran from us. No calls. No emails. No nothing.”
“Contrary to what the Bennetts believe, I’m no prisoner. I can do as I please.”
“No, you can’t, but it’s cute when you get defiant.”
“You guys don’t control me.”
“Now we do. More than ever. And we don’t even need a leash to do it.” Max grinned. “You should have kept running, baby. Run and never looked back. But you didn’t. Why? The kid?”
“I couldn’t run forever while pregnant.”
“You shouldn’t have run at all.” Max leaned close. “Nick came to visit you. You and him had some magical sex and made a little miracle baby…and then you ran.”
I swallowed. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Don’t you insult me for panicking. I found out I was pregnant, Max.”
“You knew that instant?” His words were heavy, like he jammed the pillow over my face himself. “As soon as Nick rolled off of you?”
I said nothing. Max expected it. His voice lowered.
“The only difference between a secret and a lie is the work you put into keeping it.”
“And you would know?” I whispered.
“Far better than you, sweetheart.”
“That’s comforting.”
Max laughed. “I’ve never been the one to comfort you. I’m not the one you love, and I’m not the fucking puppy dog wagging his tail and chasing after you.”
“Then what are you?”
“Not someone you should ever trust.”
“I don’t want to play games, Max. Just say what you want to say and let me sleep.”
He frowned. “You’re pregnant. Finding that shit out should have pissed you off. Shocked you. But it shouldn’t scare the fuck out of you.”
“I’m not scared.”
“No. You’re devastated.”
“Max—”
“You ran the instant Nick left, and it was only once you split that you realized he knocked you up. So what happened, Sarah? Did you try to escape from us? Did you really think you could hide from the Bennetts and we wouldn’t capture you? Find you?” he snorted. “Hurt you?”
I had enough. “You have no idea how much I’ve been hurt, Max Bennett.”
