“Just let me know when she’s off the property,” I said with a sigh. Bruce nodded, a look of concern in his eyes but he didn’t say anything, only leaving my office and closing the door behind him.
I’d avoided Aurora all morning, remaining locked in my office. I couldn’t bear to see her knowing that she was leaving. The guys tried to reassure me that she’d be back, but I wasn’t so sure. Everything she’d said to me yesterday had been true. I couldn’t expect her to forgive me and pretend to be a happy family just because she was a pregnant. Our whole relationship was made up of my rules, but it looked like she had her own rules in the end.
I bowed to her when I made her my queen.
I broke for her when I was prepared to lay down my life to ensure she and my child were safe.
And she destroyed me when she still decided to leave, no matter how hard I tried to right the wrongs I’d done against her. I played right into her game and she won.
She fucking won.
I went back to the window just in time to see the car she was in make its way down the driveway, watching it until it went outside of the gates and disappeared down the road. I said a silent prayer, begging that whatever God out there saw me worthy enough to listen to. Let her come back to me. If it’s meant to be, let her come back.
I threw myself into my work. Every second, minute, and hour blended into another two months, but it didn’t make me miss her any less. It was weird to walk through the house and she not be anywhere around. She’d been here for nearly a year, but I’d forgotten what it was like before she’d gotten here. It felt just as empty as it did when Stephanie first died. Except this time, there was no blood to clean up or bloody furniture to replace. Instead it was just a house full of memories. Every night I went to bed next to her empty spot. She was even tormenting me in my dreams. The dreams were so real sometimes that I’d wake up and think I could smell her light perfume until I realized that I was alone.
Unable to sleep, I slowly sat up in bed, wincing as a dull throb settled at my shoulder. I reached for the bottle of pain pills on my nightstand and shook out two, popping them into my mouth. I downed the bottle of water I had on my nightstand before putting my head in my hand. When I wasn’t working, I’d lock myself in my bedroom. It was hard to see Bruce happy with Savannah and everyone else living life completely unaffected while I felt as if I was falling apart inside. You can’t be mad when you’re the one who gave her the tools to destroy you, I reminded myself. But it was what I had to do. In order to build a relationship that was real with her, I had to give her the choice of staying or going. Otherwise, I’d be in a relationship just as my parents were. My mother didn’t love my father; I wasn’t sure if she ever did at one point, but I know I didn’t want that kind of dynamic. I didn’t want Aurora to have to pretend or “suck it up” as she put it. I wasn’t mad that she’d made the choice to leave; I guess I was just…sad.
My bedroom door slowly cracked open, Giselle’s little head peeking in. When she saw me sitting up, she entered the bedroom, holding a white bunny rabbit I’d bought for her. “Uncle Benny, can I sleep in here with you? I’m scared in my new room,” she said, her voice small. I’d fixed up one of the smaller rooms for her down the hall once Aurora left, but it was pointless. Giselle ended up in bed with me anyway because she was afraid of sleeping alone. There were many mornings when I’d wake up to either find her curled up in the ottoman or at the foot of my bed. While I wouldn’t have minded it so much, Giselle moved a lot in her sleep, which led to my shoulder getting kicked or hit a couple of times a night.
“Would you like it if I brought your bed in here?” I asked. She nodded. I slowly stood, the pain medicine slowly taking effect. She followed me to her room and watched as I dragged her little princess bed out of her room and all the way to mine. I placed it near the closet, only a couple of feet from my bed. “That better?”
She nodded and climbed back into bed. I pulled her puffy purple comforter over her and kissed her forehead. She grinned up at me, rubbing her sleepy eyes. “Is Aurora gonna come back one day?” she asked and yawned.
“I don’t know, little dove,” I said with a sigh. “I hope so.”
“Me too. I want to see her baby.” She yawned again. “Good night, Uncle Benny.”
“Good night, little dove,” I murmured. She rolled over and held the bunny close to her, damn near falling asleep instantly.
I padded back over to my bed and laid down, closing my eyes to try to get some rest myself.
The next morning, people were cheering as I walked out of my bedroom. Giselle’s squeals of glee made my heart race in my chest. Had Aurora come back after all? I forced myself to remain cool as I descended down the stairs to see what had everyone so excited. My bubble of hope burst when Saint looked at me and grinned.
“Well, don’t be so upset to see me,” he teased.
I chuckled and walked over to him. It was great to see him on his feet again. There was a point in time where things weren’t looking so good for him. “I see they finally let you out,” I said, giving him a brotherly hug.
“Yeah, finally. I almost thought I had to break out of there,” he joked and hugged Giselle tightly. “I’ve missed my princess so much.”
“I missed you, too, Daddy,” she said and hugged his neck again. “You can’t go to sleep ever again!”
“Better make good friends with coffee then,” Bruce said and chuckled.
“I’m glad you’re back. We had to pretend to be friends with Josh until you got back,” Nyxin said and chuckled.
“Yeah, fuck you too, Nyx,” Josh threw back.
“I think we should have a BBQ or something to celebrate the dream team being back together,” Nyxin added, throwing his arms across Saint and Bruce’s shoulders.
I nodded, fighting the urge to remind them that another member was missing from the dream team. Saint looked around. “Is baby girl still asleep? I wanna see that belly of hers. I’m sure she’s showing by now,” he said.
“She’s not here,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
“You actually let her out of your sight for five minutes?” he asked in faux shock. “I guess you’re turning a new leaf after all.” When I only stared at him, his eyebrows raised in slight surprise. “Wait…she’s like…gone gone?”
“Yeah,” I murmured. “Gone for two months now.”
“Damn,” he said. Though he looked like he wanted to say more, he didn’t. Besides, now wasn’t the time. Everyone looked at me, as if waiting for me to show any kind of emotion, but I couldn’t.
Wanting to check the subject, I waved him off. “It’s fine. Well, I guess I’ll go tell the ladies we’re having a BBQ so that they can get things prepped and ready. Let’s celebrate a new beginning,” I said, forcing myself to smile.
Everyone cheered and parted ways, but Saint didn’t move. I sighed deeply, already knowing what we were about to talk about. He put Giselle down, who ran off to watch tv before turning his attention to me.
“How are you? Really?” he asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine. You look like shit,” he said and frowned.
“It doesn’t matter, man. I gave her the choice and she made her decision,” I said with a sigh, running a hand down my face. “I just wanted to see if she truly believed we could be something, you know? I wanted her to choose to be here because she saw my potential or saw that I was trying.” I shook my head. “She didn’t even wait a day or two after we dealt with Wilson. By the time I’d finished cleaning everything up, she told me she wanted to leave.”
“But she’s pregnant. Why even give her that choice?”
“It was something I needed to do for my own peace of mind,” I said. “And after everything she said, things are probably better this way. I’m fucked up in ways that can’t be fix or even changed. My father was the same way. At least if I’m not around them, my kid has a chance to have a somewhat normal life without all the bullshit that goes on
in this kind of life.”
I walked toward the kitchen with Saint on my heels. “You know that’s bullshit, right?” he continued. “The man that I know wouldn’t just sit around and take this shit lying down. Did you even fight for her?”
“How could I fight when I’m the one who gave her the choice?” I snapped. “If I would’ve fought her, it would’ve looked like I was going back on my word of letting her choose.”
“Okay, so you’ve let her choose. So, are you going to go find her and bring her back home, or are you going to continue moping around? I’ve only been here less than an hour and I refuse to see you like this. You were like this when Stephanie died. I could understand when it was that kind of situation. Aurora isn’t dead, so stop mourning her like she is.”
“Saint, I’m—”
“Bennett, go get your damn wife and kid. Maybe you showing her that you truly want her will get her to see that you care about her more than you care to admit. You wouldn’t still be dragging your knuckles on the floor like a cave man if you didn’t truly care about her somewhere.”
“She’s pregnant,” I said, my voice flat.
“The baby was the icing on the cake. You married her long before you knew she was pregnant. What did you say to us when we asked you why you had to marry her for her to join the new family?”
I ground my teeth. “I said I wanted the plant the seeds of a new chapter, new beginnings,” I said.
“And why did you want to do that?”
“Because I wanted to see where things went with her.”
“Because?”
I sighed. “To see if what I felt was real and to see if we could make something out of what we had that would eventually be genuine.”
“If that’s not budding love, I don’t know what is,” Saint said, shaking his head. “Go get your wife, man. And if she doesn’t come back anyway, only then can you say you’ve truly tried.”
He clasped my good shoulder and gave me a small smile before walking off, leaving me with a decision to make. I didn’t even know where she was to begin with. I hadn’t re-activated her chip when we’d left the beach because I didn’t have time to. We’d come home to chaos and then I ended up in the hospital. It had never even occurred to me to activate it again, even as she packed her things and walked out of my life. The only way I could track her was to follow my gut. There were two places I could try and if she wasn’t there, I wouldn’t know where to look.
Rushing upstairs to my bedroom, I opened the top draw of my dresser and rummaged around until I got to the bottom of it, pulling out the plastic keycard. It was the penthouse keycard I’d gotten from the lobby clerk when I first went to get Aurora. Putting in my pocket, I grabbed my phone and called the small airport my plane was kept.
“How can I help you, Mr. Moreno?” Paul asked upon answering.
“I need you to get my plane ready to leave immediately,” I said as I went around the room to pack an overnight bag.
“Destination?”
My heart pounded in my chest. This would either be the smartest or dumbest thing I’d ever done in my life, but I was all about taking chances. She was worth it. My kid was worth it. I was worth it.
“Greenville, South Carolina,” I finally said. I was going to get my woman and when I returned home, I hoped she’d be returning with me.
AURORA
Everything looked exactly how it was left.
Other than the yellow tape to mark off the crime scene, everything was still the same. I looked to the white couch, the blood stain that I’d expected to be there no longer visible. Pictures of my old life were still on the walls, the sight of Heath’s face making me a little sad. It wasn’t the devastating sadness that I’d expected to feel upon coming back home. It was only sadness that he’d lost his life after my past caught up to him. Even as I looked at photos of us together, the love I thought I felt for him was just…flat.
The light from the ceiling caught on my ring, reminding me of Bennett and everything I left behind back there. I sighed. Some queen I was. I’d abandoned all of them, not just Bennett, and I’d felt nothing but an overwhelming sense of guilt inside of me. I didn’t know where I was going to go. A part of me wanted to move abroad and start a completely new life there, but something nagged at me, calling me back to California.
Bennett stayed true to his word. He let me leave and he hadn’t bothered me in the two months that I’d been gone. I was a bit relieved, but another part of me was angry. Angry that he’d let me go so easily. The day that I left, I was having second thoughts. I was sure had he asked me to reconsider, I probably would have. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me once I was on the other side of those gates without him, and that thought was a bit terrifying. He wouldn’t even talk to me before I left and when I waved to him, he only turned away from the window. But I saw him again as the car pulled down the driveway and I hadn’t been able to get that look of defeat and sadness he’d had on his face out of my mind ever since.
“Mrs…Moreno now, is it?” the police officer asked, breaking into my thoughts. I looked up to see him pacing the living room, his eyes trained on me.
“Yes,” I said with a sigh, putting down the picture of Heath and me. “You said you had more questions that I hadn’t already answered at the station.”
“Yes.” He clasped his hands behind my back. “I just don’t understand why you married the man that was reported as the man who supposedly kidnapped you.”
I could have told them everything. I could have given them information on every single member of that organization. But I knew those guys. I knew they had families. I knew they all risked their lives to protect me and everyone else in that house. My best friend was still there trying to get some kind of normal life and a happily ever after. I could only hope Saint made it through and was spending time with Giselle. And then there was Bennett. My husband. The father of my child. A man I couldn’t seem to stay away from even though I hated his guts and probably cared for him at the same time.
When I swore my life to La Fedeltà, I pledged my full loyalty to them. I wouldn’t ever turn my back on them. Leaving them was hard enough; I could never bring myself to betray them.
“He saved my life,” I finally said. “It was Wilson Moreno who kidnapped me. Bennett is his son.”
“So, you married your kidnapper’s son?”
“Are you deaf?” I asked with a raised brow. “Yes, for the millionth time. Bennett is the reason I’m here anyway. He gave me a choice to leave; he never kept me captive.”
“And this Wilson character was in the mafia, you say?”
“Yes,” I stated again, and went through the whole history of Wilson. Again.
When I finally finished, he nodded. “Do you know where we can find this Wilson?”
“If we could find him, you would no longer have a murder suspect; you’d have another homicide case,” I stated flatly. “Bennett and I have been looking for him for a few months now. The last time we saw him, a truce meeting between the two of them went wrong that ended up with me being shot in the arm and my husband shot in the shoulder. So, for Wilson’s sake, he better hope the police finds him before we do.”
Maybe I was doing a little too much, but the officer seemed to buy it for now. The police finding Wilson was the least of my worries. From what I’d heard, once they’d burned his body to ashes and ground any remaining bones to dust. I wasn’t sure what they didn’t with the ashes, and I didn’t bother asking. The only thing I cared about was that he was finally gone and out of my life.
“Was it Wilson or Bennett Moreno that murdered Heath Grady?” he asked. Heath’s murderer had been the million-dollar question on everyone’s lips the moment word got out that I was back in town. The police wasted no time swarming my place, as if they had it bugged in the event that I came back. Everything they asked me, I pinned it on Wilson. Whenever they’d ask me about my bruises, I blamed it on Wilson. When they asked me who took me, I blamed it on Wilson. When they
asked about my parents’ murder that they believed was connected to my kidnapping, I pointed the finger at Wilson. Technically, I wasn’t lying. Wilson was the match that lit the volatile, unstable fuse that was my life for the last ten months. I rubbed my growing belly. It was just a shame that things couldn’t have been different with Bennett. From the parts I’d seen of him, he that the potential to be good. I knew he would’ve been a great father; I could see that from how he interacted with the kids. It would’ve probably taken some time before he fully came around and allowed himself to be vulnerable, but he could’ve done it.
“It’s getting a bit late,” I finally said, patting my belly. “It’s been a long day and I’d really like to get some rest.”
He nodded. “I think that was all the questions I had for you, Mrs. Moreno,” the officer said and held out his business card. “I’ll be in touch. Please let me know if you hear from Wilson or receive any more threats.”
I nodded and watched him step onto the elevator, breathing a sigh of relief when the doors finally closed. Tiny flutters filled my belly and I smiled. They were becoming more frequent lately at twenty weeks, and it made me a little sad that I had no one to share that excitement with. I didn’t have my mom or dad. I didn’t have my friends. I didn’t have Bennett or Carrie. As I sat on the couch and looked around, I finally realized the magnitude of how alone I truly was. It almost made it pointless me for to leave Bennett. What the hell was I in such a rush to get back to? I’d hardly left my house since being back, which would be no different than how things would be if I were still at Bennett’s house.
With a sigh, I stretched out across the house and tried to sort out all the conflicting thoughts in my head, wondering if I’d made a mistake by leaving.
My eyes snapped awake when the elevator door dinged. It was still dark outside, which told me it was still late. I’d dozed off on the couch, completely disoriented as to where I was for a second. Once the sleep fog lifted, I realized someone had access to my floor that shouldn’t have. I felt around underneath the couch. Since returning, I’d bought five pistols to plant around the house in the event that someone followed me or tried to ambush me. I reached for the one strapped under the couch and took it into my hand, slowly rising to my feet as the elevator doors slid open. I could hear the clicking of someone’s shoes and I raised my gun, ready to kill anyone who was here to hurt me.
Rules of Bennett: The Complete Collection Page 62
