She didn’t want to leave but she couldn’t stay. It was a trick of the mind, making her believe the three of them could be a happy family. They weren’t. Matt was Ethan’s son, with her sister. He wasn’t hers and he never would be.
Freddie worried about leaving Matt, he’d already lost his mother and she didn’t want him to feel as though she was abandoning him too. I’ll just get an apartment in the city so I can always be close to him. She packed her bags and set them by the door. She would bring it up after lunch and it would be fine.
Wouldn’t it?
***
“Guys it’s time for me to go.”
“No!” Matt stood up and threw his small body at her, wrapping his arms around her waist with all his might. “You can’t leave me Aunt Freddie, I won’t let you!”
Freddie felt like the lowest of the low when her nephew’s body shook with tears in her arms. “I’m not leaving you kiddo. I’m just stepping back so you and your dad can have more time together.”
Matt pulled back and looked from Ethan to Freddie. “We don’t need you to leave to spend time together. We have our guys nights together so if you need girl time you can hang with Brooke and Galina. See? It all works.”
She smiled, allowing a few tears to creep out at her nephew’s earnestness. He wanted so badly for everyone around him to be happy. “You are the sweetest kid in the world, you know that? I love you so much.” She pulled him in for another hug. “Sweetie this isn’t my home, it’s yours.”
“No.”
She wanted to laugh at the stubborn tilt of his head, his arms crossed telling her he meant business. “Yes Matt. You belong here with your father.”
“But you belong here too Aunt Freddie!” She shook her head but he just nodded in return. “I know you and my dad like each other. I see you with those googly eyes and I saw you kiss once.”
Well hell. At least someone wanted her to stay. Her gaze cut to Ethan who sat still as a rock and wore an emotionless expression. She shook off the block of ice his look sent her way and focused on Matt. “I’ll be moving to the city so I can be close to you and we can hang out all the time.”
“But Dad says he doesn’t know where we’ll live we he gets a new job.”
Ethan reached for Matt and turned him around. “Hey buddy can you give your aunt and me a minute to talk?”
Matt looked between them several times before nodding and walking out the door.
He turned his stare to Freddie and took in her delicate features. She was still beautiful but he could see this decision weighed heavily on her. Her flawless porcelain skin was only marred by the dark purple crescents under her eyes. “Why are you leaving?”
“You know why.”
His jaw clenched. “Pretend I don’t.”
She stood and began pacing between the sofa and table, back and forth trying to put her thoughts and feelings into words. “Dammit Ethan, I was only supposed to be here for two weeks. Two weeks I could deal with. Two weeks and I would—,”
Ethan felt his body tense, waiting for the words he knew were coming. “And you would what? Get back to your fun exciting life instead of playing mommy to a kid that’s not yours?”
Freddie turned to face him and gasped. “Go to hell Ethan Silver!”
He saw her face pale and frowned, trying to figure out what he’d missed. “Well I….”
She cut him off. “You just assumed that I was just like Toni, is that right? Well you can take your assumptions and shove them up your ass Ethan! I’ll let you know when I settle in the city and we can set up a schedule for me to see him.” She took a full minute to take in all his features, to remember every detail about him before she said goodbye. When she was done she nodded once and made her way to the door. “Goodbye Ethan.”
“If you’re not leaving because of Matt it must be me.” His heart sank when her shoulders slumped. He was right.
Freddie didn’t turn around, she couldn’t stand to see evidence of the hurt she heard in his voice. “It is because of you Ethan but not in the way you’re thinking.”
“Not too many ways to think about it.” He smirked when she mumbled about stubborn ass men and turned to face him.
“You, Ethan! You are why I only intended to stay two weeks. Two weeks would have kept me safe.”
He stood quickly. “Safe? You needed to be kept safe from me?”
She wrapped her arms around her body. “Yes. No. Well yes and no, I guess.”
His nostrils flared and he was seeing red. “You better explain that now.”
“God you’re an idiot. When I met you I was awestruck. You were handsome with that great smile, you remembered me, listened to what I had to say and you were always nice to me. I had the biggest crush on you.” She blushed and shook her head at the memory. “I didn’t talk to Toni for six months after she broke things off with you. I was so mad at her.” She could see the confusion on his handsome face and shook her head. “When Toni died I knew I had to come here and tell you about Matt even though she told me not to. Even though I didn’t want to.”
“Why did you?”
She smiled, tears trickling down her cheeks. “You deserved to know your son and Matt deserved the chance to know you Ethan, you’re wonderful.” She wiped the tears that seemed to fall quicker. “I agreed to stay because you said two weeks and I knew I could do two weeks. I could spend two weeks with you and not fall in love with you. But I’ve been here too long.”
“So you’re in love with me?”
Her heart cracked a little at the stiff and impersonal way he asked the question. A sob was threatening to break free so she bit the inside of her cheek and nodded, turning away from his all-knowing gaze. She looked at the rain streaking down the window and thought it was appropriate for the moment her heart broke into a million pieces.
He stood behind her and twirled her around in his arms. “If you love me and you love Matt, why are you leaving?”
She pushed him away. “Because you big idiot, it isn’t enough for me to love you if you don’t love me back. That would be worse than leaving, which is why I’m going.”
“Who said I don’t love you?”
Her heart stuttered and stopped for a minute before kicking into overdrive. How she wished he really did love her, but he didn’t. She suspected he was terrified of parenting on his own but he would be great. She could already tell. She had to be strong. “Who says you do?”
“I do!”
“You do?”
“Yes dammit!” He raked his fingers through his already mussed hair and took in the question in her gaze. “Of course I’m in love with you Freddie, how could I not be? You’re beautiful as fuck, kind, nice, funny and goofy as hell. Your pussy is the best thing I’ve ever had and your heart is so big it taught me to love.” He saw more tears falling and cringed. “Don’t cry Freddie. I can’t stand it.”
She smiled at the big strong Ethan Silver brought to his knees by tears. “You love me?”
“I do but I didn’t think I was enough.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face to his chest. “You’re more than enough. God, I love you.” She inhaled his sweet scent. “Why would you ever think you’re not enough for me?”
“I wasn’t enough for my mother and Vance only took me in because I was all alone. You already know about Toni.”
“Well their stupidity is my good luck because I really do love you and the only reason I would walk away is if you didn’t love me back.”
“He does love you Aunt Freddie, I know he does! I love you too so you can stay! You can stay!”
They both turned to find Matt peeking at them from behind the sofa. “Come here kiddo.” She bent down to take him in her arms. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Promise?” he asked. She nodded and his smile got even wider. “Because you both love me?” She nodded again. “And ‘cause we’re gonna be a family, all of us?”
She nodded and turned to look up at Ethan. “Forever.�
�
Epilogue
One year later
Vance was happy, if pressed he would say he was positively giddy. All three of his boys were happily in love and settled with wonderful women. He wasn’t happy with the way he’d done things to get them to change their ways and he wasn’t at all sure they had completely forgiven him. Jackson was the easy kid, always had been. He was happy with Galina so it didn’t really matter how they got together and he treated Vance the same as he always had. Chase was cordial but he didn’t confide in him the way he once had and he kept his distance. Vance would like to believe it was because Brooke occupied his time, but he suspected the problem was him.
Chase and Jackson had allowed him to plan a big Christmas wedding for each of them, and thus he quietly accepted the changed dynamics of their relationship. He was happy that he could at least plan two weddings since Ethan and Freddie hopped a plane five months ago and got married in Las Vegas. Matt was the best man and Brooke the maid of honor, with Galina, Jackson, Chase and Vance as witnesses. It was a wonderful ceremony that was fun and nontraditional, just like Ethan and Freddie. Matt wasn’t just the best man, they also worked him into the ceremony with his own platinum band.
After spending two weeks in New Zealand on a family honeymoon Ethan returned and Vance gave him back the reins as CEO of SE. He was reluctant to take over the company again, given the whims of his father recently, but Vance knew there was no one else for the job. When Ethan accepted his old position back, Chase was reinstalled as President of Mergers and Acquisitions and Jackson as CFO.
All was right with Vance’s world these days.
He spent less time at Silver House and more time in his penthouse in the city so he could spend time with Matt. They visited museums, parks, shows and toy stores. He’d even learned to play video games to get as much time with his grandson as possible. He spoiled the boy rotten but Matt was still the sweetest, most generous and grateful boy he’d ever met aside from Ethan. They were so similar that way and the new spark in Ethan’s eyes meant more than him settling down ever could.
He suspected Freddie was pregnant but he would wait until they announced rather than hiring a private detective to find out. She was always sleeping and eating, but claimed it was because of her recently completed book tour. A cartoon series was being made based on her Moondog books so she could be tired, but Vance knew it was a Silver baby.
Vance watched his grandson kick a soccer ball as other little boys chased him and thought his life was pretty much perfect. Jackson had fired Galina and bought her a bakery that was doing extremely well, but he suspected it had more to do with hiring the widowed Mrs. Sands and trying his hand at matchmaking than it did making Galina’s dreams come true. Of course Mrs. Sands was age appropriate, but she also had the legs of a thirty year old and wit to spare. She was sharp as a tack and kept Vance on his toes. His boys didn’t need to know he stole kisses and smacked her fanny when they were alone. They would be far too happy about that.
The only dark cloud was Zoe, no Sabrina. He always knew when she tried to reach out to their boys because they all three were in a bad mood. She tried regularly but neither Jackson nor Chase ever responded back to her. It broke Vance’s heart but only he knew how hard it was to get the boys through losing their mother. He would ignore his instinct to interfere.
Now if only I had more grandchildren to spoil.
THE END
Dragon Romance
Rising Inferno
Book One
Lucile Wild
Dragon Romance: Rising Inferno
Chapter One
I didn’t realize I’d had fallen asleep until a long, shrill scream pierced the air.
I set up quickly and stared around. My room still reeked of disinfectant after the hours I’d spent cleaning that afternoon – I’d only just gotten my new apartment up to livable standards before I’d collapsed, exhausted, into bed.
I heard the scream again and shoved my blankets off of my legs before running to the window. I’d taken down the curtains earlier, and now there was a dirty yellow glow coming through from the streetlights outside. The sky had grown dark since I’d collapsed into bed. At first, all I could see in the window was my freckled cheeks and pointed chin. I pressed my cheek to the cold glass so that I could see down into the alley next to my building.
There was a woman wearing a short skirt and her hair loose lying sprawled on the ground next to a puddle. She was still screaming. I could see the glint of her many necklaces in the dirty streetlight. A heavy-set guy stalked towards her with his face cast in shadow. I wanted to turn around, grab my phone and call 911, but I couldn’t move. I felt my heart clench as I stared, frozen in horror, at the scene outside my window.
Mama and Daddy had nothing but dire warnings when I’d told them I wanted to move to New York City. They were small town folk who’d never even left Round Table, and they’d done everything they could to persuade me to follow in their footsteps.
“Now you listen to me, Skye Louise –” Mama had said while she’d stirred her latest batch of jam. “I ain’t having no daughter of mine living in that city of sin just so she can throw her life away on painting.”
Mama thought every town with a population higher than 25,000 was a city of sin.
I got my way in the end. I’d been dreaming of the New York Art Institute since Daddy had bought me my first watercolor kit. No matter how many newspaper clippings about shootings and drugs Mama had waved under my nose, I’d made my decision. I was going to New York. Sure, my apartment was dingy and gross, but I hadn’t been able to afford anything better. I’d wanted to get a roommate – and a bigger, cleaner apartment – but my parents had insisted on me getting my own place after they’d watched a documentary about small town girls who’d been corrupted by drugs and alcohol while rooming with party girls. Now, looking down at the menacing man outside my apartment, I was starting to wish I’d dug my heels in about finding someone to live with.
My window had fogged up as I watched the two people in the alley. He stalked towards the woman like a hunting dog towards a hog. Something glinted in his hands and I felt my fingers go numb – he had a knife!
Before I could even consider running downstairs to help her, a black shadow flashed across the alleyway. I felt my heart thudding in my chest as another person – a man, I realized, with a black bandana stretched across his mouth – came out of nowhere and slammed his fist into the mugger’s temple.
“Oh!” I gasped as the masked man sent the mugger staggering away. The woman took her chance to run, shrieking, towards the mouth of the alleyway and into the night.
Watching her go seemed to knock some sense into me. I lurched towards my bedside table, grabbed my phone, and quickly unlocked it as I hurried back to the window to see what was happening.
The mugger had found his balance and tried to punch the masked man, but his fist met air. The masked man moved so fast that I could barely see him. I pressed my hand to the cold glass and watched as he rained punches and kicks down on the mugger, knocking him to the ground and kicking him so hard in the side that I heard him grunting in pain. I winced at the sound. Then the mugger grabbed the masked man by the ankles and slammed him down onto the ground.
I gasped as the mugger rolled onto the masked man, straddled his hips, and wrapped his hands around the other man’s throat. I felt as though there were a hand gripping my own throat. I couldn’t breathe as I watched the masked man struggle, trying to calculate how long it would take me to run down there, grab a trashcan lid, and smash it over the mugger’s head. My phone hung limp and forgotten in my hand.
Flames burst out of the masked man’s hands. I reeled backwards in shock as the masked man shoved his hands into the mugger’s face.
His screams set my blood curdling, and I found myself screaming with him. I dropped my phone and heard the tinkle of glass shattering as the mugger threw himself away from the masked man and shoved his face into one of the puddles.
&n
bsp; The masked man rolled over onto his hands and knees, his back heaving, as the mugger scrambled to his feet and sprinted away.
My quick, panting breaths had fogged up the window. I wiped it hastily with my sleeve and watched as the masked man slowly rose to his feet. He shook his head like a dog, rubbed his throat, and followed the mugger calmly out of the alley.
“Oh my God,” I said, running my fingers through my long, brunette hair. I couldn’t – I just – oh, I’d never been so glad that Mama and Daddy weren’t there. They would’ve dragged me kicking and screaming back to Round Table if they’d seen that. My heart was beating so fast it was practically humming. A mugger! A masked vigilante! I thought those things only happened in comic books.
My flannel pajamas were suddenly too tight and heavy, and I pulled them off eagerly until I was standing dazed in my underwear. I picked my phone up and winced at the shattered screen. I’d have to save up to get it fixed – or else, explain to Mama and Daddy why I’d dropped it. I climbed back into bed with my mind reeling over the masked man’s flaming hands.
Chapter Two
I’d almost forgotten about the masked, flaming vigilante by lunchtime the next day. By lunchtime, I could barely remember my own name – never mind why I’d uprooted my whole life to move to Manhattan. I was close to tears by the time I stumbled into a restaurant that was open for lunch, taking a seat at the very back and running my hands nervously over the folds of my skirt. I swallowed the ball of emotion rising in my throat. Mama was right: I was stupid to leave Round Table. I didn’t know anything about the real world.
BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE: The Unforgettable Billionaires: The Complete Collection Boxed Set 1-12 (Young Adult Rich Alpha Male Billionaire Romance) (Alpha Bad Boy Billionaire Romance) Page 65
