Page 67

My heart swarms with pride and joy seeing my baby in her. I fucking hate myself for distancing from her. She went the first seven months of pregnancy without me there with her. I know she didn’t know the first four months, but I still could’ve been there. Instead I was a fucking coward.

I will make Adrian pay for everything he and his son did. Adrian was nowhere near the warehouse when Viktor rescued us, they searched a twenty-mile radius and came up empty-handed. And Marcus was, well, dead. Adrian played with her life to see me fall, to see me fail for once.

Grabbing my phone off the nightstand, I text Viktor telling him we need to talk.

It takes a few minutes before his response comes in, saying he’s on the way to the Manor. He must be in the city doing shit.

Penelope stirs in my arms, her eyes opening as I reach up and brush my fingers through her hair. “Morning, sleepy,” I rasp. The sun came up about an hour ago, the sunrise casting the room in an orange glow.

She hums, rubbing her hands over her eyes like a toddler.

“Viktor is on the way. I need to talk to him.” Her eyes ask the question instead of her mouth.

“I’m telling him I’m done. I’m done with being leader of something I can’t control.”

“Are you sure? This is your life, your home,” She says.

I love that she’s concerned about me leaving this. I want this. Need this. I can’t control how I feel. As much as my father tried to make me an emotionless leader, emotions are inevitable. She is my feelings. She consumes them all. Anger that I left, sadness I hurt her, joy she wants to be near me still, fear she’ll leave, or something will happen to her.

“You are my life, you,” I put my hand on her belly, “And this baby is my life. Nothing is more important than that.” I see the tears start to well in her eyes, threatening to fall.

I groan at the interruption when someone knocks on the bedroom door. “Come in!” I glare at her when she says that. I don’t want people in my room. My space. I know people have been helping take care of Penelope as she recovers from the crash.

The door cracks open, and Destiny peeks her head in. Oh great fucking heavens. Thank God I have sweatpants on. “I’m here to steal your baby mama away for some breakfast.” I physically repulse at the words, baby mama.

“Don’t call her that,” I gruff at her.

She smirks at me. “Well, that’s what she is. Not your wife, or girlfriend.” Sneaky little bitch.

“We’ll see about that,” I say, and I see Penelope look at me in the corner of my eye. I look at her, giving her a smirk before she looks at Destiny.

“Wheelchair day,” she says, and Destiny goes to the corner of the room where Penelope’s chair is, bringing it over to the edge of the bed.

I get out of bed slowly, groaning at the pain that stretches my body. Rounding to Penelope’s side, I pick her up gently, bridal style, placing her in her chair.

Walking into the closet, I grab a random shirt and throw it on. Walking back into the bedroom, Destiny is walking out the door, pushing Penelope in front of her. Are you fucking kidding me?

Catching up to them, I fall into step with Destiny. “I got it,” I grunt, trying to push her away from the wheelchair. She’s surprisingly strong for someone of her size because she doesn’t budge, not even an inch.

“Nope.” Dude.

“Yes,” I growl.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Yes! I am your boss, move the fuck over, Destiny!” I growl, grabbing the wheelchair and stopping it. Penelope stays quiet the entire interaction, glancing back at me when I finally get control of her wheelchair.

Destiny huffs next to me, mumbling under her breath. “Zip it,” I clip, fed up with this girl.

Coming up on the couple of stairs leading to the living room, I stop Penelope in front of them, going down the stairs to lift the chair down, making a mental note to have someone install a temporary ramp.

Making our way to the kitchen, we see the rest of her little friend group cooking breakfast and laughing with each other. They all look up at hearing us enter, and their faces warm at the sight of Penelope.

“How’s my niece?” Kai asks. Yes, think of her as a sister, nothing more.