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“Excuse me,” he addresses the woman, without looking away from me. “Would you mind moving one seat over? I have to talk with my son. Thank you.”
“Go away, Dad, I don’t need to listen to you.” I feel quite betrayed by my family. “Why did you come here, didn’t you get what you wanted?” I throw back another shot of whiskey as I order one for my father.
“Do you really think that I want for you to get hurt and be unhappy, son? I came here to help, not to make it worse. Do you know she was ready to go to a lawyer to draw legal documents, relinquishing custody of the twins to you? I came here to tell her that she doesn’t need them.”
“Well, cheers, Pops! You did a great fucking job! My woman’s probably packing my things. She’ll send me on my merry way to California, with two kids who will grow to hate me for taking away their chance to know their mother.”
“So, now you sit here and feel sorry for yourself? Where the fuck is my brother, the one who runs the biggest company in the world?” I hear my brother’s gritty voice chastising me, so I turn around.
“Lucas! Fuck! You’re here!” I give him a proper brotherly “welcome back” hug. “Why did nobody tell me that you were coming to visit?”
He shrugs, giving me his broad smile, genuinely happy to see me. “Leif called me, so I thought this time, I could come for support. After all, I wasn’t here for the twins’ birth.”
Lucas has the same features as me, but his eyes are grey with green flecks, making him look formidable. His short military cut and his U.S. Marines tattoo makes him look like a bandit in dark clothes rather than a hero serving his country. I don’t see him a lot as he often leaves for missions.
“Come, sit, let’s have a drink.” I sit back and tell them the story of this cluster fuck.
“So, the woman you love decides to tear her heart out of her chest, and you stamp on it because you want to play the savior in shining armor?” Lucas asks, amused at my drunken babbling.
“What?”
“She lost two kids. It must have been hard and frightening to come to this decision, Logan. She couldn’t stand to be around her parents because she was afraid to lose them if they challenged her ability to be a mother. To make this decision is not for the weak-minded.”
“What should I do, brother?” My head swims as I watch him.
“Make her keep a promise that will bring her back to you instead of pushing her away. Make her remember that you are not going to give up and you believe in her resolve and ability to overcome this pain. Tell her that you and the kids will be waiting.” He grips my shoulder and tries to reason with my drunken head.
“I want this woman tangled in threads, so my stubborn Angel won’t escape me.” I grin at my cunning plan.
I will conquer her tomorrow. Right now, I need a bed to rest my drunk ass. As if realizing it, my brother and dad grab me from the barstool and take me to the hotel, where they put me on the bed and Dad takes my shoes off.
I will capture this mouse, and I will make her mine.
Dad kisses my forehead before he leaves as Lucas sits in bed next to me, chuckling at something. I fall into the darkness, and I see her beneath me, coming apart and screaming that she loves me. I let myself dream about her in my arms, with happily-ever-after’s, as we both find the way back home.
From far away, I hear the phone ringing. The ringtone is annoying me and my pounding head. I open my eyes and the dark room spins as Lucas answers.
“Hello?” He listens for a while until he hits me on the arm, trying to get me out of bed. “Roger. I’ll get Logan downstairs in five.” He turns to me, a concerned look on his face. “Cassandra ran out of the house in the middle of the night. Leif can’t find her.”
Before he finishes, I am on my feet, almost doubled over from pain, the fear nearly crippling me. We run to the lobby to find the concierge telling us that Dad is already waiting in the car.
“Go, go, go, Dad! Give me the phone.” I snatch it up and dial Leif. “What the fuck happened!” I roar.
“I heard someone in the kids’ room, so I went to help. When she turned around, I swear, brother, she didn’t recognize me. She passed me without any word and walked downstairs. On the porch, she screamed, so I tried to calm her down. I think she was sleepwalking or something. Then she fought me off and ran, looking for someone.”
“Did you check the lake? Go around and see if she’s there!”
“I am already on it, brother. She isn’t here. Cassandra! Logan, she wasn’t responsive when I found her in the room. Cassandra hit my shoulder in a daze, but didn’t even acknowledge me. Hurry up!”
I hear another call come in, and I look at my dad, gesturing for the phone. “Hello.”
“Logan, Cassandra is missing, she ran off!”
“You stayed? Where are the kids?”
“They are at home, sleeping. We have monitors, hoping that they will sleep through this. Where are you?”
I realize I’m speaking to Raine, who shouts out to Aisha, asking if she found her sister.
