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Amber stiffened in her seat and looked at me with wide eyes. “Yes. That’s the one secret I kept from you.” Amber sniffed. “I screwed up. It’s the one thing that could have kept him away from us. But I wanted so much to believe he would do better. God, Taylor, I’m so sorry. He almost killed you. He would have taken us. God, I’m so damned stupid. Please tell me you’ll forgive me. Please, Taylor. I wa
nted Joseph to have a father, but never at this price. And not the way he was. He’d just done so much for me.”
But it wasn’t for her. That’s what he made sure I knew. None of it was for her. The pregnancy might have been accidental, but the rest was part of some sick wish that I would return. He was lost in a world we’d created all those years ago and never got out of it. A world I prayed he’d take me away from. And his life was taken in my world, by a man who was even more dangerous.
It had to stop somewhere.
The chain had to be broken.
I couldn’t afford any more of the same in my life.
“I understand, Amber. I wanted the same. But we can’t change their nature.”
Amber wept silently in her seat as I let the words I just spoke pass over me like a sentence. My sister and her son were my priority. I couldn’t take any chances with their lives.
If Daniello had ended Cedric, his death would be more than I could bear.
And that meant letting go of another man that I loved.
At 4:00 a.m., I stopped texting Cedric. I had to protect Amber, and that meant making sure none of Laz’s crew were waiting in the wings. When I was certain we weren’t being followed, I got us safely to the penthouse and began begging for any word. Amber cried silently with Joseph snuggled next to her on the bed while I sat on the sofa with my anger and grief.
Mountains of tears multiplied as a chest full of despair I could never have imagined threatened to ruin the rest of me.
Minutes or hours later, when the door to the penthouse opened, and I saw Daniello was alone, I bent over in defeat and let my emotions run rampant. I sobbed into my hands, my gun discarded on the couch next to me before I snatched it up and aimed it at Daniello. There was no surprise in his eyes as I walked toward him.
“Where is he?”
Daniello’s eyes were filled with emotion as he spoke softly. “Did he get inside you?”
I jabbed the gun in his direction with every word. “Where. Is. He?”
“Tell me, Phoenix, because if he was inside you, I want that bullet.”
I scrubbed my tears with my free hand, my resolve slightly faltering. “Don’t pretend to care about me!”
“I assure you I am not.”
“What did you do to Cedric?!”
My phone beeped, and I looked at Daniello in shock. With the gun still pointed at him, I gripped it tighter and glanced down to read an incoming text.
Cedric: I’m fine. I’ll call you in a bit.
I let out a hard breath as I dialed him.
He answered on the first ring. “I can’t talk right now. I’m being patched up by a hot nurse.”
Nervous laughter spilled from my lips as I glared at Daniello. “Patched up?” I surveyed Daniello and saw he had a purple bruise on his jaw. “You two got into it?”
“It was a discussion of sorts about future security.”
“But you’re fine. You’re okay?”
“You have the absolute worst taste in men. I seriously couldn’t pick worse.”
I sobbed again in relief. Daniello’s concern for me hadn’t swayed as he watched me carefully.
“It’s over.” Those words came from Cedric. I felt the finality as I studied Daniello, who nodded slowly, obviously able to hear our conversation.
