AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kalum’s eyes follow the path of my vision. His face is hard and unreadable. While his attention is focused on Lane, I wipe my face with my fingers and I notice he has changed. No longer does he have the face of a young teenage boy but of a man with a dangerous air of authority. He is tall with his tailored suit perfected over his massive build. When he glances back at me, his dark hair is coiffed with a clean-shaved sharp angular jaw, the same straight nose, and lips that are so perfect they could have been used to mold the perfect man’s face from stone. Kalum’s demeanor is also different from when I last saw him. No longer a teenager, but a ruthless CEO. A man I no longer recognize.
My instinct is to protect my son. Kalum tries to make eye contact with me but I refuse and the only thing that feels right is to hold my son.
“Lane,” I call out.
Lane tilts his head up at the sound of my voice and his forehead pinches into a frown when he notices the men standing like soldiers silently watching.
I open my arms slightly in comfort. “Come to Mommy. Bring your cars, sweetheart.”
He looks down and scoops the cars in his arms as fast as he can and hurriedly runs into my arms, shielding his face in my embrace.
My hands soothe him by making lazy circles on his back so he won’t feel frightened. He is incredibly shy and doesn’t like talking to strangers. His head snaps up and his little face, the spitting image of his father, peers at me.
I nod and smile, assuring him that everything is okay.
“We need to get going,” Kalum says dryly.
I don’t look at him to acknowledge him. He isn’t my friend but was sent here by my husband for whatever reason. Whatever feelings I held in my heart for Kalum died that night his parents wanted me gone. When I was forced into his life, Kalum found me to be an inconvenience, and even though he tried to be nice because we did have an attraction to one another, he was also heartless. All I could do was thank his family and wish him the best of luck and hope one day he would find someone that could love him the way I knew that I was, in fact, falling in love with him. It made what his parents did hurt the most.
That was the past and now my heart is broken from the death of my husband, and my heart only has room left for my son. I have to be strong for him and protect him. Lane warned me that I was a target for information only I have access to if something ever happened to him and that includes our son. His family wants to destroy what he built. I always thought it was impossible.
That nothing could happen to him.
That he wouldn’t let it.
But accidents happen and it is something we have no control over.
Lane is gone and now I’m so lost. All that is left is a pain that is numbing, unforgiving, and unfeeling.
The armed guards are escorting me and Lane Jr. with Kalum trailing behind us like we are celebrities walking out of the building in the middle of New York City. There are many people with cameras taking pictures and shouting about my late husband’s legacy and asking who is going to manage his company, but to me, it is all white noise. Lane Jr. grips the black fitted dress I’m wearing, hiding his face on my side, gripping his little toy cars.
A driver opens the rear passenger door of a sleek black Maybach. I hesitate, not sure where they are taking me.
“It is all right. It’s safe,” Kalum assures me from behind.
I lower my head and guide Lane inside the luxurious vehicle. Little Lane sits in the middle, and I sit on the far side.
To my surprise, the right passenger door opens and my head snaps up as Kalum slides inside. The smell of his cologne permeates the air in the confined car mixed with expensive leather, making me even more aware of him.
Kalum sits looking straight ahead and says, “We need to talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you. If you could, please drop me off at my hotel.”
“I’m afraid that is not possible. The media knows you are here, and they want answers that you are not ready to give them. His parents are not happy with his decision regarding his will. You and Lane Jr. will stay with me at my penthouse.”
My gaze lands on the profile of his face and I keep my tone as even and controlled as possible because of Lane sitting between us, sliding his cars over the leather, making imprints on them with the wheels.
“I don’t need to stay at your penthouse. I prefer my hotel where my things are and I will take the next flight out of here.”
He shakes his head like I’m a child, making my insides boil in anger. “As I said, you will stay with me at my penthouse until we make arrangements for you. It is not safe for you or Lane. They want access to what you have hidden and what only you have access to, and people would do anything to get it. You must know by now that your in-laws are not happy with your husband’s decision to leave everything to you. They will do anything to destroy it or make you sell his company and his patents.”
“I know, I am fully aware,” I snap.
His head turns to me and the expression on his face is hard and unreadable. There is a tic in his jaw but then his eyes soften. He looks down at Lane sitting between us while he digs the cars into the leather like it’s the pavement on a track.
Kalum looks up. “You and Lane Jr. are my responsibility. Get used to the idea of me being around because there is no other person Lane trusted except me.”
“Why would he trust you with me? Why would you care what happens to me or to my son?”
