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All I had to do was bare Forest’s soul to his worst enemy.
Leaving the safe house was dangerous, everyone would have said so. Luckily, by the private rules of Ria Moon, I didn’t need anyone’s permission.
The safe house was large enough that everyone could be occupied in separate rooms. This was the safe house of a billionaire CEO, after all. It was bigger than most people’s normal houses.
And Forest’s security staff were much more focused on preventingentryto the premises, as opposed toexits. Despite appearances, this was not in fact a concrete prison.
I climbed out of a ground-floor window and departed into the afternoon with ease. Getting past security was a piece of cake compared to getting past my Grandmother. And she was napping.
The safehouse was somewhat out of the way of the main transport routes, so I had to walk for some time to get to a place where I could hail a cab. I was half-expecting Apollo to leap out from behind every lamppost and catch me in a net. But there were no unpleasant surprises on my journey. I was relieved nonetheless when I found myself safely in the back of a cab. On my way to one of the least safe places on earth:Brock Industries.
I got dropped off a few blocks away so I could get some fresh air before betraying the love of my life to his brother. I was almost at the entrance when I got hit with a sudden wave of doubt so strong it felt physical.
Maybe it was the baby kicking. Either way, it made me stop.
I ducked down behind a large planter. All I had to do was walk into that reception and ask for Apollo. It would be that easy. And I could secure the safety of my family. Of my mom, Grandmother, and Mrs Jamroz’s family, too, I reckoned.
But the longer I crouched there, the more I felt overcome with guilt. If I did this, that was it for me and Forest. There was no future for us. What about our child, then? And what about our love? We hadn’t parted on good terms. But despite the doubt I’d voiced, I knew deep down that our love was real. It had just been too hard to admit that in the heat of the argument.
I was angry at him, sure. But I realized I couldn’t make the choice to cut him out of my life forever. I wasn’t ready.
I returned home empty-handed and furious at myself for letting my feelings get in the way of protecting my family. They’d always been my priority. To my own detriment, I supposed – I’d dropped out of college for them, worked jobs for them, dedicated the last few years of my life to my family solely. It seemed silly to do all that and then let my feelings for a man – one who’d said such hurtful things to me – get in the way of protecting them when I easily could.
I made it back into the safe house much the same way I’d left. No one noticed I’d been gone. I went to my bed and folded my arms, then slid under the covers to bask in how annoyed I was at myself.
Outside of the covers, the burner phone started ringing again.
I stayed under the covers. I didn’t answer it.
Not today.
FOREST
Four or five double whiskies down, I finished regaling Sylvester and Winston with my tales of fake relationship – and real love – woes.
Winston whistled. “Wow, we weren’t wrong with what we said at that intervention, were we?”
I spoke miserably into my drink. “I guess not.”
“In summary...” Sylvester stroked his chin like a drama student. “...You decided to defeat your evil half-brother bybecomingyour evil half-brother, used the woman you liked as a double agentandasked her to fake a relationship with you, then fell in love with her,thenwent absolutely nuts when it was revealed she’d not told you about her pregnancy...?”
I nodded, still miserable.
“But Forest, my dear, dear brother...” Sylvester paused for effect again. “...What about all of those strange things that you did... made you think you’d given Ria the impression you were mentally ready to hear about being a father?”
His point being the same that I’d concluded privately: ifIwere Ria,I’dnot have wanted to tell me about the pregnancy.
I nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, um, I do think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. Do you both agree then? I fucked up?”
I looked up at the faces of my two brothers. Slowly and warily, they both nodded, with looks of sympathy on their faces. The Forest of a few weeks ago would have become enraged at the sight of their sympathy, deemed it ‘pity’ and stormed off. But I’d had enough time to think over how I’d been acting recently. And... yeah.
I sighed. “What am I supposed to do about it?”
Winston cleared his throat. “I firstly suggestnottrying another hair-brained scheme out of desperation. They don’t seem to be going well for you recently.”
“I don’t get it. I used to be good at schemes! What went wrong?”
Winston ignored my question. “Why not get out of the city for a bit? Visit one of your tree-themed siblings from the non-Brock side of your family?”
