LOGIN~ MARTY ~I was inside my car before I fully realized what I was about to do but that didn't stop me. My hands found the keys, and I turned the ignition I pulled out of the parking lot with my phone still gripped in my other hand.“ Roman, are you still there?” There was no response, making me panic even more. I removed the phone from my ear, I checked and saw he had hung up.Fuck, this man might be the death of me. My phone rang again and without checking the screen I answered because I assumed it was Roman calling back. I was prepared to scold him more, I just can't understand why a grown ass sensible man would go to the bar at seven to get drunk when he fucking exposed himself to be dragged online. “ Hello Roman, you…” "So you are still disgracing the Lake name?” An angry voice questioned. I would recognize that voice anywhere in this world. “ And good day to you too Dad,” I whispered sarcastically.Dad? Yeah right, I haven’t had one in a long while. “ Why haven't you change
~ MARTY ~Why did I do that? How could I have slapped him?!“ Ahhhhhh! That was so stupid of me!” I screamed loudly into my pillows.I slumped back into my bed and stared at the ceiling and replayed the four seconds on that pavement over and over, Kieran's mouth on Roman's cheek, his hand on Roman's chest, and the way Roman had just stood there and did nothing.But that shouldn't have made me slap him. After giving up on sleep, I sat up at four in the morning and made coffee that I didn't drink and sat at my counter staring at the chair he had been sitting in.I wanted to call him and apologize to him yet again, I told myself I needed the morning to think.Still, I found myself waiting for his call. By nine fifty one while I was still mopping around, Lisa sent me an article with a question.LISA: Did you see this?I downloaded the article and read it while standing in my kitchen still in yesterday's clothes. Felix's name was plastered everywhere with a campaign dispute from three ye
~ ROMAN ~I had not planned to be on that street at that time. Fuck, all the annoying misfortuned meetings with Marty has never been planned by me. I had just finished a meeting nearby early and was walking back to my car when I saw him through the restaurant window. Marty, once again was sitting across from Felix with his jacket over the back of his chair and his posture more relaxed than it had been around me in weeks.I had stopped walking. That was when Kieran appeared at my elbow.He came from nowhere the way he always did, as if he had been watching or worse had a tracker on me, waiting for the right moment to make his entrance, and I had been so focused on the restaurant window that I had not seen him coming."Roman," he called softly. "What a pleasant surprise.""Kieran." I did not look away from the window immediately. "What are you doing here?""I had a meeting nearby. Same as you, I imagine." He followed my gaze toward the restaurant window and I watched his eyes widened
~ MARTY ~Danny and Danielle Blackwood came into the world at four seventeen in the morning.I know the exact time because I was sitting outside the delivery room when Damien appeared in the doorway and said it. I looked at my watch just to mark the moment and to tell Eva. The doctor said the boy came first and then the girl, three minutes later.They were both healthy and loud. Two lovely bundles of perfection.Eva let me hold them one at a time while Damien hovered at my elbow like a man who had decided he was never putting either of them down again and was only being polite by allowing anyone else a turn.Danielle had Eva's nose and a very serious expression for someone who was forty minutes old. Danny had already fallen asleep against my chest like he had decided I was acceptable and that was it.I sat in the hospital chair holding a sleeping baby at five in the morning and felt something I could not name in my chest."You're going to spoil them rotten," Eva said from the bed, w
~ ROMAN ~I saw them coming out of the restaurant at seven forty-three. I swear I wasn’t following him.That was what I told myself, sitting in my car on the opposite side of the street, watching Marty and Felix walk out of the restaurant side by side into the Friday evening crowd.I had done my research on the pretty, manly boy because when he told me he had invited him for dinner, I immediately didn't like him.His hand moved and gently touched Marty's cheek as if removing something from his face.That move alone had me gripping the steering wheel. Fuck! What am I doing? I had been nearby for a meeting that had ended early.One minute, I had been about to call Marty, and then I spotted them through the restaurant window from the street.Marty laughed wholeheartedly at something Felix said, his head tilting back slightly the way it did when something genuinely caught him off guard, and then I had walked to my car and sat in it.That was ten minutes ago, and now here I was, still sitt
~ MARTY ~The two days after the Harrington event I threw myself into work the way I did whenever something was sitting in my head and I hadn't figured out how to deal with it yet.I took on three new client meetings that Lisa had been handling. I reorganized the campaign schedule for the Sterling Collective launch follow-up. I replied to emails at eleven at night and had calls booked before eight in the morning and stayed at my desk through lunch twice in a row.Roman noticed without saying anything usual which was his way. He just showed up at my office on Wednesday evening with food and sat across from me while I ate and he asked about the Sterling campaign. I thought about telling about Isabelle and everything but I just couldn't bring myself to because I knew the day I told him anything about Luka and I, might be the end of our relationship.By Friday I was tired from all my fidgeting and all the possible solutions that I was looking for. I wanted to sleep but at the same time
~ EVANGELINE ~The hall exploded after Damien's announcement.Cameras flashed everywhere. Reporters screamed questions. People rushed toward the stage from all directions."Damien! How long have you known about Evangeline?""Is the marriage real or fake?"Damien's security guards moved fast. They s
~ EVANGELINE ~ The room stayed frozen after Roman's question. "What about Lily?" Damien asked, still looking calm. I stared at him, curious about who this Lily was that made him tense up. "Well? Are you going to answer him?" Damien's face went cold. "It's none of your concern." "None of my
~ DAMIEN'S POV~ I stared at my laptop screen but couldn't focus on the words. The events of yesterday still played in my head and I couldn't get the images out of my mind. My head kept playing out an imaginary Eva standing alone in that ballroom. Surrounded by our enemies. I even saw a video of
~ EVANGELINE'S POV ~My head was pounding when I opened my eyes. I instantly regretted it as sunlight streamed through the windows like tiny knives stabbing my brain.Fuck! Where was I?I looked around and noticed I was in a different guest room. This wasn't the room I had been staying in.Wait. Ho







