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2024-11-24 06:11:55
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His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire EPILOGUE
My breath misted out in front of me as I moved, booted heels clopping against the cold interlocked streets of Paris. It was beautiful this time of year, and impossibly cold, too. I shivered slightly against the cold wind that blew again, hugging my tan trench coat around myself even tighter.I thought I heard someone—something familiar, and turned around, my breaths exhaling into the air with a cold imprecise clarity that frosted the air just in front of me. A picturesque view met my eyes.Pale-faced, fast-speaking French people who moved about, twisting and bowing their heads, nodding in conversation, shivering in the cold and folding their arms and stuffing them in their armpits, others cuddling and pretending they were in some cinematic effect, the tall hazy outline of the Eiffel tower in the background and the occasional honk of a car.I exhaled again and brought my gloved hands to my lips.“They don’t talk about how cold it is in Paris,” a voice said behind
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty-Five
I had thought so many times about what it would be like to meet my father again—to confront him about his homophobia and how many things I wanted to say. I had thought about apologizing, for my insensitive remarks and how I had hurt both him and Gran, and I had thought more recently about how he had been the person that Caleb had called… he had been the one to save me.My words choked in my throat, saliva and a thousand unsaid things bulging.“Dad—”“Shh,” he shook his head and stepped back. He motioned for me to come inside. I was shivering. I couldn’t tell if Tristan was right behind me or if I was walking alone. I just knew that I had to follow my father right now, and in we went, past the grand foyer and the waiting room, and then we were in the expansive hall where everyone was standing around in, their eyes swiveling to fix on me the minute I stepped in.Once again, I felt my throat clam up with emotion and the one thing I wanted to do was sink into the floor.There, the person
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty-Four
My head felt like a miniature sun was going off in it, imploding, exploding… way too loud and bright. All I could think of was the sound of meat crunching down a staircase and the sharp, clean break of bone… the strong metal scent of blood, and Tristan’s voice drilling into my ears as he crushed my bones in a hug.“You’re going to be alright, William. It’s alright. You’re going to be alright…”My eyes couldn’t leave the sight on the floor, Caleb on the floor, head bashed in terribly and bleeding, a woman that looked familiar to me, in cuffs, crying, “Caleb! Caleb, no!”Adam stepped into view, cutting off my vision.“Tristan,” he rushed to slip an arm under his boss. “You’re hurt?”“I’m fine,” Tristan brushed him away. He was still trying to keep me straight and hold me up. “William’s hurt bad. Can you get paramedic? Damn it, Adam, I’m fine. I’ll survive. It’s just a shoulder wound. Get the medics.”I zoned everything out. The million swarming cop cars and the cacophony of their wailin
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty-Three
My body felt like I’d been run over by a train. Everything hurt, and when I tried to grimace, the pain was worse.“Arggh,” I groaned in an attempt to stifle the pain. My face was instantly lit up by a scarring network of white-hot firing pain all over. Slowly, I brought my hand to my face. My nose was horribly disfigured and blood had crusted all over, making crunching noises as I tried to move my mouth.I spat something to the white floor, turning it a bloody mess. It seemed so surreal. I was here in this contained place with all of the white lights and sterile looking white floors, and everything bathed in white, and I was the one thing that was broken and bleeding.I touched a loose tooth in my mouth with my tongue. Caleb hadn’t even bothered to administer any anesthetics. No pain-killers, no meds, nothing.I looked up and there he was, staring bloodily at me. At the very least, I had done some serious damage to his face, too. His eye was still bruised and when he cocked a crooked
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty-Two
TRISTAN“What’s going to happen now?” Eric asked, his eyes puffy. He’d been rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms and groaning into his palms until a few seconds ago. He looked utterly disheveled. How a man could become so reduced in a manner of moments, simply because the one he loved had been taken away…I understood it. But I didn’t want to allow myself to go down that path. All I could do right now was see how I could get to William. And Caleb. FAST.I couldn’t say that I knew much of my brother—I’d abandoned almost every single thing that tied me so that I could focus on running the company. Losing my father had not been easy—but if there was one thing I knew about Caleb, it was that he needed help. He was much too unstable to left alone by himself for too long.I was sad, and broken, but I was angry and that was good. Right now, I channeled that anger into a small stream that had me flexing my wrist in small movements. I was not going to lose focus of what needed to be d
His Sworn Enemy; His Deepest Desire Eighty-One
TRISTAN“Damnit.”I echoed, not for the umpteenth time that day. My thoughts were fixed solely on William. I still could not believe what had happened. All I could remember was the look on his face and how confused he had looked about everything, and the anger that I felt.To think that he’d taken that picture of me…I groaned and rubbed my hands over my face again. I could still feel the weight of Adelstein’s hand on my shoulder, patting me as he led me away from William.“It’s alright, my boy.” He’d said. “You did the right thing.”But it didn’t feel like the right thing at all. Not when I knew that William was being carted away to the police station where I knew that he would definitely spend some time sitting in that cell before bail could be made. If nothing else happened to him, then he would forever bear the guilt on his face, just how I betrayed him.No, I reprimanded myself. It had to be done.I was the CEO of Terra corporations. I was the man who made all of the difficult an
