LOGINThe bar was dark or maybe it was just my eyes being puffy from crying. I had to make sure Roberts didn’t follow me because he had insisted that the bar was too rough and dangerous for someone of my status—I knew he meant to say personality.
Well I didn’t care anymore.
If my husband and best friend could join forces and betray me, why should I care? I sauntered over to the bartender and flashed a smile.
“Vodka please” I said and he stared at me, tilting his head to the side.
“You alright miss?” He said in a British accent and I rolled my eyes.
“Give me the damn drink” I snapped, and he nodded and pulled out a glass and vodka bottle. I grabbed the bottle and the glass.
“I’ll pay for the bottle, be ready to give me more if I ask” I said and he stared at me in surprise. I guess it wasn’t everyday he got a female customer in an expensive dress demanding for a drink like a sailor.
Not that I care……at least not now.
I headed over to a dark corner and settled down. A lot of interested eyes followed me, men licking lips, some were openly staring which made me wonder why Jason would ever do that to me. For a moment the emotions came flooding back and my eyes watered.
No, no. No tears
I sucked in my breath and cocked open the bottle pouring a glass of vodka in the glass cup and chugged it down my throat. I gritted my teeth a bit as the sharp taste filled my senses and I sighed. My head felt a bit light and the chatter around me suddenly felt dim.
Good.
This felt like peace, I poured a glass again and raised it to my lips.
“Miss” someone with another British accent called and I sighed..wonderful, now I was being admired by British men, why are they so much here anyway or was my head playing tricks with me.
“Yes Brit” I said and he smiled, he wasn’t bad looking but not handsome either and his eyes were a rough blue and from his face I could tell he was a proper hooligan, but for some reason, or rather for a reason I didn’t seem to care.
“Can I sit?” He asked indicating to the chair across mine and I grinned at him.
“Of course Blud” I said faking an accent, “You can”
He smiled at me as he sat and poured himself a drink without permission and I just smiled.
“Vodka” he said simply, inhaling before drinking. “Good drink”
“Yes it is” I said, sipping mine. I stared at him, “Why are you here?” I said, I never would have asked bluntly on a normal day but things weren’t normal with me right now.
“You’re beautiful, sexy, everything a man wants” he answered simply and I chuckled bitterly.
“Everything a man wants?” I said, trying so hard not to be hysterical, “Are you fucking with me?” I said dangerously close to annoyance—not at him but for everything that’s happened.
He leaned forward and not even backing down.
“Yes, I would fuck you now if you would let me” he said and at first anger was my reaction, then I was reminded of my loyalty to Jason but I stopped. Why should I remain loyal to the man who had no right to deserve my loyalty? Why should I even refuse a man who really wanted me, thug or not? And this was my chance to forget all that had happened, maybe sex is all I need.
“Alright” I said with a drunk grin as I took another sip, the drink going straight to my head.
“Alright?” He echoed and I smiled at him, suddenly happy…..the damn drink.
“Alright, I’ll let you do it, what’s your name?” I said and he raised a brow then he grinned.
“Good girl. The name’s Tom” he said, he stood and pulled me up. He started to lead me upstairs but suddenly our path was blocked by a…
Oh my God was I seeing things.
The man in front of us was tall, maybe six foot eight, his green eyes looked like a mini stormy sea. He was well built and there was his face, in my drunken state I could register it but I was very well aware of how handsome he was….very handsome.
“I want that one….” I slurred and the man in front of us, frowned.
“She’s drunk mate, let her be” his voice was soothing deep and I closed my eyes as it ran through my bones.
“Why, so you can fuck her yourself?” Tom asked and the man in front of us didn’t even react.
“No, not like you Tom, like I said…Fuck off” he said and Tom scowled gripping my hand or tight it hurt.
“Or what?” he growled and the other man laughed. He reached for his waistband and Tom’s eyes widened and he dropped my hand, and raised his.
“Whoa I am sorry mate” he said backing up, “I’ll leave now”
“Scot” the man said and Tom ran off. He watched Tom go then he turned to me.
“Hey baby” I flashed a grin and he didn’t even smile back, he picked me up in his arms and headed outside the pub.
I groaned and thrashed in his arms, “Hey my drink, I need it please” I said and he shook his head.
“No”
“Please” I begged, near tears. “You don’t understand, I need it or……” I stopped and his green eyes suddenly rested on mine and even in my bold drunken state I looked away suddenly shy.
“Or…?”
“Or I’ll remember” I said and he nodded. I could see in his eyes that he knew what I was talking about or had an idea.
“Alright let’s take you home” he said and I stared at him in surprise.
“Home?” I asked and he dropped me in the backseat of his car.
“Shhh” he said and without warning covered my face with a bandana, I felt myself going weak and my eyes widened.
“You…..” I started and he pressed harder and suddenly I went limp.
“Night night” he said before my world went dark.
Four's POVI went back to the cemetery alone the next morning. The sun was barely up, casting long shadows across the headstones. My breath came out in white puffs in the cold February air. I stood in front of my father's grave again, but this time felt different. Quieter somehow. Like the rage that had lived in my chest for decades was finally wearing itself out."I came back," I said to the stone. My voice sounded strange in the empty cemetery. "I said what I needed to say yesterday but I do not think I was done. I do not think forgiveness happens all at once. It is a process, like Dr Morrison keeps telling me."A bird called from somewhere in the trees. Life continues despite death. Despite trauma. Despite everything."I forgive you," I said clearly."Not because what you did was acceptable. It was not. You were a monster and I spent decades s
Veronica's POVI watched Four follow Thomas into the study and felt my stomach drop. Something was wrong. Thomas looked like he was carrying a weight that had finally become too heavy. The door closed behind them and I was left in the kitchen with Beverly, who was staring at that closed door with worry written across her face."What is going on?" I asked quietly."I do not know," Beverly said, but her eyes said she suspected something. "Thomas has been distant the last few weeks. I thought it was just stress from the holidays."Inside the study, I imagined what conversation could be happening. What secret could Thomas be holding that required pulling Four aside during Christmas? My mind went to worst-case scenarios. Illness. Financial problems. Some threat we had not anticipated.Twenty minutes passed. The party continued in the living room with children laughing and adults talking. Normal holiday chaos that felt wrong when I knew something serious was happening behind that closed doo
Four's POVI stared at my phone after Dominic Torres hung up. He had gotten my letter. He wanted to talk. My half-brother, the sibling I never knew existed, was real and willing to engage. The knowledge sat heavily in my chest."What did he say?" Veronica asked from where she stood in the kitchen doorway."He wants to meet. Next weekend if I can make it to Portland.""Are you going?""I have to," I said. "He deserves answers and I need to see if he is real. If this is not some elaborate scam or mistake."I flew to Portland the following Saturday. Alone because this felt like something I needed to do without distraction. Dominic had suggested meeting at a coffee shop near his house. Neutral territory. Public but quiet enough for a difficult conversation.I arrived fifteen minutes early and sat in my rental car t
Chapter 217Veronica's POVThe film offered sat between us like a third person in our bedroom. Four had been pacing for twenty minutes while I sat on the bed watching him process. Our lives turned into entertainment. Our trauma was displayed for millions. The idea was overwhelming and terrifying and somehow inevitable."What do you think?" Four asked finally, stopping in front of me."I think it is your story to tell," I said carefully. "But it is also my story. And Monte's story. We all get a say in this.""The kids," Four said, sitting down heavily beside me. "How do we explain this to them?""Honestly and age-appropriately like we do everything else."We gathered the family that weekend for a discussion. Monte was ten now, tall and serious with Four's dark eyes. Sophia was eight, still fearless and opinionated. Manuel was eighteen mont
Chapter 216Four's POVWriting the memoir was harder than I expected. I thought I had processed everything through therapy and time but putting it into words on a page opened wounds I did not know still existed. My childhood was under my father's fists. Watching my mother waste away. Learning to be cruel because cruelty was currency in that world.I hired a ghostwriter named Sarah Chen, a woman in her fifties who specialised in memoirs about trauma and recovery. She asked questions I did not want to answer. Pushed me to go deeper when I wanted to stay surface level. Made me sit with uncomfortable truths instead of glossing over them."Why did you stay in the organisation as long as you did?" she asked during one of our early sessions."Because I did not know there was another option.""But you did know. You saw how normal people lived. You understood that you
Chapter 215Veronica's POVLife with three children was chaos in the best possible way. Our house was never quiet anymore. Someone was always crying or laughing or asking questions or needing something. The laundry multiplied like some kind of evil magic trick. I found Cheerios in places Cheerios should never be. Sleep became a distant memory again.But it was joyful chaos. The kind I had dreamed about during those dark years with Jason when I thought happiness was something that happened to other people.Monte took his role as big brother seriously. He helped with diaper changes even though he wrinkled his nose at the smell. He sang to Manuel when the baby cried. He read him board books with exaggerated voices that made Sophia giggle. At eight years old, Monte was already more nurturing than most adults I knew.Sophia was intensely curious about everything baby Manuel did. Why d
Jason's POV.For a moment, I thought she was pretending. Rebecca had always been dramatic, always eager to use my weakness against me.As a shield to whatever circumstances that concerned her, so when her body hung limp and unresponsive after that last strike,.I assumed she was playing another desp
Jason's POV. “You're the reason why everything is going down the drain, if you hadn't made that stupid call! If you didn't ruin my marriage with all that nonsense bout being pregnant for me then you wouldn't have been here in the first place.*A tear rolled down her eye. Rebecca trembled inwardly,
Veronica’s POV. … I was scared of bringing a child into this world with more chaos than I could handle.The words sat between us. Four didn't move immediately, he watched the way he did when he was deciding whether to speak carefully or truthfully.“Well, they won't grow up in chaos.” He said at l
Veronica’s POV. Waking up felt like swimming through heavy water. Water that pulled me back the longer and harder I tried to get out of it.It wasn't the kind you glided through, it was the kind that dragged your limbs and filled your ears until everything sounded distant and wrong.The first thin







