LOGINELIASI was so nervous, it felt like I was about to shit bricks. My brothers were too. “Is this about the surprise?” Kaidora asked, an eyebrow raised, her arms crossed as she stared at us.“Could you just pack already so you can find out?” Damian asked.She hummed as she looked at us. “What is this time? Which country are we going to now?”“Oh! Oh! I know!” Mira shouted from the bed, holding her little backpack to her chest. Our daughter was already ready to go while her mother was not. She was too busy interrogating us to get ready. “No, you don't," Roman chuckled, giving her a soft look.“I do too!” she shot back. She turned to her mother. “I heard Dad talking to someone on the phone to get the jet ready! Oh, and he said a bad word too!”Roman sighed. “You little…”“Okay, we’re leaving,” Damian said as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.“PAPA!”“MOVE!”“Pack up, Kiadora,” Roman said, leaving after Damian. “Just a few things for the weekend.”“Trust me, you would lov
DAMIANIt was close to dinner time when Kaidora finally came back, looking like a goddess sent to ruin us men on earth. She looked completely pampered, her hair done and in thick waves down her back, a few strands falling into her face and giving her this… ethereal look. Her skin was looking even more marvelous, and it was torture not being able to touch it like I wanted to, especially since she was dressed in a gown that hugged her upper body, pushing her breasts out, before loosening at the waist and flaring out into a skirt that stopped above her knees. Her nails were done, lips looking more tempting than ever.Every single part of her, from ears to toes, was looking so deliciously tempting. Oh, what a cruel punishment this was. What a cruel, cruel punishment. “You look beautiful, my Aphrodite,” I whispered when she stepped in, aching to kiss her hand. I thought she was just going to walk past and was already bracing myself for the heartache, but then she paused and turned to m
ROMAN “Listen to me,” I snarled into the phone. “I don’t care. This needs to happen within that time frame. I do not care about your excuses. All you have to do is make it work.”I ended the call, slamming the phone too hard down on the desk as I sighed, pressing my fingers into my temple. This has to go right. Over the last four years, we have missed our chances, but this time, it has to go right. “Dad is being mean again,” that little voice said from the floor in front of my desk. I raised my head, stretched my neck to see what she was up to this time, and I sighed even more deeply when I saw her sitting with her legs folded on the floor, surrounded by papers and crayons. Papers of contracts. And she was drawing on them.“Hey, you,” I said, and she raised her head to me, already frowning when I hadn't even said anything. The similarities between their frowns were almost ridiculous. I pointed at the contracts she was drawing rainbows on. “That is a billion-dollar contract, lady.”
Damian and Elias looked at Roman like they expected him to be the sacrificial lamb. Roman gave them both a hard look before he sighed deeply and turned to me. “You’re quite scary, woman,” he sighed, rubbing his temple. When I raised an eyebrow, he cleared his throat and straightened, dropping his hand. “He’s alive.”“Well, I didn't actually expect you to kill him, did I?” I said with my second eyebrow joining the first.“No, you didn't. We’re not thugs.”“Exactly. So give me something more than that.”“He’s well,” Elias offered. “With a bed all to himself, and everything he needs to survive,” Damian added before I could say anything. I looked between the three of them. “If he’s alive and well, and has a bed all to himself and everything he needs to survive, why hasn't his mother seen him in years?”Silence. A minute passed, and none of them said anything. Just stared at me like I was expected to understand the words in their eyes.“Hello?!” I snapped.“Because he’s in the middle o
I really couldn't believe this. I couldn't believe who I was seeing right now, and for more than one reason. For one, she looked different: her face bare of makeup, no expensive jewelry catching the light. There were heavy bags under her eyes, her lips chapped and without color. She looked… drained, tired.Her shoulders were hunched as she stared at me, her lips pressed into a thin line.And for two, how dare she show her face in front of me? When the men saw her, they immediately moved, stepping in front of me like they were trying to shield me from her. “What the fuck are you doing here?” Damian asked, his voice a deep growl.Cassandra’s eyes flickered to him before she turned those sad depths to me. “I came to ask for help.”I stared at her. Of all the things I expected her to say, I didn't expect that. I raised an eyebrow. “Help?” Help from me? She needed help from me? Everything after? Years must have passed, and we all might have aged and grown, but some things just didn't
“Mummy, look!”I turned to see Mira running towards me with a seashell in both hands, her hair completely covered in sand, and other things I don't even want to think of right now. Her hands-no, her entire body covered in dirt, and… was that sand on her lips? Good God, we were taking a long bath today. Like we always did after a day at the beach. No, no, we always took long baths no matter where Mira was.“What do we have here, angel?” I asked softly as I crouched in front of her and barely moved my head before she slammed the seashell into my nose as she stretched out her little hands. “I found it!”I smiled softly. “It’s beautiful. What are you going to do with it?”She beamed up at me with two missing front teeth, the ocean behind her making her blue eyes spark, while her brown hair danced in the wind. She shoved the shell right under my nose, missing it by just an inch. “For Pop!”My throat closed up as I looked into her beautiful eyes. Even after four years of hearing her call







