Page 122 of Between Commitment and Betrayal

I turned to go inside as I listened to my husband telling Andy, “No one will remember you. No one will care from this moment forward. I’m going to make sure of it. Your family’s businesses are going under. I’ll manage how the media will paint you in the magazines as a rapist and that’s it. A woman’s worth was always more than yours, and you got away with thinking the opposite for far too long.”

I didn’t look back. I went to make bracelets and sit in silence in the living room.

A bit later, I heard Declan come inside but he was on the phone and it was on speaker.

“Cade, I need a favor.”

“I’d say no, but I saw who entered your gym, so I’m guessing this’ll be good.”

“You saw him come into my gym and didn’t fucking call me?” Declan said furiously.

“I glanced at your location before I bothered with a call and your ass was going a hundred on the highway to your place. Figured you had it under control.”

“Whatever. He’s here.”

“Don’t tell me he’s dead. I’m too tired to handle it today,” Cade said, bored like he didn’t give a shit about my life or anyone else’s.

“He’s unconscious but still breathing in my backyard. There’s a lot of blood.” I heard a muffled rustling as I walked up to Declan to wrap my arm around his waist and lean into him.

Then I heard Cade mumble to Izzy, “Your brother lost his mind like you did years ago, and now I have to go clean up his damn mess.” He didn’t say anything else to us. He clicked off the phone.

“Should I be more worried? We’ve just committed a crime,” I said, not feeling much remorse or sickness or anything really.

“I worry about things,” the man I loved said, “not you. You worry about our baby in your belly and that’s it.”

“There’s blood in your backyard,” I whispered as two of Declan’s brothers stormed through the front doors. My eyes widened at the fact that they could be liable too. “Wait! Don’t come in here—”

“They know, Drop.” Declan shook his head and smiled softly at me before he glanced at his brothers. “He’s outside.”

“You okay?” Dom pulled me close for a hug.

“I’m fine. I’m… Well, we’re all going to jail for battery,” I blurted out.

Dom sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Honestly, with the way my brother acts before he thinks, I normally would say there should be some sort repercussion, but in this case, I would have done the same. We’re definitely not going anywhere for that fucker out back.”

“Cade will take care of it.” Declan shrugged and pulled me out of Dom’s arms. “Want to go get french fries or ice cream?”

“Seriously?” I glanced at all of the Hardy brothers smiling at me and knew I was finally a part of a family, one that would take care of me in a way I’d never been cared for before. Wrapped in love. “Both?”

“I know the perfect place.” He ushered me to the downstairs bathroom where I showered and got ready with him. We didn’t talk about the men traipsing in and out of the house as we walked to his car because when I glanced at him, he said, “My wife doesn’t worry about things, Drop. I do.”

He didn’t drive me to a place in town to eat. Instead, he drove me to a private airstrip with a Global Express standing by. “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere I’ve been wanting to take you.”

I think getting out of town, getting away from the burden that had been on my shoulders for so long, and maybe the pregnancy caused me to fall right asleep on that plane. I was in and out most of the flight, hearing him making calls and probably working.

When we landed, he scooped me up and placed me in an SUV where he buckled the seat belt for me, and once we were out on the road, I knew. “Declan, this is my town…”

“Yes… it is your hometown,” he said quietly, then he threaded his fingers through my hand. When we pulled up to the diner I’d told him about, he smiled softly. “And here’s your diner, baby.”

“My diner?”

“HEAT bought it an hour ago. You needed the fries and ice cream.”

My heartbeat quickened as my jaw dropped, and I glanced again at the window. Inside, I saw my mother and Tonya smiling with a sign that readLet’s get married again.

I turned to him with tears in my eyes. “Declan…”