Page 59 of Fall of a Kingdom

I slammed back the rest of my drink and then set the glass down on the Biedermeier coffee table before standing up and stalking from the room.

At least they hadn’t brought up Jane.

Thinking of Jane made anger simmer through my veins. Fucking and drinking were the only two things that obliterated her from my mind.

Demon woman.

I would never fall I love again.

Never.

Chapter21

BARRETT

The doorto the guest bedroom opened and my vivid dream disappeared like a wisp of smoke in the wind. Flynn came in, grimacing. “Sorry. I didn’t realize you were asleep.”

I looked down at Piper, who was snoozing on my chest. “Dozing,” I said. “I was trying to wait up for you so we could give Piper her first bath.”

“It’s past midnight,” he remarked.

“And her schedule is already good and screwed.”

“Hmm. Valid point. I’ll run the bath water.” He leaned over and pressed a kissed to my forehead and then my lips.

“I had the strangest dream just now,” I remarked as I sat up slowly.

“You can tell me about it while we bathe her.”

Flynn disappeared into the ensuite bathroom while I shifted Piper to my other shoulder.

He hadn’t shut the door to the bedroom, and I went to close it.

But there on the threshold, standing in the doorway, was the ghost of Igor Dolinsky.

“She’s beautiful,” Igor said.

I instinctively clutched Piper tighter to me.

“Barrett!” Flynn called. “The bath is nearly ready.”

“Coming,” I called back, hoping my voice hadn’t betrayed my phony calm.

Why was Igor Dolinsky’s ghost still hanging about?

I’d exorcised him. I’d let him go. I was never returning to his house. I was moving forward with my life.

Why was my past determined to cripple my future?

I’m tired. Of course!

Sheer exhaustion wreaked havoc on a person’s mental state, I knew that. I hadn’t slept in far too many hours. We hadn’t prepared to go to the hospital and come home with a newborn.

I let out a sigh of relief, realizing how simple it was. As soon as I slept for a few hours, my hallucination of Igor would no longer plague me.

I brought Piper into the bathroom. Flynn was kneeling at the tub with his hand in the bathwater. I quickly divested Piper of her clothes, and then my husband and I gave our daughter her first bath.

“It’s strange,” I said as I handed the squeaky-clean infant to Flynn. He wrapped her in a soft towel and brought her to his chest.