Page 170 of Restitution

He sets aside all the drawings of me, the dogs and what he thought our daughter would’ve looked like, then lifts the princess dress with a shaky hand.

“I thought it was all gone,” he says quietly. “Everything’s here.”

Aria lowers her head to Ewan’s shoulder. “Your little girl will be proud of you,” she says, and it stabs me right in the heart. “Both of you.”

Kade’s chin dimples as he holds in his emotions. His eyes go red, and he fights against the sound threatening to leave his throat before nodding and going through the rest of the box.

The Greatest Showmanlive theatre tickets – our first date that led to our first time; all the little pieces of memorabilia we collected – they’re all here. And now we have time to fill it with more memories.

Kade takes my hand, curling his fingers around it, linking us. “We’ll stay here for a few more days, like you suggested,” he says to Aria, “then we’ll need to tell everyone we’re alive.”

The world still thinks we’re dead, and Nora hasn’t once tried to arrange a funeral for me. It was Kade’s family who was doing itall. Kyle was in contact with them too.

He knows I’m here – he’s flying home in three days.

“There’s something else you should know,” Aria says, glancing at Ewan. “I think you should tell them.”

He sighs and rubs his face. “Giana is pregnant.”

Me and Kade frown before he asks, “What?”

Ewan nods, his eyes on the wall behind us. “She said it’s Jason’s, but we won’t know until we get tests done. She swears there wasn’t anyone else. I’ll use my DNA and see if there’s a match.”

“Did Jason know?”

He shakes his head. “She found out the day after the funeral.”

Jason told me they were trying to work on their relationship, but I had no idea they’d slept together.

Kade’s hold on my hand tightens. “When is the baby due?”

“In four months,” Ewan replies, getting to his feet. “She doesn’t want it to get out because of how crazy things are though. The last thing she wants is the media bombarding them.”

“But we’re allowed to be in the kid’s life?”

“Of course – once everything dies down anyway.”

“Right,” is all Kade replies. He’s blinking, his right eye twitching, and I run my thumb over his hand.

Milo and Hopper nudge their noses against Kade’s leg, and he pats them, scratching their ears, then turns to look at me. “Can we go back to bed?”

I nod. “Of course,” I reply, knowing he needs to just lie and cuddle and talk. “We can put a movie on.”

As we walk up the stairs, Kade’s phone buzzes in his pocket. He takes it out and sees it’s Barry. “Please tell me you haven’t killed Base and he’s safely on the flight?”

“We’re surrounded,” he says, and we both stop on the stairs. “They ambushed us on the way to Sebastian’s manor.” We can hear yelling in the background, faint sirens and Base swearing. “We’re in the car. The police have us surrounded, and they’re aiming right at Sebastian. I can see on their database right now. They have warrants out for your arrest, and Sebastian’s, and details on your location. I suggest you run before they come for you.”

We’re frozen in place as we hear more yelling – Base telling the police to go fuck themselves – before Barry clears his throat. “I’m sorry, Boss.”

The call cuts out just as we hear a door being thrown open and more yelling – they’re being ordered to get out with their hands behind their heads.

Kade keeps the phone pressed to his ear, his eyes wide.

“What about the protection order?” I ask, panicked. “We need to leave.”

Aria and Ewan run to the bottom of the stairs. “What’s going on? Sebastian is on the news. They arrested him live on TV.”

While I rush to the bedroom and pull out clothes for us both, I somehow repeat everything to Aria and Ewan. She cries and grabs Kade as he silently walks in, but he’s still not speaking – expressionless.