Page 68 of The Sweetest Cruelty: Hudson (A Sawyer Brothers Story #1)

MOLLY

“Happy birthday, baby,” Hudson whispered, handing me a pale blue velvet jewellery box. It was my seventeenth birthday. We had rented a beach house on Block Island, a place Hudson used to visit with his grandparents. He had good memories there, and we had all invested in adding to those.

I glanced up the beach to where Ma Sawyer, my father, Phoenix, Reed, and Harper were all sitting around a small campfire. It was August, and the sun had only just started to set. The place was idyllic.

Hudson had taken me away from the group to give me my surprise gift, and we were sitting on rocks near the ocean.

I opened the box with a smile. Inside was a delicate gold chain with an M pendant attached. It was so pretty and unique, and my heart swelled against my chest.

“It was my mother’s,” Hudson explained softly.

I touched the delicate initial with my fingers and lifted my chin as Hudson said. “I’m sorry they didn’t find the pendant your mother bought you.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s beautiful, Hudson and I love it.” I still felt the loss of my Tree of Life chain, but knew I needed to move on.

Hudson removed the necklace and shoved the box into the pocket of his boardshorts. “It’s the only thing I have left of her. And I knew she would want you to have it,” my boyfriend confessed as I lifted my hair.

“Do you think so?”

“My mother would have loved you, Molly. Just like I do.”

Hudson placed it around my neck and fastened the clasp. I had lost my Tree of Life necklace when I was kidnapped last year, and the pendant was the perfect replacement.

I had seen it in the box of his father’s belongings, which we collected from the prison that day. It had been damaged, and he must have had it restored.

It had taken Hudson weeks to build up the courage to open the box with his father’s belongings.

We had done so together. It contained paperwork, some old photos, and the pendant.

The only other thing left by his father had been money.

No letter of apology, nothing. Hudson said he would have found it hard to move on if his father had begged forgiveness.

So, even without that, for his sanity, Hudson forgave Callum Gage for all his wrongdoings.

It was the only way he had been able to set himself free.

Then there was the money.

Of the sixteen thousand dollars sent by cheque from Callum Gage’s account, Hudson had used some of the money to square things with Creed's organisation. He had arranged this even though Anton Creed was serving time. Hudson explained that he never wanted to owe anyone anything. So, he paid his brother’s debt.

The stolen drugs were, of course, impounded and used against Creed during his trial.

We all knew his son Xander would be out soon, having been given a reduced sentence. But as far as we were concerned, all debts were paid, and the slate was now clean. And we would never have anything to do with that organisation ever again.

That was the plan anyway.

The rest was donated to the Seven Seas Foster Agency, the institute responsible for Hudson, Phoenix, Reed, and Micah finding Ma and slowly becoming the boys who would be defined as the Sawyer brothers. And of course, little Harper, who wasn’t so little now.

Under Ma’s wing, the Sawyer family coming together was a testament to love, resilience, remarkable strength, and commitment. She created a safe and nurturing environment where the boys could heal and thrive. And they did.

There were still wrinkles to iron out in the ranks, but they all grew stronger each day.

Hudson had moved on so much since then. We both had. I wasn’t at the stage of forgiving Jack Robinson for his part in my mother’s death, but I didn’t blame him every day. That shit rotted your insides. Hudson was gradually helping me come to terms with what happened.

Hudson and I were now stronger than ever. We were in love and excited for our future.

Hudson, Phoenix, Reed, and Storm would all start college in September, and Harper and I remained at Harbor Heights. I would be a senior and she a junior. Micah had left Rhode Island for college in New York after being awarded an academic scholarship. Who would have thought it?

We were a tight unit now, with Ma and my father being the crutches that supported us.

Life wasn’t always perfect, but these things took time .

But, as this was our story, Hudson and I were in love, and nothing could break the bond that cemented us.

We had been two tortured souls who had found each other.

And I, for one, couldn't wait to see what the future held.

THE END