Fractured Freedom(97)
“I can’t believe Cade just shows up at our bonfire like this.” She stomped behind me.
“I think Dante probably called him,” I pointed out.
She was on her own tangent. “And he’s deliberately acting like my babysitter lately just because I’m still working for the government. Like I’m not good enough to take care of myself.”
“Well, he probably wants to make sure you’re safe, considering you’re friends.”
“Colleagues. Definitely not friends,” she almost shouted at me, her eyes narrowed like she was ready to fight me about it.
“Noted,” I grumbled as I set the food down.
I would also be noting that she seemed extremely emotionally charged when it came to Cade. That was for damn sure.
When I saw Cade quietly step in from the porch, I pointed behind me, said, “Gotta go to the bathroom, Izzy,” and beelined it out of there.
Of course, as soon as I closed the door, I put my ear against it. I was a nosy twin sister and didn’t care at all.
I heard the whisper-yelling start immediately from Izzy. “Don’t sneak up on me in my parents’ house, Cade.”
“Hardly sneaking considering I stepped right in front of you.”
“Whatever. This is a family party. You shouldn’t even be here.”
“Technically, Dante’s family. Want to go as far as to say we’re related too?”
“Oh my God. You’re so annoying.”
“If you think I’m annoying, quit the damn job and start working in corporate America.”
“Those guys aren’t done. You and I both know it. The drugs are a fucking cover for nuclear warfare, and I’m helping to bring them down.”
“You’re digging where you shouldn’t be. And you’re not half as good at it as you think. I’ve tracked every fucking hack you’ve done.”
“Fuck off.” My sister sounded seething mad.
“If you get kidnapped, I’m leaving your ass with them.”
“Great. They’ll probably be better company than you anyway.”
“Say that again and try to mean it this time,” he growled.
Jesus, they hated each other on a whole other level. Or wanted each other on that level. I wasn’t sure if they could decipher the blurry line anymore.
I flushed the toilet, and when I reentered, they were both gone and my husband stood there smiling. “Ready, Lamb?”
I took his hand and nodded.
We took a private jet owned by the Armanellis straight to Puerto Rico where we then hopped on a private ferry to an island where the bioluminescent water supposedly showed up the brightest.
Dante paddled us out in a transparent kayak, just the two of us. Even with the night so dark it could almost suffocate you in blackness, the water lit up and shined an awe-inspiring blue, sparkling to the point that it seemed to light up the whole sea. It was that eerie darkness, so heavy with the unknown that could scare so many, that made the brilliant light possible.
I looked at my husband at the front of that boat and said, “We get the darkness and the pain before we get the light of our heaven, huh?”
“That baby is coming, Lilah. You can count on it.”
He was right.
Ten months later, I held our baby girl in our arms. She had her daddy’s eyes and my hair. We didn’t sleep for probably her whole first year with the way she screamed for me at night.
Dante had the audacity to sit up smiling with me as I breastfed and said, “Well, the nights are hell so we can have heaven with her all day.”
My wolf was right about that too.
The End