Page 95 of The Plan

“Don’t. Don’t make empty promises, Sire. Not again.”

I look between her eyes, and I know she’s talking about the last time I made that exact promise and broke it. I reach forward and take her hand in mine. “It’s not an empty promise. When we get back, I’m going to explain everything to you.” We hold each other's gaze for what feels like forever. She reluctantly pulls away, and I feel my heart sink.

She opens her mouth to say something, but I speak before she does. “Don’t say no.” I probably sound desperate, but I am because I don’t want to be apart from her anymore.

“Sire…”

“Let me explain what really happened, then you can think about it, okay? Sleep on it before giving me your answer about us.” I shrug my shoulders, and she gives me a weak smile and nods her head. I try not to read too much into it, but a part of me knows her answer, and I’m going to have to do a lot more than some lanterns to change her mind. I just hope my explanation will be a good start.

“Here, let me get her.”I take Isa from Vid as we step into the elevator. I thought all of those sweets would give her a sugar rush, but she was out like a light as soon as I put her into the car.

With my hands full, Vid takes my keys, and she opens my apartment door for us. My alarm goes off, and Vid flips the pad open. “What’s the code?”

“0614.” She goes to put it in but freezes and looks back over at me. “Like the date? June fourteenth?” She’s looking at me like she can’t tell if I’m joking, but she doesn’t comment about the code being her birthday.

“You have ten seconds before it alerts the cops.” She has more time than that, but I don’t want her to confront me for that being my code after all these years. It’s just easy to remember.

I walk into my room, quickly change Isa into her pajamas, and lay her on my bed. When I walk back into the living room, Vid is on her phone.

“Did you see this?” I walk up to her to get a better look at her phone. I roll my eyes at the entire article claiming I’ve been spotted withtheVidia Gomez and hints about us allegedly dating.

“The media is so annoying.” Vid agrees but then starts to worry that Jackson will be upset about his kid being all over social media.

“I doubt he’d be pissed. He knows how the media is. It’s not really our fault.” She nods to herself, and I turn to her. “I was serious earlier, Vid. I want to talk about what happened between us.”

She turns to me but immediately looks back down at her phone. “I’m tired, Sire. Can we—”

“No.” I cut her off, and she looks surprised, but the minute I see her guard come up, I grab her hand to keep her from running. “Just hear me out.” I don’t give her a chance to reply or run as I start.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Vidia

Four Years Earlier

Do you think this matches?”I tie the top of my bikini and turn to Sire. His eyes scan my body before he nods slowly.

“Do those not go together?”

“Uh uh.” I turn to the mirror, trying to decide if I like how my bathing suit looks. I couldn’t find the bottoms for my pink top; I think I packed them, so I just paired my white bottoms with pink flowers, and I think it’s fine, so whatever.

Sire comes from behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist as he leans in to kiss my neck. “You look good, but your whole ass is out in these.” He tugs the bottom of my bikini, and I place my hand over his.

“Is that bad?” I tease, and I feel him smirk against my neck.

“I’m not complaining.” I laugh softly as he rubs my butt. I turn my head in the mirror and rub my hand down my stomach. Iknow I gained a bit of weight, but I can’t tell if that’s why I look weird or my mismatched bikini.

Sire looks up at me in the mirror and then moves my hand from my belly. He looks at me from head to toe one more time before turning me so I’m facing him. I watch him as he leans forward, kissing my stomach softly.

“What was that for?”

“You were looking at yourself weird.” He kisses my belly again, and I try my hardest to fight back a smile. “Beautiful.” He picks his head back up and kisses my forehead.

I wrap my arms around him, and he rests his chin on the top of my head. “I love you.” I let out a sigh and look up at him, gazing into his eyes.

I love you too, and I’m sorry I can’t bring myself to tell you.He stares at me like he really is in love with me, but he doesn’t look like he’s waiting for me to say it back.

I love that most about him, how patient he is with me, how he doesn’t expect anything from me. I smile at him, still getting used to him telling me he loves me, still trying to believe him.

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