Page 89 of Three Little Wishes

“Just like you had no choice but to kidnap her? To steal her from us? She was four years old, and you stole her from the only family she knew. You traumatized her, and you traumatized us.”

“All I wanted was to spend some time with her but you wouldn’t let me. You treated me like a stranger. You acted as if I was going to hurt her. You wouldn’t even let me take her to the beach. You had to go with me.”

“Because she didn’t know you! I was trying to protect her, protect you.”

“You threatened me. You said you’d call the police. But she was my daughter!” Cami shook off the memories of Willow crying for her mother, refusing to eat. “I brought her back.”

“Yeah, three weeks later.”

“I signed the papers. I gave you custody, and did as you demanded. I stayed away from her, from you, Ma, and Eva. For twenty-five years, I stayed away.”

“You make it sound like you were a doting mother, but you abandoned her when she was four months old. You wanted to be a star. Well, you got your wish, Cami. So just leave us all the hell alone.”

“No. You’re wrong. I left her because I couldn’t look at her without being reminded of Will. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him in that car. I still do.”

“Cami—”

“It was my fault, Gia. I was with Will the night he died. The only reason he was on the road that night was because of me. He was tired. He didn’t want to drive, but I begged him to.”

“Cami, stop. You have to st—”

“I promised I’d stay awake and make sure he didn’t fall asleep at the wheel, but I didn’t keep my promise. I’m the reason he died, Gia. The boy I believed was Willow’s father died because of me. And I didn’t stay with him. I left him there, bleeding out on the side of—”

Someone gasped, and she turned her head. Riley stood staring at her with tears streaming down her pale face. Noah stood behind his sister, his hands resting on her shoulders, the expression on his face stone cold. Willow stood beside him sobbing into her hand.

Cami turned her horrified gaze on her sister. “You knew. You knew they were there all along.”

“I just wanted them to hear and see for themselves who you really are.” She shook her head. “But Cami, I didn’t know. I didn’t know about Will. I tried to stop you.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Willow stood in stunned silence, shocked by what Cami had just revealed. She didn’t know what to say, what to do.

“She’s a liar. You’re a liar!” Riley yelled. “You pretended to be my friend.”

“I wasn’t pretending, Riley,” Cami said, her expression shattered. “I care about you. I wouldn’t do anything to purposely hurt you.”

“You killed my uncle! You left him to die on the side of the road. You destroyed my family. You’re the reason my mother died.” Her voice broke on a sob, and she turned into Noah’s arms. “I want to go home. I want to leave.”

“Riley, honey.” Willow reached out to comfort her, but Noah moved his sister out of her reach.

“Noah?” Willow searched his face, and everything inside her froze.

His eyes were cold, his face hard and expressionless. “My sister’s right,” he said, turning that ice-cold gaze on Cami. “You destroyed our family. My mother was supposed to go to the concert that night with her brother. Because of you, she blamed herself for his death, and it haunted her. Because of you, my grandfather blamed himself for buying the carWill died in, and it haunted him. Because of you, my grandmother blamed him too, and their relationship was never the same. My mother was never supposed to take over the company. Will was, but because of you, he died, and my mother had to take over. Because of you, she died of a heart attack at fifty-two.”

“Noah!” Willow gasped. “You can’t believe that. It was an accident, a horrible accident, but that’s what it was. You can’t blame Cami for—”

“You’re going to defend her to me?”

He’d never spoken to her like that, even when he was Mercedes Man, and she knew, no matter how much she loved him or he loved her, they wouldn’t be able to get past this. But she had to try. She couldn’t lose him.

“We need to talk. Just us. You, me, and Riley. We can get—”

“No. I won’t let another Rosetti destroy our lives.”

“How can you say that to me after last night, after everything we’ve been through, after everything we’ve shared?”

“The day I walked into the station, what was it you said, ‘No man can resist a Rosetti when they have their mind set on something’?”