Page 28 of Falling Into Forever
“Yeah, Unca?” Geez, she’s sweet.
“Who is taking your picture?”
“My fans,” she says, showing off perfect little baby teeth. “I’m a pwincess.”
“What?” Dante growls. He rubs his hand roughly through his hair, and I get the sense he’s trying not to rip it right out of his head. “Yeah, sweetpea. About them, ah, I need to talk to your mom again.”
“Okay. I is making cookies with Granny now.”
“Love you, sweet girl.”
She leans forward and places a big, wet kiss on the screen. He lifts two fingers to it and holds them there.
I watch silently as she jumps up like the world doesn’t suck, and a woman who could get away with never wearing a drop of makeup fills the screen while wiping the little girl’s kisses away.
“Do you hang out with anyone who isn’t ready for a magazine cover?”
Dante’s unexpected laugh has me snapping my lips shut. Crap. I said that out loud.
Awesome. At least it’s true. This woman is effortlessly beautiful.
“It’s not a big deal,” the woman says as she finishes cleaning the screen.
“Lena! It is a big deal. This is disrupting her entire childhood and your lives. Can you even work?”
“Dante.” Something about this woman’s tone is so soothing that even the flutter in my chest is calmer. “We got them to back off the property, and Dad’s got the gates closed again. We’ll lay low until this all blows over.”
She masterfully avoids the question about work.
“What if it doesn’t?” His concern stunts his words.
“Then you’ll come up with another plan, like you do for everything else, or I’ll find a new normal.”
My mind swirls with words again. Plans. Plot twists that connect my story with Dante’s life. No matter how hard I try to separate them, they keep swirling into one connected story.
“What if I can’t fix this?” His voice is hollow, and there’s no arrogance left—only fear and blinding love.
This is Dante Thompson, and he couldn’t be more different from the Dante splayed across the tabloids for the last few years.
He’s going to make this so freaking hard simply by being himself.
“You will,” Lena says gently. “And if you don’t, we’ll still figure it out like we always do. But…”
“I know. I should have listened when you said something was off with Trent. For fuck’s sake, Lena. You’ve been my best friend since the day I arrived in California. I should have listened to you.” That bit of information is a slap across the face. Did he replace me that quickly? “I’m sorry, Lena.”
“Stop apologizing for things you couldn’t control. The bigger issue you need to address is that Trent got at least some of your clients to turn on you, so how will you find out what employees he’s turned too?”
Suddenly his problems seem so much bigger than mine. I was the only one to feel the repercussions when I lashed out. Dante has people depending on him.
Loneliness wraps its cold fingers around me, and I shiver like I’ll never be warm again.
His heavy sigh eats up the silence. “It could be the entire team. I don’t know who to trust, Lena. But I’m countering his move before he can do more damage.”
“Um,” I interrupt because even when I’m trying not to get attached, I’m still a nosy asshole. “How do you know your team was involved?”
“Dante?” Lena asks, and he swirls the camera toward me.
“Lena, this is Saylor. Oh shit.” He smacks a hand to his forehead. “I mean Sassy. This is Sassy Thompson,theauthor.”
