Page 71 of The Revenge Plan

“Um, he died. They think he committed suicide. I guess what you want has happened.”

He looked dumbfounded. “No.” He crossed over to where I was standing in a few steps and took me into his arms.

“There’s no need for this,” I said into his shirt.

“He was your father. It’s okay to cry.” I didn’t want to, I was sure I would not cry, but I ended up feeling my face become wet as tears fell down. He held me like that as I poured out tears into his chest. It was a long while before I felt I could let go of him.

“Thank you for that,” I said between sniffs. I made my way to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my apartment.” He took my hand and drew me back into his arms. “You don’t have to sleep alone tonight.” When I widened my eyes, he added, “Not like that. You can even take the other bedroom if you want.” I tried to parse his intentions. He seemed genuine. Then I looked at the pots of food on the stove. It looked like he was cooking for more than one. “Don’t you have company? I wouldn’t want to be in the way?” I said as I tried to clamp down the beast of jealousy roaring inside me. He frowned, and followed my gaze and then grinned, “Oh. Th-hat’s all for me. We can share if you want some.”

“All of that?”

He nodded.

“I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”

“You wouldn’t be. Come on.” I was feeling hungry again. It must be the lack of food for the last few months that brought on this new hunger. And probably the pregnancy too. I followed him to the kitchen. He took the stew off the stove and poured it into a large bowl while I took out two plates.

We ate in silence. The food was nice, warm and tasted as good as everything he made. I also could not help thinking about my father.

It still felt surreal. He was gone. I couldn’t believe it. There was something about him that had felt immortal until now. It was odd that he was no longer there. I had to settle with that feeling now. I also had to admit that I felt like a heavy log lifted off me.

After we ate, we went over to the couch. Caiden brought a glass of wine for himself and a cup of hot cocoa for me. We sat drinking our respective drinks in comfortable silence. He drew me closer to him until I was splayed over his left side. He cradled me and his hand went over my hip. I felt a warmth creep over me as his scent filled my nostrils. I could stay like this forever.

I must have slept, because when I woke up, I was in his bed and it was morning. I was still in my clothes. The tightness of the bra reminded me I hadn’t taken it off for too long. Caiden was sleeping next to me and the sheet partially covered his shirtless body. He looked both innocent and a tempting devil; it was difficult not to stare at him.

Slowly, making sure that I wouldn’t be heard, I lifted the sheet and got my feet onto the ground. My shoes were nowhere to be found. I tiptoed out of the room and went downstairs. There, I found my phone on the couch and my shoes next to it. I got out of the apartment.

45

Iwoke up to an empty bed. I shouldn’t have thought of it as peculiar since this had been the norm for the past months until I remembered Hailey had slept next to me. Her essence was still present, even though I knew she had gone. We had done little talking yesterday. She had slept beside me like a baby.

As she laid there cradled beside me, she felt as if she belonged there. As if she was a part of me. When I took her upstairs, I never thought of taking her to the guest bedroom. Sleeping next to her had felt like the most natural thing in the world. I had to admit that seeing the empty bed this morning brought a feeling of emptiness. I shut those thoughts.

I got out of bed and checked my messages. There were a bunch of them. Most were from business partners and friends. Some were offering condolences. A few were from Ax. He sent me a coffin emoji, a witch emoji and a bell emoji.Ding dong, the witch’s dead.Huh. Very funny. I was about to throw the phone on the bed when I saw a missed call from Fred.

I called him back.

“What is it?”

“You won’t believe what I’ve found. I wasn’t sure if I should send it to you because of what happened with your in-laws and all.” I thought it funny that he cared about them when he knew I was investigating the entire lot.

“What did you find?”

“It’s regarding your wife and your brother, in a way.”

My heart fell. I went back and forth on whether I wanted to hear it. What could he say that would change things? The worst was out in the open, anyway.

“What is it?” My phone beeped. There was an incoming call. I checked it. It was Ax.

“Can I call you back later? I have another call coming in.” I hung up and took Ax’s call.

“What is it?”

“Did you hear the news? Of course you did. He’s fucking dead!”

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