SWNOVELS Chapter 73
Chapter 73
Deep down, I know the choice isn’t his. But I weep bitter tears
ar
anyway.
Next to me, I feel Kent slump in his seat. I turn to look at him then and see him looking out the window then, more pensive than I had expected. I stare at him, at his stark profile against the light of the window. He doesn’t move or say anything, so I suppose he lets
me look my fill
He hangs his head, then, letting out a sigh. And, shocked, I note
that the lines of his face match Daniel’s. He feels guilt as well.
The next morning, I just laid in my bed and stare at the ceiling for
a long, long time. I skip breakfast and no one comes up to get me,
which has never happened before. I guess they’re giving me my
space. I’m grateful, I suppose, but overall…I just don’t really care.
Things moved quickly last night after we got home. The three of
us spent the rest of the ride in silence, but when we arrived at the
house everyone was expecting us.
Fiona had made a beeline right for me – not even asking how Kent
was doing. Instead, she had wrapped her arms around me and
bustled me upstairs as Kent got himself patched up and Daniel –
well, I didn’t really know what Daniel did. Or care.
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She had rushed me right to my room and run a bath for me, stripping me of my clothes while I continued shaking. Then she helped me to step into the hot water and sit down.
“That’s all right, baby Fay,” she murmured to me, using a cup to pour water over my head like a little kid. “Shh, baby,” she continued. “You’ll be all right.”
I had noticed, passively, that the water turned a little pink from the blood washing off of me. Not my blood, of course. Kent’s. I
couldn’t help staring at it.
2/4
After a long time, when the water was growing cool, Fiona helped me out, bundled me into warm flannel pajamas – too warm for the spring, but so, so comfortable against my skin- and then tucked me into bed. Before she left, she opened a cabinet in the corner
that holds a television and put on some mindless reality show at
extremely low volume.
“So you don’t have to sit in silence,” she whispered to me, kissing
me on the head. Then, intuiting that I wanted to be alone, she left.
I fell asleep, gratefully, almost immediately. A few times in the night I got the sense that I woke up a little to someone peeking through my door, probably checking on me, but no one bothered
- me.
It’s almost noon before someone does. I sit up when I hear the door creak open. I rub my eyes, expecting to see Daniel or Fiona there, or the housekeeper, or the chef- and get the shock of my
Chapter 73
life when I see Kent Lippert standing in my door.
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He’s dressed casually in a fine camel–colored sweater and black slacks. I’ve never seen him wear anything but a suit, I don’t think. “Come on, Fay,” he says, stern but not unkind. “That’s enough.”
I sink back into my pillows a little, resenting his command, giving him a little glare.
To my surprise again – he laughs at me. “Don’t pout at me, girl,”
– me.” he says, leaning against my door frame. “It won’t work.”
He nods to someone behind him in the hallway – the
housekeeper, apparently, who brings in a tray of food and a stack
of clothing. As she brings the tray closer, I sniff the air greedily
at the scent of blueberry muffins. I’m shocked to find that I’m
ravenous.
“Good,” Kent says, watching me pick a muffin off the try and bite into it eagerly. He nods to the clothes. “I’ll see you downstairs in -twenty minutes. Wear your boots.”
I stare at him for a second, considering, and then I nod.
Boots. Boots means horses. I look towards the pile of clothing at the edge of my bed as the housekeeper leaves silently. Riding
gear.
Well, he’s certainly found my weak spot. There’s nothing, really, that could get me out of bed today except for Heathcliff.
Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Father
1/3
Chapter 74