Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 120186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Elena only smiles, nodding. “I know. Come, we have appetizers laid out in the sitting room. Can I get you a drink?” The two of them link arms, chatting quietly on their way in.
Saint sneaks up behind me—I hear her before she links her arms around my waist and touches her chin to my shoulder. “Isn’t that amazing?” she whispers as we watch them.
For the second time today, a funny feeling comes over me. “I swear, I think I’m dreaming.” Kade looks like he agrees, shaking his head slightly before pursing his lips to let out a soft whistle.
“Then we’re having the same dream,” she decides. Maybe we are. I think we both deserve it. “Could you ever have imagined?”
I turn my head to look at her. Now it’s time for us to have a silent conversation of our own. No, I couldn’t have imagined. I would’ve been afraid to. There’s no way I could’ve known how much better my life could get, even if it took walking through hell to get here.
The front door opens with a bang. It’s Sawyer, and he seems upset about something. He relaxes when he sees the three of us standing here. “I forgot. Dinner.”
Calder steps in behind him, and he’s scowling, too. “What’s wrong?” Saint asks.
He shakes his head. “Not important. Everything’s fine.” Sawyer doesn’t look like it’s fine.
“Issues with someone who owes us money,” Sawyer grits out through clenched teeth. He’s the financial guy, so I guess that’s his area of expertise.
Calder gestures for Sawyer to join them, and the three of them walk into the sitting room together. Meanwhile, Kade crooks a finger at me. “Can you come with me for a minute?”
If he didn’t look troubled, I would think he’s beckoning me because he wants to be alone again. But it’s obvious when he leads me to a massive office in its own wing of the house that he’s got something on his mind that has nothing to do with sex. “What is it?” I ask, looking around the room. “Is this…”
“His throne.” He hesitates before touching his hand to the top of the chair positioned behind a huge desk. There’s still an indent in the leather left by Roman’s large body. “I don’t like coming in here, but Elena is getting used to it, so I think I can, too.”
I don’t even want to think about everything Roman put him through in this room. Not only him, but the whole family he ruled over like a tyrant. “Why are we in here now?”
“There’s something I wanted to give you.”
There’s an envelope on the desk—plain, unmarked. It might as well have a spotlight on it when he picks it up. “You can do whatever you want with this,” he explains. “But you deserve to know where you came from.”
My body starts buzzing, and the hair on my arms stands on end. “Is that…?” I whisper, but my throat is too tight to force out the rest. Somehow, my feet carry me across the room, and I hold out a hand.
“I figured you would want to know one day. You’d want more details about where you come from. It’s all there. I want you to feel...”
I swallow hard and take the envelope.
I could talk to Mom about it. Dredge up the past. We went over it once before, but I don’t think I need to rehash everything. Not when I know exactly where I belong.
My mom, Emma, kept me out of the system after my biological mom left, no matter how it happened. And she loves me as her own. She always has. She hasn’t always made the right choices, but she’s never treated me any less than her daughter.
I turn the envelope over in my hand without opening it, then fold and slide it into my purse. “I have their names now, and I’m sad and sorry to think of what happened to them,” I whisper with a heavy heart. “But I already have a certificate. It’s the one Mom had made for me when I was adopted. The name on it is Allie Porter. That’s my name, that’s who I am. I don’t need to be anyone else. I think everything turned out the way it was supposed to. And I think it’s up to us to decide what home and family really means.”
I reach out and take his hands, feeling the calluses which are just another part of him. They are a symbol of how hard he works. All the years he spent on this ranch, busting his ass to earn respect. I only hope that now, he finds peace, because he deserves it. “I think it’s time for us to build something new. Something for us. And we will. That’s all that matters.”
I see my whole world reflected in his eyes, so deep and dark, like windows to his soul. “I love you,” he murmurs. “I’m always going to love you. You’re the only person I can imagine building forever with.”