Page 49 of Fractured Heart

“No. Don’t you do that. None of what happened that night is your fault. Do you hear me? Our baby paid the price for my father and your uncle's greed. Xander had no idea I was pregnant and it doesn't change the hideous thing he did but I get why he did it. I’m at peace with it, Wave. God needed another angel so he took the best. I will see my baby again when I get to the pearly gates and… you will see yours as well.”

Pain explodes in my chest. I slam my eyes closed and try to breathe through it. “I named him Laiken Knoxville Bronson, after you and Knox,” I choke out.

“Oh, Wave.” She cries as we hold each other, tears trailing down my cheeks.

“He was so beautiful, Lake. He had a button nose and the most angelic face.”

“I’m sorry I never got to meet my nephew.”

“He was born sleeping.” I can’t bear to tell her the rest. I may have told Trey and Xander but I will never tell another living soul.

“God must have needed another angel.”

“I needed him more.” I sob. “I was fine, I could take everything they did to me and compartmentalize it, they were hurting Doxy not Waverly. I kept Wave safe. But that all changed the day Waverly gave birth, she died with her son and Doxy took over. Doxy feels nothing. She’s strong, doesn’t need anyone, she just wants them all to fucking pay for what they took from her!”

“Doxy became your savior, she was your redemption, she is your superpower.”

“My what?”

“Becoming Doxy Da Luca is what saved you. She gave you the power you needed to survive hell, she brought you to the other side and kept you whole while your world was falling apart. You gave your alter ego a name so it would help you process but make no mistake, you are Doxy but you are also Waverly Bronson.”

“I don’t know how to be Waverly again,” I answer truthfully. “I haven’t been her in years. Xander has tried to push me to be her?—”

“Because he fell in love with Waverly Bronson.”

“Trey has never pushed me to be her?—”

“Because he is in love with Doxy Da Luca.” The twinkle of mischief in her eye has me wanting to groan but I refrain.

“Can you stop acting like you aren’t loving my misery?”

“Oh, I do not love hearing about your past at all but I do want to hear every single detail about you, Trevante and Xander. You have those boys eating out of the palm of your hand.”

I scoff. “There is nothing to tell, we fuck and that’s it.”

“Oh, that is a load of crocodile shit!” I scrunch my face.

“Who the fuck says crocodile shit?” She waves me off.

“I have a five-year-old son who is obsessed with them and thinks Knox and I are rude because we won’t buy him a pet croc for his birthday.” A smile scratches across my face as I picture what their sons must look like. “Axlyn is a plague. Rave lulled Knox and me into thinking kids were easy, he was such a good baby so we had another. Ax has put us off having more children.” Laughter bursts out of me. “I’m not kidding, I love being pregnant and going through labor but I don’t have it in me to raise another mini Knox. These boys have a complex, and it’s all their father’s fault!”

“I want to meet them,” I blurt out, her eyes soften immediately. “I-if… that’s okay?”

Anger flashes through her eyes. “Don’t you ever for a fucking second think that it wouldn’t be okay. You never have to ask to see your nephews.”

“Thank you.”

“I missed you,” she whispers brokenly as her eyes begin to fill with tears again. I clasp her hand in mine and place a kiss to the back of it.

“I missed you too.” She sniffles and tries to smile but fails. “I never thought I would feel a semblance of Waverly inside me again but just hearing your voice had her spurring to life. I’ve felt nothing for years, Lake, not since my son died.”

“I will be by your side as you face your demons, I will never leave you.”

I hope she means that because I have more demons than Lucifer does in his army.

Trevante

“How long do you think they can stay holed up in that room?” Taylan asks from the back seat. I rub my jaw and stare at the hotel in front of me as I answer.

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