Page 48 of Vengeful Secret

She hums. “I thought he might be a prince.”

I chuckle. “A prince?”

“Yeah. He kind of looks like one.”

“Don’t I know it,” I mutter, drying off her hair and making her giggle by pretending to pop her with the wet towel. “Get on the bed.”

“I’m sleeping in your bed?” she asks incredulously, and I laugh.

“Yeah, for this vacation. Unless you want your own room.”

“I could have my own room?” She gasps. “With my own bed?”

“With your own bed,” I agree, but she climbs up on top of the bed anyway.

“I think I’ll sleep with you at least tonight.” She yawns. “Will you tell me a story about a prince?”

“What kind of prince?”

“A prince named… Green.” She giggles.

I roll my eyes, but I’m smiling, and I tell a story about a prince named Green who takes a little girl out on a hayride.

She’s snoozing halfway through the story, and I trail off, lying down next to her, exhausted.

I look up at the ceiling, wondering if I’ll fall asleep at all tonight.

Gray is clearly upset with me, and we will tell Ciara the truth, I just want to discuss the details with him first, and he misunderstood my intentions. My fault for putting all of us in this position and breaking his trust.

“Mama, what happens next?”

A mother never sleeps, I guess.

I continue the made up story about prince Green and the hayride, wondering how our own story will unfold.

14

GRAY

I headdown to the gym, needing to get out some of my frustration. I’m surprised to see Kael there, also working out, punching the standing bag.

“Sorry,” he mutters. “You want some privacy?”

I shake my head, but I don’t say anything.

My emotions are all over the place right now, and I can’t let them out. I need to be in control. I’m the de-facto leader, so breaking down is not an option.

But I’m not in the mood to put on the front that I usually put on.

I hop on the treadmill, turning it up to ten and running as fast as I can. I lose myself in the run but at the end, I stumble, and Kael shouts, grabbing me to keep me from flying off the treadmill.

“Fuck.” I jump up and down to try and shake out my muscles.

“What’s going on with you?”

I shake my head. “Nothing I can talk about.”

I keep my big emotions under control. I need to be in charge of everything. People are depending on me.

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