Page 84 of Vengeful Secret

Part of me wanted to tell Da that if it were up to me, we would have been married five years ago, but I didn’t want to bring that up. I don’t want them looking into it, realizing that she’d lied to me.

Surely, they must suspect, but they don’t seem to care. I still don’t want to draw attention to it.

Sutton puts her head on my chest and as I close my eyes, I just hope that I can protect and love her forever.

23

SUTTON

It’s beena few days since the attack, and I can’t say that I’m over it, that I don’t still wake up sweating and with an unheard scream in my throat, but it’s better.

Gray makes it better. The gun range, everything he says, everything he does. How he holds me at night, helps me put Ciara to bed. I can’t help but feel like this is what it would have been like if I had told him all those years ago.

If I hadn’t run.

The guilt feels heavy in my chest when I see him with Ciara.

He’s humming and brushing her hair as I watch from the doorway, biting my lip.

“Maybe I shouldn’t go to the dinner party. Maybe I’ll stay here with you two.”

Gray looks up at me with a frown. “Lara will be devastated, Sutton. Besides, you’re with us every night. You deserve some time to cut loose.”

Do I?

But I don’t say it. I know Gray will just tell me I’m being ridiculous.

I suppose this is giving him time alone with Ciara, though, and he deserves that, too.

I’m dressed in a pair of high-waisted pants with a crop top which I’d usually feel insecure about, but it’s only the girls. Paige, Bree, Lara, and a few of their friends.

I’ve also invited Sarah and Rose. Marisa is unable to attend because she’s out of town at her sister’s wedding.

I am excited to see my friends. It seems like years ago we were all out at the bar and I saw Gray for the first time in five years, but it’s really only been weeks.

Everything just seems so different now than it was then. I’m not alone anymore.

I kiss Ciara’s cheek and then plant a little kiss on the corner of Gray’s mouth. He makes a displeased sound in the back of his throat and grabs the back of my head, kissing me deeply and making me a little dizzy.

I pull away, and Ciara giggles.

“Mushy stuff.”

But she’s smiling, and I know she’s happy as a clam that Gray is her father. She loves her new family, and I feel like a jerk for keeping them apart for so long.

But guilt isn’t what I should be focusing on right now. I should be concentrating on being with my friends, forgetting all my troubles.

So, I give the two loves of my life a little wave and head downstairs, where people are starting to trail into the house.

There’re a few women I don’t recognize, and Paige begins to introduce me.

My head is spinning at all the names—Sophie, Raquel, a couple of others.

I feel a bit overwhelmed, so I’m over the moon when Rose and Sarah walk in the door, looking around like they’re in a spaceship instead of a mansion.

“This place isinsane,” Rose says in awe as Sarah hugs me tightly.

“You never told me your boyfriend was a bazillionaire,” Sarah whispers in my ear, and I chuckle.

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