Page 14 of All for her Forgiveness

"Are you sure about that?"

"Get to the point, Ares!"

"I know that while Juliet was on the run, missing, or whatever it was, you went to New Orleans trying to find her because you thought she was hiding there."

"Yes."

"But you kept going even after she fell into a coma. Why?"

"I don't know. Something drew me to that city."

"But you never sought out her protector, the neighbor."

"How do you know that?"

"New Orleans, no, the whole of Louisiana, belongs to Beau, Hades. Not a leaf falls on that state's ground without him knowing. You never approached Ernest Wich, although I suspect you were going to the city seeking answers."

"I don't know why I kept going. As I said, something drew me there."

"Something?"

"I don't have a logical explanation to give you."

"Why did you keep going to the hometown of the woman you swear you hate, Hades?" he presses, and I finally explode.

"Because in my head, she's still Kennedy! Even though I know she's an accomplice to a murder, in my head, she's still my Kennedy, damn it!"

"Brother—”

"I hate her for what she did, and yet I'm crazy about her. I'm going to send the woman who helped kill Pam to jail, Ares, but at the same time I’ll be condemning the woman I know is the only one for me, because I fell in love with Kennedy the first damn day I saw her."

I don't realize I've punched the mirror until I see my blood dripping on the shards at my feet.

Neither of us moves. Ares says nothing, perhaps finally understanding the hell I've been living in for years.

"I'm going to ask you a question, and I need an honest answer. Is there any chance you might have gotten Juliet pregnant, Hades?"

"What?"

"The reason they not only granted her bail but also allowed her to leave the state of Massachusetts is that Juliet has a two-year-old son. A boy."

Kennedy

CHAPTER SIX

Days later

Gardening has becomea way to control my anxiety. I've been reading a lot about babies—yes, I still refer to King that way, even though he's a toddler now—and I've learned that they absorb everything we feel. Children are sensitive and capable of picking up on our emotions, so to avoid obsessively hovering over him even while he sleeps, which is the case now, I divide my attention between researching the criminal case I'm facing, taking care of my boy, and gardening.

The uncertainty about every aspect of my life has stolen my sleep.

The fear of not being able to raise my son tops the list of my nightmares, but there are other enormous fears as well, like finding out that Hades Kostanidis is his father when I don't even remember us having a relationship.

What will become of my little boy, whose mother, aside from possibly being convicted, is hated by his father?

What if it's proven that Hades is King's father, but he still denies his own son?

I don't realize I'm gripping a flower's thorn until blood starts dripping from my finger, staining the pink petals.

---