Page 19 of The Burnt Heart

“You had to keep it between just you three, but that isn’t true, is it?” Bitterness effused her features. “Someone else knew about it, and sure loved rubbing it in my face.”

She leaned in and looked intently at Briar, expecting a response. His tousled hair shifted to the side as he met her gaze, revealing the dark marks on his face illuminated by the overhead lights of the office.

“I-I’m so sorry Adelaide. I fucked up. On Friday, I had too much to drink. I don’t even remember half the night,” he admitted, ashamed.

“I wish I had the luxury of forgetting. I would love to wipe the moment that worm mocked me for my inability to have children. But I can’t. Did you forget about telling her that, too? What other secrets of mine did you whisper into her greedy ears?”

Briar let her words hit him like blows. Wincing at her tone, sharp as a whip.

“I know what it must have looked like, and I regret bringing her at all. I wasn’t thinking. But Nicole is nothing to me but a friend, an old friend. I slipped into old patterns and confided in her a few months ago when stress was eating me up. She was there when I needed someone to talk to, and I didn’t think it was hurting anyone. I love you, Adelaide. You are the only one I want. Jesse and Logan told me she said I wanted out of this relationship. She lied. I don’t know why she said it. I adore you. Only you and I would never choose to give up what we have.”

Adelaide scoffed, slumping back into her seat. There was a shade of vulnerability as her lip quivered, but she clamped down on it with her teeth and her chest moved with deep breaths.

“Except that you did. And I’ll tell you why she lied,Bry.” She rolled her eyes while Briar flinched, cheeks becoming pallid. “Because you might think of her as a friend, but she certainly doesn’t think of you that way. I warned you, I pleaded with you about her, and you discounted me. She shouldn’t have been thereif you listened to anything I had to say. But you didn’t. You put my wants and needs aside. Just like you all did with this ridiculous bargain you made. You could have used my money for your gym, but you made a deal with a devil.”

I looked at Jesse again, begging him wordlessly to tell her about when he’d been attacked. About the threats and the ultimatum her father had given us. But instead, he let his temper whip out.

“A devil you are associating with now, and his son Ray?” Jesse’s eyes flashed with barely restrained fury. Adelaide raised her eyebrows.

“Unlike you, I know what kind of danger Harold Donato is. He was going to be my father-in-law once upon a time, you know,” she reminded us, and I seethed in my seat. I didn’t like the reminder that Adelaide had nearly not been ours. If Ray Donato hadn’t rejected her, they’d be married now. I would have been deprived of the other half of my heart.

“How can we make this right, Adelaide?” Briar begged in a choking voice, sounding utterly broken.

“You broke my heart like it was nothing. Before humiliating me on Friday night with your schemes. It isn’t enough to walk in here and say sorry, it was all a ploy and expect me to fall into your arms.” She shook her head like she couldn’t believe the audacity. A chill went through me, a frigid sense of foreboding. She wasn’t going to take us back. She was already scrubbing the memory of us from her life, the artwork, the photos, and clothes.

“Siren, you are the most precious thing in my life. I love you more than anything,” I gagged on the emotion and fear clogging my senses. Panic clawed at my insides. Adelaide shook her head, her lashes rimmed with glistening tears.

“You love me, but you want to leave? Why did you never talk to me, Logan? Never once have you spoken to me about wanting to travel for your photography. I thought the gym was your dream.” Her voice was so small that I wanted to vault over the desk and take her in my arms, but I knew she wouldn’t allow it. Adelaide was guarded when hurt, and right now her shields were all the way up. How could I tell her the reason I was so desperate for our business idea to succeed? I understood why Jesse didn’t want to tell her. She was furious with us. If we told her about the threats, she might think it was us trying to manipulate her.

“Nicole made it sound like this burning desire I’d been swallowing, but it wasn’t like that. Yes, I wanted to experience other places, but not at the expense of what we have in Greenich Bay. You are the most important thing to me, you, and the life we’ve built here together,” I pleaded with her to listen. But she shook her head again, not willing to hear the sincerity of my words. I rued the day I confided in Briar and Jesse about my wanderlust, about wanting to travel and take photos. It had been a distant dream for the future, something that had never quite been in our grasp. Not with what Antoni kept threatening us with. Somehow, that innocent musing for the future had turned into a secret betrayal Adelaide was using to sever our connection. She turned to Jesse and a little sob escaped her. He didn’t have my resolve. Racing around the desk to fall to his knees.

“Please, please, we can work through this. I can’t imagine my life without you. I love you. So much, Adelaide,” he begged openly, pitifully, and Adelaide put her hands on his shoulder, keeping him from leaning too close to her. My chest ached at seeing him brought to the floor in regret.

“What about babies, Jesse? You lied to me. Somewhere deep inside you is the desire to be a dad, and I can’t wait around for that resentment to bubble to the surface. I can’t give it to you. You’ve known that for years. You deserve to have someone who can give you the family you always dreamed of.”

Jesse crushed his head to her knees, wrapping his arms around her legs. He babbled unintelligible words into her skin. I waited for him to tell her about the letter he received, but he didn’t.

“Stop, stop, I need you to stop now.” She pushed at his shoulders until he rocked back on his heels with his cheeks slick with tears.

“You’re my family,” Jesse continued in anguish. “You, Logan and Briar. Us. Together. That is the only family I have ever needed. I don’t care if I have a biological child. We can adopt. We have time to decide.” He was frantic now, fingers tightening on her knees while she looked up at the ceiling. For the first time, I saw the cracks she had been hell bent on masking. She hitched an uneven breath and glistening tears covered her cheeks. Rough swipes dashed them away.

“I don’t trust you.” Her words made me grunt with pain, cutting into me like a knife. “What other secret desires have you been holding inside that you’re too scared to talk to me about?” She cried, looking at each of us. “Nicole wasn’t wrong to assume you’d want to be with other people, Briar. I’ve only known you three, and you barely saw what was out there. I think you were right when you broke up with me. There could be someone else out there who loves only you and can give you what you want. I’m an Orazio. Greenich Bay will always be my home.” She directed that to me, and I winced at the torment shrouding her green eyes. Her gaze slid to Briar next.

“I can’t watch as you give someone else the things that should be mine. What you did with Nicole? You leaned on her and shared things that were none of her business. You call her a friend, but I can’t help but think deep down you wanted what she gave you. Flattered by the undivided attention. You won’t get that with me. I was clear from the very beginning that it would always be you three.” Briar looked like he’d been hit with a mallet, stunned into silence with his mouth agape.

“I can’t give you babies,” she choked as she looked down at Jesse and her tears dripped onto her dress.

“Siren, we can work this out. Don’t give up on us.” My throat was so tight I could barely breathe. She shook her head. Her tears slowly dried an empty nothingness replacing it.

“Last month was our anniversary. We were supposed to celebrate at Reds. Do you remember what happened?”

It felt like my world had suddenly been upturned and judging by the expressions on Briar and Jesse’s faces, they were feeling the same way.

“What? No—” Briar looked around as if waiting for one of us to refute the claim Adelaide was making. When we didn’t, he pulled his phone out with fumbling fingers and scrolled through until he froze. I couldn’t move. I didn’t even remember our anniversary? What could I have been doing that was so important?

“We-uh-we met with...” Briar couldn’t finish his sentence, his face drained of color. Adelaide gave an empty laugh.

“You mean Donato? You told me it was a work emergency when I could reach one of you. Another thing that wasn’t worth telling the truth about, I suppose. I sat waiting for you for an hour on my own. Does that sound like something worth fighting for, Logan? I think we’ve been rotting for a long time and one day you’ll look back on this moment and be happy I didn’t accept your apologies and set you free.”

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