My father walks out of Leo’s office with his head held high despite his monumental loss. My brothers scowl at him until he foregoes the elevator and disappears down the emergency stairs exit, the banging of the door echoing across the waiting room.
“I’ll be in touch with the paperwork for the house.” Leo gives me a pat on the shoulder before shutting the door behind me.
My brothers turn to face me.
Rowan’s eyes brighten despite the flat line of his lips. “We were thinking about grabbing dinner if you’re down.”
“Sure. I’m starving.” I take a step toward the elevator, only to pause at Declan staring at the door my father left through.
“It’s really over,” he mutters under his breath.
Rowan claps him on the shoulder. “Don’t tell me you’re sad.”
“I’m just…” His lips press together.
“Disappointed?” I offer.
Both of my brothers turn to look at me.
“Exactly.” Declan looks away. “It feels stupid to be after we got everything we wanted…”
“I feel the same way, especially after he told me Grandpa gave him a choice to make amends with us and still picked himself.”
“Not surprised.” Rowan’s lip curls.
Declan’s shoulders tense. “Even after all this time and everything we’ve been through, it’s hard to accept your father is a selfish piece of shit.”
“Tell me about it. I’m the one who spent half of my life in therapy trying to.” My smile doesn’t reach my eyes.
Rowan snorts a laugh. “At least one of us got help for our daddy issues.”
“Consider that two.” Declan shakes Rowan’s hand off his shoulder and heads toward the elevator.
Rowan’s mouth drops open. “You’re going to therapy?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t considered it.” Declan shoots him a look.
Rowan shakes his head. “I’ll stick to living vicariously through you.”
“Coward.”
Declan shares all the baby facts he has learned over the last few weeks during the drive over to an Italian spot he loves. Never in my life did I think I would hear my brother gushing about having a kid, but I’m happy for him and Iris. After all the shit Declan has been through, he deserves a chance at being the kind of father we wished for.
The reminder has me calling Lana from the bathroom so I can wish her and Cami a goodnight.
Once our waitress drops off our waters and takes our orders, Rowan starts talking about the upcoming Dreamland renovation and the land he and Zahra worked on together with the Creators team.
I ask Rowan more questions than usual, earning a bright smile from him.
Declan turns to me. “I’m proud of you.”
“Of me? What for?”
His brown eyes lighten. “For so many different things, but most of all for how far you’ve come in such a short amount of time. It makes me happy to see you happy and…free.”
My throat tightens. “Who knew you were such a sap?”
“What can I say? Iris’s pregnancy hormones must be rubbing off on me.”
Rowan snorts. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“Fuck off. This is exactly why I never say anything nice.” Declan throws his balled-up paper straw wrapper at Rowan’s face.
“Fine. My turn.” Rowan lifts his water in the air. “I’d like to make a toast to us finally achieving our dreams.”
I tap my glass against his. “And the women who helped us along the way.”
After dinner with my brothers, I don’t stop driving until I reach the lake house at midnight. I’m careful not to make much noise as I disarm the alarm and walk up the stairs. Lana and I claimed the newly configured master as our bedroom, which happens to be on the opposite side of the second floor, far from Cami’s room.
Lana lies in the middle of the bed, curled up with a pillow tucked between her arms. Moonlight pours through the curtain she left open, illuminating the curves of her face. I lean down to kiss the top of her head. She doesn’t stir, so I take the opportunity to shower prior to getting in bed.
The mattress dips under my weight as I crawl underneath the covers.
“Hey,” she rasps as she turns around to face me. “What time is it?”
I wrap my arms around her and tuck her against me. “Late.”
“I thought you were going to stay in Chicago.” She snuggles into my chest.
“I didn’t want to wait.” I spent a good chunk of my life away from Lana, so the last thing I want to do is waste any more time.
Plus, I promised Cami chocolate chip pancakes in the morning, and I really don’t want to let her down.
“Did everything go okay with the lawyer?” She blinks up at me, clearing the sleep from her eyes.
“It was…interesting.”
She frowns. “What happened?”
“Turns out Grandpa had one last plot twist in him.”
Her eyes widen. “What do you mean?”
“Grandpa gave us the option to vote on whether our father should receive his shares or not.”
“Oh my God.” Her mouth remains hanging open.
“I know. We were surprised to say the least.”
“So that’s it? You’re free of him?”
I nod. “Declan just ran his first board meeting today.”
“That’s amazing.” She smiles up at me. “And how did the conversation with Arnold go?”
“He wants me to meet him and the team next week to go over some ideas I have.”
Her smile widens. “I’m so proud of you.”
I look away. “I haven’t even done much yet.”
“What do you mean? You’re the reason the Kane Company has one app instead of four now. I’m pretty sure you’re half of America’s hero right about now.”
Heat floods my cheeks. “Only because you helped.”
She cups my cheek. “I barely did anything. You’re the one who has spent weeks combing over data and meeting with teams to go over acquiring more content.”
“It’s a work in progress.”
“Kind of like us.” She grins.
I can’t resist kissing her in that moment. Lana melts into me, deepening the kiss until we are both breathlessly ripping at each other’s clothes. I tease her, and she does the same back, driving me mad with the desire to fuck her.
She licks. I nip. She sucks. I bite. She teases me with her tongue. I fuck her pussy with mine.
It doesn’t take me long to find myself between her legs. She guides my cock toward her center, and we both groan as I sink inside of her. With how hard she grips my ass, I wonder if she will leave permanent marks against my skin similar to the ones she left on my heart.
Every time we have sex, it always feels desperate. As if we both are trying to make up for lost time. Like I want to bury myself inside her and never leave.
I torture her for what feels like an hour, driving her to the brink of an orgasm before retreating back.
At one point, she flips us over and takes control, spinning around until her ass and curved back is all I see as she bounces up and down my cock. The position feels like heaven, and Lana seems to agree based on the moans coming from her.
With a few flicks and pinches of her clit at my command, she comes, taking me over the edge with her. I don’t stop driving her up and down my cock until my body no longer trembles from coming hard enough to see stars.
Lana slides off me, making us both sticky from our release. Her nose wrinkles at the mess.
“Shower or towel?”
She yawns. “Towel. I’m too tired to do anything else.”
“Hold on.” I come back with a wet towel to clean us both up the best I can before collapsing into bed.
Lana cuddles up against me and tucks her head between the crook of my neck. “I love you.”
My chest tightens. It took me a while to feel worthy of those words from her, but I’m slowly getting used to them.
“I love you too.” My lips brush against the top of her head. There is nothing I won’t do to make sure Lana spends the rest of her life being cherished like the gift she is.
She changed my life and proved to me that loving myself matters just as much as loving others. Because in order to show up for everyone else, I need to show up for myself first.
The future won’t be easy. I’m not foolish enough to think I won’t be tested and tempted into falling back into hurtful patterns. But with Lana, Cami, and our family by my side, anything feels possible. Even the failures.
And I think that’s what my grandpa was trying to teach me all along.
