My heart feels heavy as the driver that picked me up parks in a large elevator. It starts to rise, until the car is parked in the corner of my friends’ living room. The passenger door opens, and my friend Alanna offers me her hand. Her arms instantly wrap around me, enveloping me in a tight hug, and that one small human gesture is enough to make me fall apart. I burst into tears, loud, heart wrenching sobs escaping my throat as she leads me to the sofa. “I… I didn’t know where else to g-go,” I tell her.
Alanna and I have been friends ever since she walked into my boutique in search of a wedding gown. No one has ever understood our friendship, but it’s one of the most genuine and closest I’ve got. Alanna is one of a kind, and right now, she’s the one person that can give me the solace I need, without judgement.
“I’m going to kill him,” she whispers.
“Easy, Little Psycho,” her husband, Silas, says.
Silas hands me a handkerchief with a small Ψ embroidered on it, a kind smile on his face. “Alanna prepared this for you the moment you called our emergency line. She even ironed it.”
I take it from him with trembling hands and snuggle closer to Alanna, laying my head on her chest as she strokes my back. “Tell me what happened, Rave,” she says, her voice soft.
I try to take a deep breath, but my sobs just start to come harder. Alanna tightens her grip on me, her fingers gently combing through my hair, soothing me as best as she can.
“Get him,” Alanna tells her husband, her tone in stark contrast with the gentleness she’s showing me. “Go get Ares Windsor for me. If Raven won’t tell me what happened, I’ll make him talk.”
Silas chuckles. “It’s not so simple, Ray. He’s a Windsor. I can’t just grab him without facing consequences.”
“It… it wasn’t h-him,” I choke out.
Alanna pulls away from me and wipes my tears with the handkerchief she gave me. “Then who?”
I sniff, my eyes falling closed as I gather the courage to tell her what happened, not leaving out any detail. I tell them about Sierra’s 21st birthday, the wedding, the pregnancy. By the end of it, I’m exhausted and heartbroken. “I can’t see an end to this,” I whisper. “Is this going to be my life now? Marrying him was supposed to be my happily ever after, yet somehow, it feels like the beginning of the end. Forever this time. If I stay, she’ll keep chipping away at my soul, until I end up a shell of who I once was.”
Alanna rubs my shoulders, her gaze reflecting the sorrow I feel. “Silas and I can tell you a thing or two about meddling siblings and family,” she says, her eyes finding her husband’s. I freeze for a moment, remembering that Alanna used to date Silas’s younger brother. “Trust me when I say that love truly does win in the end. I know that it feels hard right now, and you’ve made the right choice by taking a step back. Being stuck in that environment makes it hard to remember why you chose to marry him in the first place, despite the odds. I think you’ll find that some time away will give you clarity, Raven.”
She looks at Silas. “Can we get the articles bashing her taken down?”
“I was going to request it, but someone has already taken care of it. Whole servers have been taken down all around the world. The news is reporting that at least two large social media channels are completely down right now. I suspect Windsor is behind it. I’m not sure how he’s doing it, but it’s clear he’ll move heaven and earth for his wife.”
Alanna smiles at me and shoots me an encouraging look. “See? I know it’s hard right now, but that man loves you more than anything. I can’t tell you whether that’s enough to make dealing with Hannah worth it, though. I always hated the bitch. I’d gut her if I thought I’d get away with it.”
I smile despite my tears and shake my head. “You really are insane, aren’t you?”
“Psychotic,” Silas murmurs under his breath.
The doorbell rings, and I tense. I came here because I wanted to escape for a while, not just from the media, but from my family. It should be the one place no one would come searching for me. Silas and Alanna’s house is a fortress.
Silas frowns as he walks to the front door. I hear him groan in annoyance, followed by Sierra’s voice. She rushes into the living room, and Alanna smiles knowingly as she shifts on the sofa, making space.
“I figured you’d be here. Are you okay?” Sierra asks. “I saw the news, and then Ares told me you left. He’s a wreck.”
“Speak of the Devil,” Silas says, showing us the caller ID on his phone. It reads Ares Windsor.
“Windsor?”
He puts the phone on speaker and holds it out for us. “Where is my wife? The bodyguards I had on her told me they lost her trail. They were supposed to be the best you’ve got, so where the fuck is she? The entire fucking world is after her, and your men fucking lost her. If anyone so much as harms one single hair on her head, I will fucking kill you.”
My eyes widen in surprise. Bodyguards? I should’ve known Ares wouldn’t take risks with my safety, but I can’t believe I never noticed his bodyguards.
Silas chuckles. “She’s safe.”
Ares falls silent. “Is she with you?”
“No.”
“Where is she?”
Silas ends the call, refusing to answer him. I can’t help but smile at him in gratitude. I need a little bit of space to think, and I can’t do that with Ares around.
“Yeah,” Silas tells me. “He’s definitely in love with you. I have never seen him lose his cool, regardless of what situation he was put in. I once watched him foil a kidnapping attempt on Sierra without a single hint of panic crossing his face, yet you go missing for ten minutes, and his world collapses?”
I wrap my arms around myself and inhale deeply. “All I’ve ever wanted was his love, so shouldn’t that be enough? Am I being selfish?”
“No,” Sierra says. “I wish it was simpler, Rave, but it isn’t just Ares you need to consider anymore. Whether we like it or not, Hannah will now always be a part of your life, of your marriage. If anything, taking some time to think about whether you can accept that is the fairest thing you can do. Isn’t that better than breaking Ares’s heart down the line? Especially once a child is involved. What if they become attached to you, and then you decide you can’t stand being around them after all?”
I nod and lean back, my thoughts reeling. For at least the next few months, I’ll have to endure endless gossip and snide remarks in the industry, and that’s only just the beginning. How much more will I have to take if I choose to stay with Ares? What kind of environment are we creating for Ares and Hannah’s child? No matter how I look at it, me staying results in all of us being unhappy. Eventually, it’ll make the love between Ares and me dim too.
