by Mallory Fox
“Are you my daddy?” She looks at me. “Mommy, is this my daddy, then?”
Moisture clouds my eyes, an ache rips the back of my throat. “Yes, Sophia, this is your daddy. Come and say hello to Seth.”
Seth, eyes soft and glassy almost, crouches down to Sophia’s height. “Nice to meet you, Sophia.”
“Hello, Seth,” she says, grabbing my legs, suddenly shy. “Are you joining us for breakfast?”
“Yes, yes I am.”
She grins. “Okay. You can sit next to me.”
Seth, totally amazed, smiling broadly, catches my eye as if asking for permission. I give him a nod. Little does he realize she eats like a tornado, probably won’t shut up, and will have chewed his ear off by the end of it.
For half an hour Sophia is as consumed by Seth as he is by her. Watching the two of them, Sophia chatting away, showing him her coloring books and toys, Seth giving her all of his attention, I feel complete. Every time our daughter hands Seth one of her unicorns and explains what powers it has and why each one is important to her, my heart warms.
Wait until she shows you her owl collection.
And Seth.
He glances up at me, a huge smile on his face that reaches his eyes, and all my insides go to mush.
My beautiful Seth looks so happy.
Chapter 27
Seth
I watch Sophia as she disappears upstairs and I can’t quite believe she’s mine. My little girl. She even has my eyes although her cheeky smile is all Pearl.
She’s ours.
The raging hole in my chest that has always been there since I can remember, feels sated for once. Pearl bustling in the kitchen as I drink my coffee and watch her, feels right.
I fucking don’t want to be anywhere else right now.
There are so many things to sort out, the settlement, our statement in response to the trafficking scandal, restoring the original paperwork around Sophia’s birth, changing my will… and also marrying Pearl for real.
I’m still not sure how or when I’m going to propose to her but all that’s for another day. Right now, I just want to sit here and be with my family.
My family.
Fuck. I still don’t quite believe it. That sassy little girl upstairs and that gorgeous woman over there, both belong to me.
There’s a ringing doorbell. Pearl is asking me to get it since Eleanor is upstairs and her Grams is snoring on the sofa.
Pearl loves Paris, so maybe on the Eiffel Tower? Or is that too cheesy? Fuck, I’ve no idea. I don’t do this romantic shit.
Caught in my thoughts, I yank open the main door. It’s stiff like it’s never been opened since the house was built. On the other side of the glass porch, someone familiar is waiting. I step inside the entryway, leaving the warmth of the house. They ring again.
“Fucking hold your horses.” Fuck. I’m going to have to curtail my language. I swear way too much.
I pull at the outer door and it swings open. Odette, wild eyes, lips quivering, is standing there wrapped in her fur coat. She sees me and immediately tears form.
“Fuck, Odette, come in.” She follows me in like she’s made of glass, eyes darting around as I close the door.
I run a hand through my hair as I take her in. She looks awful. “Odette, what the fuck happened? Did Marcel do something to you? Did he hurt you?”
She shakes her head, unable to speak.
Fuck. I’m going to kill that bastard if he’s hurt her.
“Odette, I’m going to get Pearl, okay? Stay here.” Pearl will know what to do.
I walk down the hall, but Pearl is already at the end of it. She frowns and looks past me. I open my mouth to explain but Pearl grabs me hard, nails digging in, eyes going wide.
I look back at what the hell she’s looking at.
Odette, standing there with a gun, shakes as she pulls the trigger.
It slams into me.
Knocking me down.
Pearl is screaming and there’s a dull ache in my chest, getting harsher the more I try to breath.
I can’t breathe. I look up Pearl. She’s crying. There’s blood on Pearl as she cries. I reach up to wipe it away, but the effort is too much.
Odette fucking shot me. Why? Is it because of what we did to Marcel? I don’t even care about the answer. There are people running down the stairs. Pearl is crying my name and telling me not to leave her.
As if I have a fucking choice.
I’ve cheated death twice. I can’t be lucky a third time.
I look into Pearl’s terrified eyes and try to speak, tell her it’s okay, I got what I wanted. One moment as a family with her and Sophia. It’s all I ever truly desired. It couldn’t get any better than today. Today was fucking wonderful.
If this is my last day on this fucking hell called earth, I’m happy it was here and that I got to meet my daughter for the first time.
I try to tell her all of this but I can’t. I’m choking on my own blood.
All of a sudden, my eyes are heavy.
Sophia.
They flutter open one last time to see my little girl, staring at me through the bars of the banister, hand reaching down like she’s trying to pull me back up.
But she can’t.
I’m dying.
Fuck. Sophia. Daddy is sorry.
Chapter 28
Pearl
Sophia curled on my lap is the only thing tethering me to this earth. The only thing. If Seth dies…
All the hurt, all the rage, all the raw-edged pain comes clawing back up my throat, threatening to choke me. I can’t fucking lose him now. Not after I found him again.
Don’t you dare leave me, Seth.
Not again.
My phone vibrates on the chair next to me where my bag is. I stare at it numbly as it continues to harass me. I should answer it. Why? Nothing matters except Seth and Sophia.
But I can see it’s Romain calling. Just the sight of his name has my fist curling. I grab my phone and answer, not caring that you can’t have phone in here. I dare someone to tell me I can’t answer my own fucking phone.
“You took your time, little mouse,” he drawls.
“I’m busy waiting to hear if my husband is dead, so yes, I’m busy,” I snarl at him.
“Don’t shoot the messenger. I came to give you good news. We’ve got my sister. After she fled your house, she was pretty easy to find.”
“Great, that’s one psycho sorted.”
He chuckles and then sighs. I have a mental image of him twiddling that hunting knife. I suppress a shiver. “That bullet was meant for you, you know. She took your gun from the bag you left at our house. Thought it poetic to kill you with it. You’re lucky she’s a crap shot.”
How is Seth being in hospital lucky?
I shift in my chair, icy panic making me look around. “Are you staying she’ll try again?”
“No, she’s being dealt with. I’m just saying that if it was you, I don’t think you’d survive. Seth has been shot before; his heart can take it.”
I hang up. Not wanting to talk about hearts being shot anymore.
Sophia moans in her sleep and I brush a strand of her hair out of her face. She asked me earlier why the white-haired girl hurt her Daddy.
I had no words.
No fucking words.
There’s a beep and a swish and the door opposite me opens. A sickening feeling twists in my gut as I clutch Sophia like she’s my anchor.
The doctor walks over, removing his mask. “He’s a fighter, that one. He’s going to live.”
I close my eyes and just sit after the doctor has told me what I need to know, and long after they’re gone and the waiting room is empty.
Hours. Minutes. Seconds.
Waiting. It all ticks by.
Sophia is hungry so we eat whatever we can find in the vending machine since the restaurant is closed. And then, finally, the nurse comes to take us to see Seth.
His room is full of machines and there’s
the smell of antiseptic. He’s not awake yet so I hold his hand and sit with Sophia on my knee. I must have fallen asleep because I’m waking when it’s dark to the sound of the breathing machine and the feel of Seth’s fingers curling around mine.
I breathe deeper and hold his hand tighter. I know he can’t speak to me, so I say it anyway with all my heart.
“Seth, I love you. Don’t ever leave me again.”
This time, I know he won’t.
Epilogue
Seth
A year later.
I decided that it had to be the Eiffel Tower. There’s a movie Pearl adores where the lovers are meant to meet at the top of the Empire State Building to start anew their relationship. Since Pearl loves Paris, I adapted it a little, and paid the Sociéte d'Exploitation de la tour Eiffel a hell of a lot of money to reserve the tower for one night just for her.
Charlie and Flick helped set up the thousand rose petals and thousand battery powered tea lights—no naked flames allowed for health and safety reasons—leading from the first floor and all the way up the steps to the entrance of the second floor, spilling out onto the viewing platform.
There, I’ve left a note for her to find directing her to the top where I’ll be standing waiting in front of the champagne bar with a bottle of Krug and, of course, my mother’s ring.
I’ve even dressed up for the occasion in a deep blue three-piece-suit. Flick tells me Pearl has a weakness for a guy in a waistcoat so here I am.
Except, it’s exactly 7.05 p.m now. Like a prat, I’m waiting at the top, alone, wondering where the hell she is. I sent her this message earlier.
Meet me at the top of the Eiffel Tower at 7pm. Don’t be late.
But true to form, she’s didn’t reply and is running late. I didn’t take into account how fucking nervous I would be just waiting to see if she’d even show up. My heart is hammering inside my chest like a goddam speed train. Like that part of my body needs more pain.
If she doesn’t fucking show…
I check my phone, mouth becoming drier by the second when I see there aren’t any messages. I even eye the bottle of Champagne. Is it too early to crack it open?
Christ, why isn’t she here yet? I left her in the capable hands of Gabby and Eleanor this morning who promised me she would be here. They took Pearl and Sophia out shopping for Pearl’s birthday, a special treat since celebrations last year were nonexistent.
Last year…
It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since everything happened.
Romain is now acting CEO of Montford International since Marcel was found guilty of all the crimes Pearl accused him of that day atop Knife’s Edge. He was sentenced and put away for a very long time. Romain still won’t tell us how he dealt with Odette. There was a time when that wouldn’t be good enough but now, as long as she stays away from our family, Pearl and I are content just to move on.
Charlie and Flick are back to being an item. Pearl isn’t sure how long they will last but it was nice to have our best friends hang out with us at Pearl’s home in Hertfordshire during the summer while I recovered. Again, it was a long road to recovery from me after the surgery. The bullet missed my heart this time but hit a lung. It was lucky that the paramedics were able to get to the house in time to keep me me from drowning in my own blood.
Just breathing sometimes hurts like hell. The tightness in my chest has always been there since Blackheath so I’m used to that. Let’s just say that I didn’t take the stairs to get up here.
Sophia started primary school this fall. The sight of her all grown up in her uniform was just… fucking heartwarming. She’s the best thing to ever happened to me. Pearl too. The two of them are my life now and I don’t know how I survived before.
Every time I look at them both, warmth fills me and my heart, however battered it is now, swells. I’m the luckiest man alive and every day is better than the last.
It was worth cheating death a third time.
Except for today. Waiting for Pearl to show today is not enjoyable at all. I’m shitting myself.
What if she doesn’t show? What if this isn’t what she wants.
She’s expecting it. On the steps of the Louvre I promised her I would propose for real. We’ve lived every day since as man and wife even though it’s a lie. Only our close friends and family know the truth even if the world doesn’t.
One day, when all of this is over, I’m going to propose to you for real. This isn’t just a game to me. Do you understand?
7.08 p.m.
I exhale hard, burning a hole in the entrance way door as I stare at it. It’s where she’ll walk out of when she finally arrives. I could do with a damn cigarette right now but I’m supposed to have given up to help my lung heal from the trauma. Although, just being this high up is probably not that great for it to be honest.
I’ll wait two minutes. If she doesn’t show by then, I’m going to take the lift to the second floor to see if she’s gotten herself lost.
It’s the longest two minutes of my fucking life.
At 7.10 p.m. Pearl steps out of the glass floor lifts. There’s no noise from the streets below here only the wind as it catches you. It takes hold of Pearl’s loose hair now, whipping it around her face as she scans the open-air floor of the tower until her soft, hazel eyes, filled with tenderness and heat, come to rest on me.
Every single moment we’ve been together flashes in front of my eyes. From the moment she first walked up the stone steps and entered Ravenwood Prep, to this moment right here.
She walks over, wearing the jersey dress, ankle boots and leather jacket she was wearing this morning. Her cherub lips curl into a smile that fucking takes my heart and sends it racing over the edge, as I bend down onto one knee.
“So this is what you’ve been up to all day,” she says, laughing softly, brow creasing as though she can’t quite believe it. “You told me you had an important business meeting to attend to, and then I got your message.”
“Oh, this is important. Very important. The most important one in my whole damn life. Now stop laughing,” I chide at her.
I take her hand and the ring from my pocket. She’s still wearing the diamond one she picked out herself from Tiffanys. I managed to take my mother’s ring back after the event, pretending to return it to the family vault. I hold my mother’s ring now, polished up so it sparkles, and show her with my eyes how much she means to me.
She squints against the sunset, still laughing, pulling the stray strands of her hair out of her eyes. I clear my throat and draw in a deep breath, trying to claim my nerves, trying not to fucking screw this up.
“Pearl, I had a thousand things to say but fuck it, every time you walk into my life and I remember you belong to me, I’m at a loss for words. So I’m just going to come right out and say it, okay?”
Cheeks burning red, she nods.
Here it goes…
“Pearl Darlington. I never want to regret losing you and Sophia ever again for the rest of my life. Will you marry me and put me out of my goddam misery?”
Her eyes are glistening as she looks down at me. My own eyes are misting over and I’m not even sure I can speak anymore with the tightness building in my throat.
“Of course, I’ll bloody marry you.”
I slip the ring on her finger above the other one, and then grab her and kiss her so damn hard.
I meant what I said.
Pearl Darlington is gorgeous, poisonous, and ethereal. She is every nightmare and every wet dream, and everything I’ve ever wanted all rolled into one.
But I also lied.
I did love Pearl Darlington once.
But never truly stopped loving her…. even after she broke my damn heart.
Also by Mallory Fox
Thanks for reading Hearts Break,
A Wicked Hearts At War Book Three!
I hope you enjoyed reading about Pearl & Seth as much as I enjoyed writing about their crazy lives.
But.
Alternate Scene:
For an exclusive alternate scene from Seth’s POV sign up to my Heartbreaker Club!
Future Books:
Coming soon and set in Seth & Pearl’s world…
The Kindness Of Monsters (Gabby)
Sinful (Levi)
Plaything (Romain)
To be alerted when they release, sign up to my Heartbreaker Club!
Acknowledgements
(Or a long ass list of thank yous)
First off, a huge thank you to my readers & muses who tirelessly read every book. You are all amazing. I couldn’t have finished this series without you.
I probably can’t list everyone but here it goes… Shawna, Caroline, Kiyomi, Erika O, Jessica, Tiffany, Lacey, Tina, Cynthia, Marianne, Taylor, Sandy, Michelle, Amber, Patti, Jacqueline, Tammy, Robin, Angela, Barrie, Michelle, Rebecca, Mary, Pat, Erika F, Kaye, Amanda, Maggie, Susan, Morgen, Laura, and all of the other readers and muses I’ve missed but not intentionally—thank you for cheering me on every step of the way!
To my PA and PR angel, Sam.
What can I say. Thank you for always being there when I need you and supporting me tirelessly. I could not have got to this place, finishing three whole books, without you. Thank you for making me laugh and cry, for sending over naked men pics and being the best damn friend as well as PA a girl could hope for.
To my RAD family…
Thank you Romance After Dark team for their amazing support and hard work in creating the best bloody dark romance Facebook group there is.
Samantha, Kenia, and Jocelyn. You guys rock. Thank you for coming into my life, sending me TikTok videos when I’m feeling down, keeping the community alive when I’m stuck in my writing cave, and just being there. Love you guys!