by Sandi Lynn
“I was thinking we could go out tomorrow night. Maybe have dinner at Kyle’s restaurant.”
“I’ll have to get someone to babysit Stella,” she spoke.
“It’s already taken care of.”
“What?” She lifted her head.
“Ben’s going to watch her. I asked him and he’s very excited about it.”
“Wow. Look at you.” She smiled as she kissed my lips. “I’m looking forward to our date night.”
“Me too, darling. Me too.”
The next day, I could barely work. I was way too nervous about tonight. I knew I didn’t have anything to be nervous about, but we hadn’t talked about marriage or even moving in together. As I was sitting at my desk, trying to concentrate, my phone rang. It was Brielle.
“Hello, gorgeous.” I smiled as I answered it.
“Caden, I just got a delivery at the door, and when I opened the box, there was a stunning dress inside it.”
“Oh good, it came already. That’s for you to wear tonight.”
“It’s kind of fancy. Don’t you think?”
“Nah. I think it’s perfect. Do you like it?”
“Are you kidding, I love it. It’s beautiful.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to seeing you in and out of it tonight.”
“You’re bad. What time are you picking me up?”
“Seven. Be ready.”
“I will be. Thank you for the dress. I love you.”
“I love you too. I’ll see you later.”
After changing into my tux, I picked Brielle up precisely at seven. As promised, she was ready and waiting.
“Damn, woman. You look gorgeous.” I kissed her lips.
“So do you. Are we going to some black tie affair you didn’t tell me about?”
“No.” I chuckled. “I just thought it would be fun to get all dressed up for the hell of it.”
When we arrived at the restaurant, Brielle looked around and noticed we were the only customers in the whole place.
“Why are we the only people here?” she asked.
“Kyle was kind enough to let me rent out the place so it could just be the two of us.”
“That’s sweet, but why?”
“Why not? I thought it would be nice to have a romantic quiet dinner for two.”
“Good evening.” Kyle smiled as he stepped over to our table. “I brought a bottle of my finest and most expensive champagne for you both,” he spoke as he poured some into our glasses.
“Thank you, Kyle,” I said.
“I can’t believe you let him rent out your restaurant.” Brielle smirked.
“Everyone has a price.” He gave her a wink. “Your dinner will be out shortly.”
I held her hand from across the table as we talked about her day. Her marketing business was getting off the ground. Of course I had a helping hand in it. But the only thing I did was send one company her way to get her started and things took off from there. I had never been prouder of her.
Kyle walked over and set our plates with the stainless steel dome lids in front of us.
“Since when do you serve your dinners like this?” Brielle asked.
“I do on occasion for our special VIP guests.” He smiled. “Enjoy.”
I gave him the signal to go get Stella set up at the piano. Brielle went to remove the lid from her plate and I stopped her.
“Wait!”
“What?” She laughed.
“I want to make a toast to us first.” I picked up my champagne glass. “Here’s to your rising business and the amazing relationship we have together.”
“Cheers.” She grinned as she tipped her glass to mine.
“Let’s eat,” I spoke.
I carefully watched as Brielle removed the lid and stared down at the diamond ring that was sitting by itself on the china plate.
“Oh my God!” she spoke.
Just then, the music started to play, and Brielle looked around, taking notice of Stella at the piano.
“Caden.” Tears started to fill her eyes.
I reached over, took the ring from the plate, got up from my chair, and knelt down next to her.
“Brielle. I love you so damn much and I love that little girl over there. The two of you have brought so much light and happiness into my world that I never thought I would ever experience. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to love you, take care of you, and help you raise Stella. You are every breath I take and every beat of my heart beats for you. Will you marry me and do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Caden Chamberlain?”
“Yes! Of course I will marry you.”
I slipped the ring on her finger and helped her out of her chair, kissing her and hugging her tight.
“You have made me so happy,” I spoke.
There was clapping, and when we looked over, Kyle was standing there with a wide grin across his face. The music stopped and Stella came running over.
“Did she say yes?!”
“She said yes!” I smiled as I picked her up and swung her around.
“Wait a minute. You knew about this, Stella?”
“Yes, Mommy, and I told him you’d say yes. Yay! We’re going to be a family.”
Chapter 34
One Month Later
Brielle
Stella and I were finally settled at Caden’s penthouse. He let her pick out the colors for her room and a new set of bedroom furniture. While his piano sat in his study, hers was placed in the living room over by the window that overlooked the city. She was happy to be here and so was I. I had never been happier in my life.
We were in the bubbly filled tub, my back was pressed against his body as his arms wrapped around me.
“There’s something I want to talk to you about,” he spoke.
“What is it?” I tilted my head and looked up at him.
“I want to adopt Stella. I want her to have my name and I want her to be mine.”
“Oh, Caden. I don’t know what to say.”
“It should be easy since Daniel has never acknowledged her or was ever a part of her life. He abandoned both you and her.”
“Yes, definitely. I want you to adopt her and I know she’d love that too. Oh my gosh, she’s going to be so excited.”
“We have to be married first before we can proceed. So I’m thinking we can move the date of the wedding up six months from now. I don’t want to wait, Brielle. I already got in touch with the wedding planner and she’s racing for us. That’s if you agree.”
“Of course I agree. I can’t wait to marry you.” I smiled. “I’d marry you tomorrow in the courthouse.”
“As much as I’d love that, I want you to have the grandest wedding of all time. After all, this will be your one and only wedding.”
One Month Later
“Eat your breakfast, sunshine, or you’re going to be late for school. Caden, stop distracting her.”
“Brielle, please. We’re having an intelligent conversation over here,” he spoke.
I rolled my eyes as I opened the refrigerator and put the milk away. Caden walked over to me and placed his hands firmly on my hips.
“I have to go. I love you. Have a good day.”
“I love you too.” I wrapped my arms around his neck as we passionately kissed.
“Ew. Not in front of the tiny human,” Stella spoke.
“Then close your eyes,” Caden said as he walked over and kissed the top of her head. “Have a good day at school, kiddo. I love you.”
“I love you too, Caden.”
I grabbed Stella’s backpack from the table and we headed down to the lobby. As we exited the building, I froze when I heard a voice from behind.
“Hello, Brielle.”
I slowly turned around and saw Daniel standing there.
“Stella, get in the car.”
“Who is that, Mommy?”
“Ben, get Stella in the car and take her to school. Make sure you walk her in.”
“Of course, Bri
elle.”
“What do you want, Daniel?”
He looked up at the building and slowly nodded his head.
“Looks like you’ve moved up in the world, Brielle. Is that her? Is that my daughter?”
I stood there, my heart rapidly beating with my hand clutching the strap of my purse.
“I’ll ask you again, what are you doing here?”
“I saw in an article where Juilliard accepted their youngest student ever: Stella Winters. I came to meet my daughter.”
“It’s too late for that.”
He glanced down at my finger and saw the three-carat diamond sitting upon it.
“You’re married?”
“Engaged.”
“It’s not too late. I’m her father and I have every right to see her.”
“You lost your rights the night you walked out the door and never came back,” I spoke through gritted teeth.
“She’s my kid.”
“She is not your kid.” I pointed my finger at him. “Maybe your sperm helped create her, but you are no more her father than any stranger walking down this street. She is happy and well-adjusted and she’s thriving. You are not going to stumble into her life six years later and turn it upside down. She doesn’t want to meet you anyway.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I told her from day one how you abandoned her. She has a father. A man who loves her and wants to spend time with her, takes care of her, and gives her everything she needs. In fact, he’s adopting her as soon as we get married.”
“I don’t think so, Brielle. She’s my kid and I’m not giving up my rights. I came here because I’ve done a lot of thinking and I want to be a part of her life.”
“Why? Because you saw an article and now you think you’re going to be a part of the limelight? I have news for you, Daniel, I won’t allow you to be in her life, so I suggest you get the fuck back into the hole you crawled out from and leave us alone!”
“This ain’t over, Brielle. You can’t keep me from seeing her. And if you try, you’ll be sorry.” He pointed at me as he walked away.
I was shaking as I hailed a cab and climbed in, taking it to Caden’s office. When I arrived, I immediately took the elevator up, and his secretary, Louise, told me that he was in a meeting in the conference room.
“Tell him it’s urgent, Louise. I need to see him now.”
She picked up the phone and dialed the conference room.
“It’s Louise. Can you please tell Mr. Chamberlain that Brielle is here and it’s urgent?”
Within a couple of moments, he was in his office.
“Are you okay? What’s going on?” He lightly grabbed my arm.
I stood in front of him as the tears fell down my face.
“Brielle, what happened?”
I swallowed hard.
“Daniel is back and he wants to meet Stella. He said he wants to be a part of her life.” I cried as I placed my hands on his chest.
“What? When did you see him?”
“It was right after you left for the office. Stella and I walked out of the building and were walking to the car when he stopped me. I put Stella in the car immediately and made Ben drive her to school. He told me he saw the article about her getting into Juilliard and now he wants to be in her life. I don’t trust him, Caden, and I don’t want him anywhere near her.”
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him, holding my head against his chest.
“It’s going to be okay, darling. I have the best lawyer in New York. I’ll call him right now.”
He broke our embrace, pulled out his phone, and dialed his lawyer. After speaking to him for several minutes, he ended the call.
“We have a meeting with him tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.”
“Okay. Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around his waist.
“I don’t want you to worry about this. Everything is going to work out in our favor.” He kissed the top of my head.
Chapter 35
Brielle
After I left Caden’s office, I went to the shooting range to blow off some steam. Shooting always made me feel better. He said he didn’t want me to worry, but I couldn’t help it. There was something different about Daniel. I could see it in his eyes. I loaded my gun and began shooting at the target. Six rounds done and I quickly reloaded my gun and began again. I brought the target closer and studied the bullet holes. All perfect shots.
When I was done, I picked Stella up from school and headed home, keeping my gun safely tucked in my purse. Now it would be with me everywhere I went. I wasn’t going to lie. I was scared. Scared for Stella.
Two weeks had passed since I saw Daniel and I prayed that he’d given up and left town. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
I dropped Stella off at my mom’s apartment for the day while I went shopping with Sasha. Caden had called and wanted to go out to dinner, so I told him that I’d meet him at the restaurant instead of going home since I was already close to there. We planned to meet at six thirty, and I arrived at six thirty-five. I was surprised when I didn’t see him because he was never late. As soon as the hostess seated me at our reserved table, I pulled out my phone and called him. After a few rings, it went to voicemail.
“Hey, honey. I’m at the restaurant. You must be stuck in traffic. Call me as soon as you get this.”
I waited another ten minutes and there was still no word from him, so I sent him a text message.
“Where are you? I’m starting to get worried.”
It was now seven o’clock and he wasn’t here, nor did he respond to any of my messages. A bad feeling crept up inside me. Something wasn’t right, so I called his driver.
“Hey, it’s Brielle. Is Caden with you?”
“No. I dropped him off at home and he said he was going to take a cab to the restaurant because I had a family emergency. He isn’t there?”
“No and I can’t get ahold of him.”
“He’s probably stuck in traffic and on the phone with a client.”
“Maybe. I’m going to try again.”
I dialed his number and it rang and rang until voicemail picked it up. My heart started racing, and I knew if I called Ben to come pick me up, it would take too long. I left the restaurant and hailed a cab. A sickness fell into the pit of my stomach as the driver pulled up to the curb of the building.
“Carson, have you seen Mr. Chamberlain this evening?” I asked the doorman.
“Yes. He walked into the building around five forty-five. Is everything okay?”
“We were supposed to meet for dinner, and I can’t seem to get ahold of him.”
“Well, I know the repairman is up there.”
“What repairman?” I nervously asked.
“For the alarm system. He said that there was an issue with your system and he needed to fix it. I called Mr. Chamberlain to let him know and he said to send him up.”
“What did he look like?”
“Gee. Umm. He was about six feet tall. Short dark hair. He was wearing a uniform and a hat. He had a scar above his eye. That I noticed right away.”
“Shit. I need you to do me a favor and call the police.”
“Why?”
“Because the man you described isn’t a repairman and I think Mr. Chamberlain might be in danger.”
I took the elevator up to the floor below the penthouse and used the stairs the rest of the way up. Approaching the front door, I pulled my gun and my key from my purse. I was shaking with fear as I carefully slid the key into the lock and slowly unlocked the door. Carefully pushing it open, I could hear Daniel’s voice. It was coming from the living room. Taking off my shoes, I set them down with my purse, grabbed my phone and took the back way from the kitchen. Holding my phone, I pushed the voice memo button and started recording. I looked around the corner and saw Caden sitting on the couch, his head bleeding, hands tied together, and staring at Daniel, who was standing a few feet away and pointing a gun at him. My r
apidly beating heart pounded out of my chest as I raised my gun and walked into the living room. Caden’s eyes widened and Daniel turned around.
“What’s going on here, Daniel?” I asked as I slowly walked towards him.
“Well, well. Look who’s home and thinks she’s being a hero. It’s good to see you, Brielle. I was disappointed when I got here and found out you weren’t. Now be a good girl and put the gun down.”
“No way. What are you doing here?”
“Having a little chat with your boyfriend. The man who stole my daughter from me, and the man who’s going to pay me a great deal of money to skip town.”
“Is that why you came back? For money?”
“Damn right. I used Stella as an excuse because you always had a soft spot for me. I figured if I could convince you to let me meet her, I’d show you how much I regretted walking out on her and then I’d have an in with you and you’d have no choice but to help a troubled man out. But you had to play hardcore and refuse to let me meet her. So, technically, this is all your fault, Bri.”
“What kind of trouble are you in?”
“Long story short. I got involved with some bad people after I walked out on you. The Cartel, to be exact. Maybe I shouldn’t have stolen all those drugs from them. I owe them a lot of money or they’re going to kill me.”
“They’re not the only ones,” I arched my brow at him.
“You’re still as cute as ever. I want one million dollars transferred to an offshore account immediately. Once it’s done, I’m out of the country. I’ll disappear, and I promise you that you’ll never see me again. I know your boyfriend is worth billions, so a measly million is nothing to him. Right?” He cocked his head at Caden.
Caden didn’t say a word. He just stared at him as Daniel continued to point his gun. I needed to think of how to get out of this situation and there was only one way.
“Put the gun down and Caden will wire the money,” I spoke.
“You’re crazy, bitch. I ain’t putting this gun down. But I do suggest you lower yours. You got some balls handling a gun, but I don’t think you have balls to shoot me. The way I remember it, you were always such a fragile little thing. But if you do, your pretty little boyfriend will get a bullet popped in his head.”