“This is not the way out.” She looks up at me confused.
“Well observed.” I stop her in front of the freshly scraped door before I take her in.
“Why are we in Dexter’s office?” Turning to me, she tries to push us out.
“He’s gone.”
“What do you mean he’s gone?”
I walk her to the new desk that Fran and Mom picked out to go with the new interior design. Something to keep them both from getting involved in my efforts to win Ava back.
“He’s no longer an employee.” Pulling her chair out, I sit her in it, crouching in front of her. “He hurt you, so I hurt him. It’s how it’s always going to be. No one hurts you, and if they do, I hurt them. You understand?”
She nods with a swallow.
“This is for you.” I turn her to the desk, where the contract between us and her father sits. “The share breakdown is on the back.”
She flits to it, and I give her a moment to take it in. “You broke it down to shares?”
“It was the right thing to do. You have fifty-one, your father has twenty-nine, and I have twenty. I don’t own Monroe; we all do. And one day, your father’s share will be yours.”
“I don’t want it, Damon.” She looks at me with tear-lined eyes. “I can’t let you take that loss for me.”
“It’s your legacy, Ava, and you can make it great. But more importantly, I want our child to have that.” Perching on the edge of the desk, I take the contract from her. “Don’t let anyone steal your thunder. Ever.”
She tenses at the knock on the open door, and when she finds the person there, a smile softens her face.
“Good morning, Miss Monroe.” Bianca walks in with the package I gave William earlier. “This just came for you.”
William stands at Bianca’s desk with a grin on his face.
“Thank you.” Ava takes the box and sits it in front of her, staring up at me with a bashful tip of her lips while her assistant leaves us again, closing the door. “It’s from you.”
“Open it.”
“Stop with the gifts, okay?”
“Just open the damn thing, Ava.”
She does, reticently, and then she stares at the contents.
“I should’ve told you earlier.” Pulling out the lobster plush pacifier, she cringes, holding it to her chest. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. I was angry and upset and…I did something I knew was wrong.” One of her hands reaches up, holding my jaw. “You should’ve been the first person to know. I should’ve told you.”
Yeah, I wish I’d heard it from her, but at the end of the day, we’re both to blame for everything that happened.
“If I’d been honest and open with you, you would’ve been the same with me. I can’t hold it against you. Not with how it all happened. I’m just glad you had someone there with you. Even if it wasn’t me. And I really fucking wish it had been me.”
Dropping her hand to mine, she brings it to her cheek and nuzzles into it. “No more secrets.”
“No more.” I pull the photo frame from the box, standing it on her desk.
A photo Fran snuck of us in the Hamptons. It’s not all that clear because she took it at a distance and in dim light, like the crazy stalker she is. But Ava’s obviously smiling up at me in Mom’s kitchen. Her arms are wrapped around my bare chest, and she looks as happy as I remember feeling in that moment.
“Do you have some kind of obsession with crustaceans?” She fingers the hand-painted lobsters Mom painted onto the plain white frame, to match the ones on Jo’s paper plates.
“I do now. The way you ate that lobster roll…holy fuck, baby.”
“Oh my God! Stop!” Her face flushes a bright crimson that makes me laugh.
“What? I’m just saying…it left an impression.” Standing, I take her up with me. She’s still clutching the pacifier to her chest. “You like it, huh?”
“It’s the cutest thing. It’s almost got me all excited.”
“Almost excited?” I walk us back to my office to collect our things. “We’re going to have a baby. It’s fucking terrifying.”
“What?”
“Babies are the ultimate cockblockers.”
“You’re an asshole.” She slaps my chest, and grabbing her arm, I pull her to me.
Her body melts into mine. Soft and warm. Everything a home should be.
“I love you,” I tell her, crushing my mouth to hers.
And I kiss her until she’s trembling and breathless. Until my lungs burn for air and my heart feels so full, it might burst in my chest.
Epilogue
AVA
I’m nervous. Anxious as hell after all that happened with Fran. I’ve got every freaking thing crossed that everything is normal. Dr. Cruz walks in with her usual smile, and Damon’s standing beside me, drumming his thumb on my shoulder because we’re both shitting ourselves.
“Are you ready to see your baby?” She squirts some jelly on my already exposed stomach. It’s cold and it sends a shudder through me as she starts to spread it with the ultrasound probe.
Damon lowers himself to perch his chin on my shoulder as she continues going over my barely noticeable bump.
“You doing okay?” he murmurs into my ear, taking one of my hands laced over my chest.
I manage to smile through my racing heart and constricted chest. It’s fallen so quiet in here; all I can hear are the air particles vibrating around us.
“Okay!” Dr. Cruz turns the screen to face us. “Everything looks great.”
“So, everything is in the right place?” Damon asks her.
“Everything is as it should be, yes. Perfectly normal. Baby is a nice size at this point. Placenta has good blood flow.”
“Two hands?” I can’t help but burst out laughing at his question.
“Two good hands and two dancing feet.” Moving the probe around, she points out all the vital organs and limbs to back up her statement. Looking at me with a knowing smile, she says, “A good heart too.”
The galloping thrum surrounds us, and all the worry and anxiety I’ve managed to push down over the last few months loosens its vise around me, and relief floods me. My eyes cloud over, and the most overpowering awe fills me.
“How’s that for a strong heartbeat?”
That’s what undoes me, because I can’t stop the sobs that escape me with the way Damon’s looking at me, eyes glassed over and a half-bitten grin cutting his face.
“Wow,” he mouths, wiping away the tears tracking down my temples.
And this is by far the most incredible moment of my life. The happiness is overwhelming, like it might be too much for us to contain. I’m not even sure there’s such a thing as too much happiness, but if there is…this is it. Right here, right now. Me and him…and our baby.
The promise of an eternity together. No matter what the future brings us.
THE END
About the Author
Alexandra Silva is a tequila loving book hoarder living in London. She writes about real people who have to fight for their happy endings. Her stories are raw, heartfelt and sexy. With heroes that are flawed, dirty and sweet, and feisty heroines who give them a run for their money. Contemporary and Dark romance are her jam with some suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat.
You can connect with Alex here:
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Forbidden: A Romance Anthology Page 42