CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

BELLA

There’s a knock at the door, and I yell, “Go away, Nico.”

A feminine voice responds, “It’s Athena. He isn’t with me. Can I come in?”

I can’t really tell her no, since I’m guessing this is her house. I know it isn’t Nico’s.

“Sure.”

She comes in and closes the door behind her, and sits on the chair beside the bed.

“I just wanted to talk if that’s okay.”

Pulling the blankets over my legs, I sit up slightly. “That’s fine.”

“I’ve been where you are. I’ll spare you the details, but my father did terrible things to me. And I know you’ve been through so much, but I’m here to tell you there’s healing. It’s not always going to be like it is right now.”

I look down at the blanket, and rub my finger across the blue material.

“He must hate me. I can’t even look at him, because I’m so ashamed. I did this. Without telling him, I walked into his uncle’s house thinking I could handle it, and look what happened.”

She smiles at me.

“And you killed him. Fucking badass.”

I shrug my shoulders.

“And got myself raped.”

She rubs her belly as she shakes her head.

“That doesn’t take away what you did. How many women have the guts to go into a home, guarded by men with guns, to avenge what has been done to the man they love? Not many. In my book, you’re a badass. You knew going in there that you might not come out alive, didn’t you? You had to have. And yet, Reaper was worth it to you.”

“He’s worth everything,” I whisper.

Folding her hands over her stomach, she says, “That man is broken right now. He loves you in the same way his brother loves me. And he’s terrified he’s going to lose you, because he has convinced himself this is his fault. I know you know Reaper well, and I’m not suggesting otherwise, but I want to tell you what I know about him. He has killed far more people than any of his brothers, but as we all now know he has also endured more. Reaper has a big heart that feels deeply. Once I got to know him, I told my husband if he ever fell in love, it would be permanent, because that’s the man he is. He’s complex. Reaper will take a life without batting an eye, but those he loves, he loves fiercely. Yet if you ask him to let you go, he will, because he thinks he did this to you, and we both know he didn’t. I really hope you don’t ask him to do that, because honestly, I’m not sure he’d ever recover from losing you. I’m not trying to make you feel guilty. I just want you to know what’s at stake before you see him.”

Glancing up at her, I say, “It seems you two are close.”

She nods. “When I came into this family, I had no one. Literally no one. One day I’ll tell you the story. All three of them welcomed me with open arms, but Reaper is different from the other two. There was something in him I recognized. I think I sensed the trauma, and he quickly became one of my favorite people in the world.”

She rises from the chair with a bit of trouble.

“I have to use the restroom. You have no idea how much a pregnant woman pees. Thank you for listening. You can say no, but can he come in? He just wants to be in the same room as you.”

“Yeah, he can come in.”

Smiling softly, she says, “I’ll check on you later.”

A few minutes after she leaves, he comes in, and I still have trouble looking at him. His face is long, his head down as if he’s ashamed. He probably is. Of me. Finding me the way he did, how do you ever get that image out of your mind?

He takes a seat in the chair and, even without looking at him, I can feel his eyes on me. The burn is uncomfortable, like he’s a stranger.

“Bella, I’m sorry. You’re right to be angry with me. I probably can’t ever make this up to you. I love you, and I’ll never fucking forgive myself for this.”

His words confuse the hell out of me. Why would I be angry with him for something I did? It was my choices that led to everything that happened.

“This wasn’t your fault, Nico. I’m the one who caused what he did.”

Shaking his head, he says, “I should’ve killed him a long time ago, and if I had, you wouldn’t have felt the need to put yourself in danger.”

“Again, it wasn’t your fault, but I know this changes things, so I’m going to take a shower, if your brother wouldn’t mind too much, and I’ll be on my way.”