12. Cara

Chapter twelve

Cara

T he phone slips from my numb fingers, clattering to the floor in a discordant symphony of plastic on hardwood. For a moment, I can only stare at it, my vision blurring with unshed tears, my heart a leaden weight in my chest.

June's voice, so familiar and yet so alien, echoes in my mind. The venom, the vitriol, the sheer, unfiltered hatred in his words... it's like a knife to the gut, a brutal, twisting agony that steals the breath from my lungs.

"What have they done to you?" I whisper, a broken plea to the uncaring universe. "What have those monsters done to the man I love?"

I sink to my knees, uncaring of the cold, unyielding floor beneath me. My hands shake as I press them to my belly, feeling the tiny flutter of life within. Our child. Our hope. The only piece of June I have left.

A sob wrenches free from my throat, raw and jagged as broken glass. It echoes in the emptiness of the room, the emptiness inside me where June's love used to live. I've never felt so alone, so utterly bereft. Not even when I stood at my father's graveside, watching them lower his casket into the unforgiving earth.

This is a different kind of loss, a different breed of grief. Because June isn't gone, not really. He's still out there, still breathing, his heart still beating in tandem with mine. But the man I spoke to on the phone, the man who snarled such poisonous words in a twisted mockery of my love's voice...

That's not my June. That's not the gentle, fiercely protective soul who held me close and whispered sweet everythings against my skin. That's not the man who fought against his own demons, his own dark legacy, to build a life with me.

No, that creature is something else entirely. A shell, a husk, a broken, bleeding thing that Faulkner and Elaine have hollowed out and filled with their spite and their malice.

The thought sends a fresh wave of anguish crashing over me, so intense it steals my breath. I curl in on myself, arms wrapped tight around the swell of my stomach, as if I could shield our child from the horrors of the world through sheer force of will.

But even as despair threatens to drag me under, a small, stubborn ember flares to life in my chest. A spark of defiance, of determination, of pure, unadulterated rage at the people who have dared to lay their filthy hands on the man I love.

They think they've won. They think they've broken him, shattered him beyond repair. But they don't know June like I do. They don't understand the depths of his strength, the iron core of resilience that runs through him like a seam of purest steel.

He's still in there. My June, my heart, the father of my child. Beneath the layers of torment and manipulation, beneath the poison they've dripped into his ear and the lies they've carved into his skin...

He endures. He fights. He clings to the memory of us, the promise of the life we've dreamed of building together.

And if he can hold on, if he can keep that flame alive in the darkest of hells...

Then so can I.

I uncurl slowly, every muscle screaming in protest as I force myself to stand on shaking legs. The world tilts and spins around me, but I grit my teeth and ride out the wave of dizziness. I don't have time for weakness, for self-pity. Not now. Not when June needs me to be strong.

I take a deep breath, centering myself, drawing on the well of love and fury and determination that burns like a second heart in my chest. The baby kicks, a tiny foot jabbing against my ribs, and a watery laugh bubbles up in my throat.

"That's right, little one," I murmur, rubbing soothing circles over the spot. "We're going to fight. We're going to bring Daddy home."

A gentle hand on my shoulder startles me from my reverie. I turn to see Natalie, warm brown eyes soft with sympathy and shared pain. "Damn straight we are," she says, fierce conviction ringing in every word. "And we're not going to do it alone."

She takes my hand, pressing it firmly against the swell of my belly. "You've got an army behind you, Cara. The Corleones, Sarah, Amethyst... we're all in your corner. All fighting to bring June back to where he belongs."

Tears sting my eyes, gratitude and relief a hot lump in my throat. I'd almost forgotten, in the depths of my anguish, that I'm not alone in this fight. That I have friends, allies, people who love June almost as fiercely as I do.

"Thank you," I whisper, the words woefully inadequate but heartfelt nonetheless. "I don't... I don't know what I'd do without you. Without all of you."

Natalie smiles, warm and genuine, and pulls me into a hug. She's careful not to crush my belly, but the embrace is still tight, still desperate, two women clinging to each other amidst the storm.

"You'll never have to find out," she promises, her breath ruffling my hair. "We're with you, Cara. To the ends of the earth, to the gates of hell themselves. We're going to make this right."

I cling to her, drawing strength from the iron certainty in her voice, the steadfast loyalty in her touch. For a few precious moments, I allow myself to just breathe, to exist in the circle of my best friend's arms and believe that somehow, someway, we'll find a way through this nightmare.

But all too soon, the weight of reality intrudes, the ticking clock of June's torment an insistent metronome in the back of my mind. I pull away, swiping at my tears with the back of my hand.

"Okay," I say, drawing in a fortifying breath. "Okay. What's our next move? How do we get him out of there?"

Natalie's eyes glint with something fierce and flinty, a lioness preparing to defend her pride. "Dante's working on that as we speak. He's got his best people combing through every scrap of intel Sarah's managed to smuggle out, looking for weaknesses, exploitable flaws in Elaine's security."

She guides me to the couch, her touch gentle but insistent. "The doctors said you need to rest, to avoid stress for the baby's sake. I know it's hard, but you have to trust us to handle this. Just for a little while."

The world tilts and spins around me, a dizzying kaleidoscope of fear and desperation as Natalie's words sink in. "What do you mean, I can't go with you?" I demand, my voice rising in pitch and volume. "June needs me, Nat. He needs to know that I'm here, that I'm fighting for him!"

Natalie's expression is a study in conflicted anguish, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Cara, please. You have to understand..." She takes a deep, shuddering breath, as if steeling herself for a blow. "Sarah's latest intel, it's... it's bad. Really bad."

A chill skitters down my spine, icy fingers of dread plucking at my vertebrae. "What is it? What aren't you telling me?"

She closes her eyes for a moment, visibly gathering her strength. When she opens them again, they're bleak and haunted, twin pools of sorrow. "Faulkner's been using your image, your voice, to torture June. Twisting his memories, his love for you, into a weapon to break his mind."

Nausea rises in my throat, hot and acrid. I press a trembling hand to my mouth, swallowing convulsively against the urge to vomit. "No," I whisper, a broken, disbelieving plea. "No, he can't... they can't..."

But even as the denial falls from my lips, I know it's true. Know it in the marrow of my bones, in the shattered remnants of my heart. The hateful, poisonous words June spat at me over the phone... they were a product of Faulkner's depraved machinations, a twisted reflection of the love he's perverted into a source of agony.

"I have to go to him," I insist, shaking my head frantically. "I have to show him that it's not real, that I'm not the monster they've made me out to be!"

Natalie grips my shoulders, her fingers digging into my flesh with desperate strength. "Cara, listen to me. If you go charging in there now, in your condition, with June's mind in the state it's in... he might not react the way you want. The way you need."

A sob hitches in my chest, a broken, animalistic sound of purest anguish. "What are you saying, Nat? That my love of my life might hurt me? Might hurt our child?"

She flinches as if I've struck her but holds fast to her resolve. "I'm saying that June's not in his right mind. That Faulkner's fucked with his head in ways we can't even begin to imagine. And if seeing you, hearing your voice, triggers some kind of violent episode..."

I recoil, bile scorching the back of my throat. The idea is unthinkable, a nightmarish scenario that my mind rebels against with every fiber of its being. June would never hurt me. Never lay a hand on me in anger or madness. He's the gentlest soul I've ever known, the kindest heart to ever beat in tandem with mine.

But that was before. Before Elaine's cruelty, before Faulkner's sadistic games. Before they took the purest, most precious thing in our lives and twisted it into an instrument of torture.

"I can't abandon him," I whisper, my voice a thready, broken rasp. "I can't leave him to suffer alone, Natalie. What kind of wife, what kind of mother, would that make me?"

Natalie's expression softens, her eyes liquid with sympathy and shared grief. "The kind that understands that sometimes, the bravest thing we can do is step back. Let others take the lead, just for a little while, until it's safe to be in the fray again."

She presses a hand to my belly, her touch infinitely gentle. "This little one needs you, Cara. Needs you whole and healthy and ready to be the mama bear they deserve. And June... June needs to know that you're protected. That Faulkner can't use you as a pawn in his sick little game anymore."

I squeeze my eyes shut, hot tears leaking from beneath my lids to scorch trails down my cheeks. Every instinct, every fiber of my being, screams at me to fight. To claw my way to June's side and drag him out of the hell he's trapped in, no matter the cost.

But the flutter beneath my palm, the tiny, precious life depending on me for survival... it stops me cold. Forces me to confront the terrible, inevitable truth of Natalie's words.

I can't be there. Can't be the one to pull June from the wreckage, to hold him close and whisper desperately needed words of love and comfort.

Not this time. Not when the risk, the price of failure, is so unbearably high.

"Promise me." The words rasp from my throat, raw and bleeding. "Promise me you'll bring him back to me, Natalie. That you'll move heaven and earth to bring the father of my child home."

Natalie's eyes blaze with resolve, with a fierce, unshakable determination that sears itself into my battered soul. "I swear it," she vows, her voice ringing with conviction. "On my life, on my honor, on every drop of blood in my veins. I will not rest until Juniper Deveaux is back where he belongs."

She pulls me into a hug, fierce and desperate, two women clinging to each other amidst the gathering storm. "I will bring him home to you, Cara," she whispers, the words a solemn oath. "To you, and to that precious little life you're fighting so hard to protect."

I let myself sag into her embrace, drawing strength from the unwavering certainty in her voice. It feels like surrender, like a failure of the most fundamental kind. But deep in my bones, in the secret, shadowed corners of my heart...

I know it's the only choice. The only way to ensure that when the dust settles, when the battle is won and the smoke clears...

There's something left to come home to.

"Okay," I whisper, the word tasting like ashes on my tongue. "Okay, Nat. I'll stay behind. I'll let you and the others take point on this one."

I pull back, fixing her with a stare that could cut glass. "But you have to swear to me, on everything you hold dear, that you'll be careful. That you won't take any unnecessary risks, or let June do anything stupid in the name of vengeance."

A ghost of a smile flickers across Natalie's face, there and gone in a heartbeat. "I'll do my best. But you know our boys, Cara. They've never been ones to shy away from a little necessary stupidity."

A choked laugh bubbles up in my throat, mingling with the tears that won't seem to stop falling. "Bastards," I mutter, but there's no heat in it. Only a bone-deep, soul-deep affection for the brave, beautiful, reckless men we've given our hearts to. "If I can't be there, I'll send you the contact of someone who should be…needs to be, if not for me – then for June."

"You do that, anything to make you and my future godchild Onyx happy." Natalie presses a kiss to my forehead, soft and achingly tender.

"And Cara, we'll bring him back," she promises again, a vow and a prayer and a blood-soaked benediction. "No matter what it takes, no matter how long the road or how high the cost. We'll bring him home to you."

I close my eyes, breathing in the scent of her, the familiar comfort of my best friend, my sister in all but blood. "I know you will," I murmur, the words a talisman against the fear, the doubt, the crushing weight of helplessness. "I trust you, Natalie. With my life, with June's life. With everything."

She squeezes me once more, a final, fierce embrace. Then she's pulling away, squaring her shoulders, the mantle of leadership settling over her like a second skin.

"Rest now," she instructs, her voice soft but brooking no argument. "Gather your strength, for yourself and for the little one. Let us handle the rest."

I nod, too spent, too hollowed out by grief and desperation to protest. I let her guide me to the bed, let her tuck the covers around me like a child in need of comfort.

And as I drift off into an uneasy, fitful sleep, my hands curled protectively over the swell of my belly, a single thought crystallizes in the whirling chaos of my mind.

Hold on, my love. Hold on through the darkness, through the pain, through the lies that twist like poisoned vines in your mind.

We're coming for you. Natalie, Dante, Sarah... an army of light, battling through the shadows to bring you back to yourself. Back to me.

Back to the family that waits for you, the love that will never, ever let you go.

So fight, Juniper Deveaux. Fight with everything you are, everything you've ever been.

And know that no matter how long it takes, no matter what horrors rise up to block our path...

I will always be here. Waiting, hoping, loving.

Until the last star burns out and the last breath fades from my lungs.

Yours, forever and always.

My heart. My home.

My once upon a time.