Chapter 24
By the time I woke up the next morning, I felt more drained than I did when I went to sleep. I was
exhausted and I had a pounding headache at the back of my skull. It felt like someone was trying to
drill a hole in my head or trying to create a construction site. I was frustrated and I was tired but I
knew I had to get up for the day.
Jaxon wasn’t in bed when I woke up but his side of the bed was warm, letting me know that he had
just recently gotten out. I couldn’t go out in just his shirt so I walked into his closet and took one of
the first pair of sweatpants I could find. They were long and big and despite having a rope, it was
still very huge on me.
I had to roll up the ankles so I wouldn’t trip on them as well as roll up the waist so it wouldn’t fall off.
I looked ridiculous but I couldn’t bring myself to care especially when the only other option was to
walk around half naked or in dirty clothes. I stepped out of the room and the brightness from the
hallway assaulted my eyes.
I hadn’t expected it to be that bright because in the room, the curtains were drawn. I stumbled back
a little and i tripped over my own feet. Just as I was about to fall on my a*s, I felt someone reach out
and grab me. Judging by the sparks that erupted all over my skin, I knew it was Jaxon. He helped
me up and I thanked him with a small
smile.
“Are you okay?” he asked and I nodded which proved to be the wrong move because it made my
headache a thousand times worse. “I was justing to get you.”
“I wanted to get out of the room,” I managed out as my eyes finally adjusted to the light.
He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a simple grey shirt. I pulled away from him and he looked
down at me – with a small smile marring his lips. I knew he was smiling because I was wearing his
clothes so I ended up rolling
my eyes.
“Where is Kiara?” I asked and he was forced to finally look up at my face.
“In her room, I was about to get her.”
“Where is my step mother?”
“In her room as well. I can make sure she is kept there until Kiara is done with breakfast.”
As much as I wanted that, I had to shake my head. The more we acted like Kiara was something we
wanted to
hide, the more she was going to dig and find her. If she knew that I didn’t want her to know
abbutikfara then she would only be more motivated to try to use her against me.
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I was terrified of what was going to happen if she ended up seeing Kiara but I knew that Jaxon was
going to be there and he was going to do everything in his power to protect our daughter. It was that
mantra I kept repeating in my head as we went to get our daughter for breakfast. She didn’t even
realize anything was wrong, she was just happy and excited and I couldn’t help but pray that she
would always be like that.
At first, it seemed like Cressida wasn’t going to show up for breakfast. The guards said that she was
still in her room and she had made no effort to step out. I was hoping it would stay that way but just
as we were finishing up at the table, she made her grand appearance.
She was dressed in a long dress the color of rubies. Her lips were painted the same color and her
hair was slicked back and straight. She walked with her nose in the air like she was above us but
her steps faltered when she saw Kiara. A turbulent emotion took over in her eyes but before I could
decipher it, it was gone.
“Who is that?” she asked in a deceptively soft voice as she made her way over to the table.
Kiara was seated opposite me and to Jaxon’s left. Her eyes shed to mine in a sort of panic and I
saw her reach out for her father’s hands. Jaxon wasted no time in picking her up and cing her
into hisp where she buried her face into his chest. My heart clenched as I saw how terrified she
was and I wanted nothing more than to pull her away to safety.
“She looks like you Freya,” Cressida said as she took the seat next to me. “How old is she?”
“Three,” I said softly and she hummed as if she was trying to piece together the information herself.
“Don’t you think we should have been informed about her birth? Your father would have wanted to
see his only grandchild. It was all he could speak about before-”
She trailed off with a short sigh and it was like my world had stopped spinning. I turned to her but
she faced the te in front of her and started eating as if she had not just dropped the biggest
bombshell ever. My mouth opened and closed repeatedly as I tried and failed to find words to
speak.
Finally, she looked up at me and she rolled her eyes. “Close your mouth Freya, or you will catch
flies.”
“My father is dead?” I asked and she sighed then ced her fork on her te. “Didn’t you think it
was something I should have known? Didn’t you think I should have been invited to the funeral? He
was my father.”
“You weren’t there,” she said pointedly. “It all happened so quickly. He was attacked by some
rogues and he was badly hurt. I didn’t think you should see him like that and I had to make a quick
decision about the funeral. Besides, I knew nothing about where he had taken you until a few weeks
ago.”
I knew she was igng. I knew she wanted to hurt me as much as possible by not inviting me to be
able to say goodbye to my father. I had harbored so much anger and resentment to him for selling
me off and he had died
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without my knowledge. I held so much anger towards a dead man,
“How long ago did he die?” I asked.
She had gone back to her food and she slowly chewed her food as if she had all the time in the
world. I waited.
I patiently as time seemed to stretch on. She finally swallowed her food and took a sip from her
ss of water.
“Two years ago.”
Her words shattered what little piece of sanity left and all I could do was stumble to my feet. I could
feel Jaxon’s “worried eyes on me but I couldn’t even bring myself to look at him. I wobbled on my
feet and turned towards the
door. All I wanted to do was get to the door and just calm myself down.
The door seemed so far away. My eyes were blurring and I wasn’t sure if it was because of tears or
because of the furious headache that was threatening to blind me. I couldn’t feel my legs or my
knees. I tried to move but the next thing I knew, darkness took me and thest thing I felt was my
body hitting the cold tiles and Jaxon screaming my name.
I heard the voices before I saw the people.
I couldn’t make out what they were saying but there was a lot of yelling. I could hear Jaxon
sounding furious as he spoke. I heard sobs and there was a much smaller voice. I let out a small
groan and tried to lift my hand to my head but it felt too heavy. My headache wasn’tpletely
gone but it had reduced significantly.
I was finally able to open my eyes and I had to blink to adjust to the brightness of the room. The first
thing I noticed was that I was back in Jaxon’s room and on the bed. There was a woman next to me
and judging by her – attire, I knew she was a doctor. Jaxon was standing in front of the bed but he
had rushed over to my side upon hearing my voice.
Cressida was standing where Jaxon formerly stood and there was fear hidden beneath her eyes.
She must have been the one Jaxon was yelling at. Kiara was also in the room and there were tear
marks on her face as she stood
next to Jaxon and clutched the back of his shirt with a death grip.
“What happened?” I managed out unable to form any other words.
Jaxon hesitated before speaking and the memories hit me all at once. My father was dead and I
wasn’t there to
see him. I wasn’t there to tell him I had forgiven him.
“Freya, darling, I’m so sorry.” Jaxon breathed softly as he watched me. “I am so very sorry!”
Tears gathered in my eyes and I tried to blink them away but they just kept pouring. I wiped them
away with my
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hands but they refused to stop. Jaxon pulled me into his arms and it was like the dam broke and I
let out a broken sob.
“He’s gone, Jaxon,”
“I know baby, I know.”
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