down at her in complete awe.
“You were right, dolcezza,” Jared said in a quiet voice as he touched his finger over the baby’s cheek. “She is the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.”
“How are you feeling?” my dad asked, his eyes running over my face in concern.
“I feel great,” I assured him with a tired smile. “I’m already thinking of how many more times I can do this.”
“No,” Jordan growled, shaking his head as he looked up from watching his mom with our daughter. “This is enough.”
“But you promised we could fill up our house with all the babies I wanted,” I reminded him with a grin.
“I don’t like seeing you in pain,” he grumbled.
“I felt pain for like two seconds,” I waved him off, only half teasing. “I think I want a boy next time, though. Like Mia, a girl and then a boy. And then maybe another boy, followed by two more girls.”
I watched him pale, but instead of arguing, he bent and kissed me. “Whatever you want, baby. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”
I knew he meant it, but I didn’t want to put him through this too many more times. I hated seeing him so stressed over my well-being. And there was no telling if the next delivery would actually go as smoothly as this one had.
“Maybe just one or two more,” I told him as I covered his left hand, my thumb rubbing over where my name was beautifully inked onto his finger. I would never get tired of seeing his “ring,” nor the possessive thrill I got when other women checked him out and he dismissed them with a wave of that hand that showed those bitches that he was mine.
“I think one more couldn’t hurt anything,” Mom said with a wink at me as she sat on my dad’s lap. “After all, you’re going to be so busy with all those movies, you don’t want to overextend yourself with too many babies right now.”
I nodded in agreement, but my eyes lingered on my parents as they cuddled. We didn’t talk about what happened with Garon anymore, but I’d made them tell me about what he’d sent them. They refused to tell me what was in the letters he’d left Mom, not wanting to put even more disturbing images in my head.
After Garon was shot, Detective Kirtner took a forensic team to his house and found further proof that he was, in fact, my stalker. Not only had there been a cage full of the poor little birds he’d sent me in some of the packages, but there had been bottles of my favorite lotion beside his bed, along with pictures of me all over his bedroom wall.
Pictures that he’d taken with his phone at a distance or gotten from the camera in my dressing room, which were of me naked while I was changing clothes.
Kirtner had discovered that Garon had a therapist and, after speaking to the man, told us Garon had started losing touch with reality following the death of his father. Garon had never told the man about what he was doing to Mom or me, but the majority of their therapy sessions had been about Garon complaining about Pop-Pop not loving him enough and leaving all his assets to Mom and her children.
Crazily enough, Garon had left me everything in his own will. I guess in his fucked-up mind, he thought we were going to be together forever once he kidnapped me. I hadn’t wanted any of his money. It felt tainted and dirty. I donated it to an organization that helped victims of abuse and stalkers start over.
The stake he owned in Strive, however, I’d gifted to Jordan. Now he didn’t need to go through Winston Cline to do the supervillainess movies he wanted to franchise. I couldn’t wait to lose the twenty pounds I’d gained while pregnant so we could start filming the first movie.
The story of how Garon died and why had caused a huge media frenzy for a few weeks, but once it calmed down, life had gotten back to normal for us. I didn’t hold it against my parents for keeping anything from me, and they hadn’t done the same with me. We were all at fault, but we’d only been trying to protect one another.
Jordan stroked my hair back from my face, pulling me out of my head. “You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he murmured, touching his lips to mine. “We can have as many babies as you want, my love. I’ll suck it up and deal. I did promise you we would fill up our house, and I still want that too. Just give me a few weeks to recover from being scared something might happen to you.”
“Deal,” I quickly agreed.
And that was how we ended up needing to add a few bedrooms to our house…
Playlist
“Feel It” by Michele Morrone
“My Arms” by LEDGER
“Time After Time” by GUNSHIP
“Starving” by Hailee Steinfeld & Grey
“Wait for Me” by From Ashes to New
“Don’t Let Me Down” by Fame on Fire & Arcaeus
“Listen to Your Heart” by Through Fire
“Crystalline” by Amaranthe
“Naked” by Ava Max
“My Oasis” by Sam Smith (ft. Burna Boy)
“Me Because of You” by HRVY
“Shh…Don’t Say It” by FLETCHER