I watch him swallow, turning to look out at the turquoise waters. “I haven’t been back here since the accident,” he continues. “But it felt like it was time.”
“How come?”
“I don’t know. Time for me to move on, maybe, once and for all.” A soft smile stretches his lips, and he turns his eyes back to me. “My accident defined me for so long, but I don’t want that anymore. I thought I’d never come back here. I thought I’d never face my past as I’m facing it now. Over the past few months, I’ve developed a strength that I never knew I had. It’s because of you—I know it is. You’ve shown me what it means to be brave, tenacious, and strong.”
My Prince drops his lips to mine, and my heart is so filled with love and joy that I feel like I’m going to burst. Our twins start fluttering in my stomach so hard that even Luca feels them against him. We laugh, looking down at our children as they kick with us.
“Love you,” Luca says, kissing my forehead.
Before I can answer, a noise interrupts us. Someone sneezes from behind the tree line.
“Well, well, well,” a voice calls out. “I never thought I’d see you up here again.”
I turn to see Luca’s half-brother Beckett walk out from behind a tree. His beard has grown, and he looks like he hasn’t showered in days. He sneezes again, swearing softly as he rubs his nose. Luca stiffens, moving in front of me to block me from his brother’s gaze.
“Have you been hiding out here this whole time?” The tension is back in Luca’s shoulders.
Beckett grunts, staring at the two of us with beady, black eyes. He peers over Luca’s shoulder at me, and a chill courses down my spine.
“What do you want, Beckett?” Luca’s voice is gruff. Angry. Menacing.
“I want you to finish what we started five years ago.” He jerks his head to the cliff. “You should have died that day.”
Something in the way his brother’s lips curl makes my blood turn to ice. My heart thumps.
“What are you talking about?” I croak from behind Luca’s back.
“I said, you should have died that day. Everyone knows it. But no, you had to live, because everything you do is so fucking perfect. You couldn’t just be a mortal, for once.” Beckett scoffs, staring at the two of us with a razor-sharp gaze.
I can feel his hatred slicing through me. I wince.
Beckett takes a step toward us. “You even brought your pregnant wife up here, just to rub my nose in how much better your life turned out than mine.”
“I didn’t even know you were up here, Beckett.” Luca moves slowly, pulling his cell phone out of his pants pocket. He hands it to me behind his back, and I know he wants me to call for help.
Beckett looks like he’s in his own world. He combs his fingers through his beard, staring at Luca with bone-chilling hatred. “Do you remember that day, brother? Because I do. I knew that water was too shallow, but I convinced you to jump, anyway.” Beckett scoffs, shaking his head. “I thought it would bring Cara and me closer together. I thought I could take your place. All I did was create the fucking demi-god that you’ve become.”
The two of them face off in front of each other. My pulse feels thick and sluggish in my veins as my mind whirls around me, and my hands just won’t cooperate. I can’t get Luca’s phone unlocked, and then I notice there’s no signal. My eyes dart back up to the two brothers. Luca’s still standing protectively between the two of us, and Beckett is starting to circle to the left, pinning us next to the cliff’s edge.
“You didn’t convince me to jump,” Luca says slowly. “I’d wanted to do it for weeks.”
“And who planted the idea in the first place?” Beckett scoffs. “You’ve always been easy to lead.”
“No.” The Prince shakes his head. “No, you’re lying.”
Beckett barks out a laugh, rolling his eyes. “It was pointless, anyway. Cara didn’t want me. She upgraded to Theo. Why be the bastard boy’s wife when you can be a queen?”
Slowly, second by second, moment by moment, Beckett’s words are starting to sink in.
He was in love with Cara.
He tried to kill Luca…multiple times. He tried to get him to break his back, and then came back five years later to finish the job with pills.