“Everyone will know. And everything we’ve built for her will be ruined.”
“They won’t turn on her. Ara’s as much a victim as Keira. Or you.” Tears filled the father’s voice.
Ian couldn’t manage any sympathy.
“Let’s hope not,” Cameron gestured to her neck. “For her sake as well as yours, let’s hope not.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Keso loomed over Cameron.
Ian stepped silently into the room.
“If anything happens to her—”
“What? You’ll kill me?” His voice mocked her.
Cameron’s eyes held no mirth. “I’ll certainly have no reason not to.” The rasp of her voice made her words more sinister.
Keso spun away from her, his eyes going wide as they met Ian’s.
“Have you told him?” Though he spoke to Cameron, his gaze held Ian’s.
“There’s nothing to tell him,” she replied.
“Did she tell you that bastard who tried to kill her tonight killed my sister?”
Over Keso’s shoulder, he met Cameron’s gaze. Where defeat had resided moments before, determination now burned.
“Assuming the man you’re talking about is the same man who owned the plane, yes.”
“Did she tell you he’s Ara’s—”
“Stop it,” Cameron cried. “Don’t you say it, Keso. He’s nothing but a liability to her.”
Keso smirked. “But so am I, right?” With a final glare at Cameron, he pushed past Ian and into the hall. A moment later, the front door of the clinic banged shut.
Not knowing what to say, Ian remained in the doorway. Cameron’s lips twisted as if trying to keep her sobs contained.
Finally moving toward her bed, he asked, “Is he right? Was Victor Roberts the one who attacked you? The man who killed Keso’s sister?”
She laid her head against the pillow and closed her eyes. Swallowing, she winced at the pain. “It wasn’t actually Victor Roberts. He doesn’t handle his own dirty work.”
It sickened Ian how callously she spoke of her attack. As if she wasn’t important, as if she wasn’t everything to him.
“Why?” He sank to the stool beside her bed. “What’s going on?”
He longed to touch her, hold her. But he recognized this side of Cameron. This was the version he’d dealt with after Africa. The cold, withdrawn shell of her had lived with him for six months before she left him. As much as he loved her, he didn’t know what to do with this version of her.
Releasing a harsh breath, she shifted her gaze to him. “Keira ran away from home. Victor Roberts got her somehow, willingly, I think. He made her his little pet. Until…” Clamping her mouth shut, she studied her broken fingernails.
“Until?”
When she lifted her face to his, her blank expression warned him she was about to lie. “Don’t,” he pleaded. “Whatever bullshit you’re about to tell me. Don’t.”
They stared at each other. Apparently, if she couldn’t tell him lies, she had nothing to say. But he couldn’t sit by helplessly either.
“Cam. Baby. What do you need? What can I do?”
New tears streaked down her bruised cheeks. “You can go home, Ian. Go back to the States, to your life. Forget everything you saw on this island.”
Rage sent him springing from the stool. The furniture crashed to the floor behind him. Startled by the sound, Cameron jumped, crying out in pain.
“Forget?” he yelled. “How the hell do I forget anything? God knows if I could, I would’ve forgotten you a long time ago.”
Her swollen eyes widened, filling with fresh tears. Damn it. Why the hell did he always say the wrong shit to her?
“Maybe you’ll have better luck this time,” she whispered.
“How can you ask me to just walk away from you? I love you, Cam. I’ve missed you, mourned you. You can’t claim to love me and ask me to do that again.”
Maybe she hadn’t experienced the same hell at their separation as he had, but surely, she couldn’t want to relive it either.
Tears fell harder. Her body shook with the force. Pain streaked across her face. Rushing to her, he pulled her gently into his arms. “Don’t cry, baby. Please.”
Although not a patient man, he waited as her tears subsided. Holding her against him, he ran his hand down her spine, soothing them both. Finally, she tilted away.
“Come with me,” he pleaded.
Already shaking her head, she protested. “Ian, I told you. I won’t leave. You promised.”
“But that was before you were in danger here.”
“I’ll be fine.” She couldn’t even look at him as she lied.
“So, you’re going to the police? You’re going to have the man who did this arrested, so he can’t go do this again?”
“The police? He owns the police, Ian.”
She’d said as much before. No one had been punished for the death of Keso’s sister because Victor Roberts was the law. That explanation didn’t work for Ian. Not when the situation involved Cameron. How could he stand by and not demand the bastard pay for attacking the woman he loved? Suddenly he understood why Keso had been so hell-bent on ending the other man. Right now, Ian would gladly lead the charge.
“Go home with me,” he insisted. If nothing could be done on the island to protect Cameron from Victor Roberts’s influence, he’d take her somewhere where he could protect her.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
“No.” Shifting nearer, he pushed his face closer to hers. “You’re not safe here. Come home where I can keep you safe.”
She shook her head, biting back a groan as she did.
“Damn it, Cameron. Don’t be stubborn about this. You can’t stay here like some damn sacrifice waiting for him to come back. Pack your shit and come home with me. If you won’t do it for you, do it for Arabella.”
She shoved him away. “Everything I’ve done for the past four and a half years has been for her. Don’t you dare use her against me.” Fury glowed in her battered face. “If it weren’t for her…”
“What Cam? If it weren’t for her, what?”
She hung her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I’d be dead or back home.”
“So, the same choices you have now? Come home with me,” he pleaded again.
“No.” Finally losing her composure, she tried to yell, but her battered throat wouldn’t allow her voice to rise more than a whisper. “I can’t, Ian. I can’t leave her. He wants her.”
Her words, more powerful for their softness, struck at him like a fist.
“Why?” Hadn’t the man come for Cameron? Keso had said Roberts was attracted to her, that he wanted her. Why the hell would he want Arabella? “Arabella’s a child.”
“His child.”
So, this was about Keso? “Surely, they won’t punish her because of Keso. Do you really believe that?”
“Keso’s not her father.”
Ian froze. “What did you say?”
“Oh God,” she mumbled. Her shoulders sagged as if someone had just dumped the weight of the world on them. But somehow, he thought she’d already been carrying that load.
Rising from the bed, he stood over her. “Cameron, what did you say?”
“Nothing. Forget it. Go home, Ian. Leave me alone.”
“You said Keso isn’t her father.” Which had to be bullshit. The girl was his fucking mini-me. At first, Ian could hardly look at her through the green haze of envy that this beautiful child of Cameron’s was Keso’s and not his. “She looks just like him, Cam.”
Shaking her head, she closed her eyes. “She looks like her mother.”
No. She talked and moved like Cameron, but her eyes, her hair they were all Keso. Studying the woman before him, he searched for any resemblance to the tiny girl who’d recently stolen his heart. Nothing.
“I’m not her mother.”
Even after Africa, he hadn’t seen Cameron so broken. As if her admission had taken all the life from her.
“Keira, Keso’s sister, is her real mother.” Sobs overtook her now, swallowing her in her own misery.
No. Fuck biology. Cameron was her mother, her real mother, for whatever that meant. No woman had ever loved a child more than Cameron loved Arabella. Hadn’t she just endured hell and was willing to do it again to save the girl?
Clutching her shoulders, he gave her a swift shake. “Tell me.”
Between sobs, she choked out, “I couldn’t save her. I delivered Ara, but Keira was so young and so small and already so hurt.” She twisted his t-shirt in her grip. “I tried Ian. I swear to God, I tried, but I couldn’t save her.”
The mother she’d lost. The first delivery after Africa. She still worried she could’ve done more.
“I delivered Ara first to make sure I could save her. Keira already loved her daughter. I couldn’t let her…”
“Shh.” Embracing her, he rocked her. She didn’t have to explain. If given the choice in Africa, she would’ve told Wes to save her baby first. Still, Ian couldn’t regret his decision. If Cameron had died, their daughter would have died with her. Then Cameron wouldn’t have been there to save Arabella when the baby needed her. They had no way of knowing how their decisions would turn out, but he couldn’t be sorry.
“You did what you had to, baby. You did what you could and what was right.” He rubbed his hands over her hair as he rocked her. “We’ll keep doing what needs to be done,” he vowed. “You, me, Keso. We’ll keep your daughter safe.”
She pulled away. “Didn’t you hear me? She’s not mine, she’s not Keso’s, she’s—”
“Stop it.” He held her away from him, so he could look her in the eyes. “She’s yours. And she’s his. I’ve never seen two people love a child more. I’ve never seen a child love her parents more. You are her mother; the only mother she knows.”
“I never had Keso’s baby.” She looked up at him with her sapphire eyes swimming in tears. “I wouldn’t . . . After what happened, I couldn’t have a child with someone else. I wouldn’t have done that to you, no matter how angry I was.” Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “But after Arabella, I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t come back to you.”
He bit his lip to keep his own tears at bay and pulled her against him again. He couldn’t hold that against her now, and he couldn’t help but love her a bit more for it. She said she wasn’t Arabella’s mother, but she’d permanently forsaken the only life she’d ever known to stay and take care of the baby. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Now they’d all do what was necessary to keep them both safe.
* * *
Gritting her teeth, Cameron lowered herself to the bench overlooking the ocean. Every inch of her body hurt. But Arabella was safe… for now.
“You should be in bed.”
Startled, she flinched, then groaned as pain shot through her.
Ian grimaced. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Waving off his apology, she turned back to the water. Despite her fear of the element’s power, she found it oddly comforting. And humbling.
“I meant what I said though. You should be in bed.”
No. She should be dead. If Ian hadn’t arrived when he did, or if her attacker hadn’t arrogantly assumed her already dead, she’d be lying cold under a sheet right now.
“I can’t keep staring at the ceiling.” For the past two days she’d stayed in bed as Wes had instructed. No more. “You’re supposed to be back in the States by now.”
Because of her attack, Ian and Wes had delayed their departure. A few days ago, she would’ve rejoiced to have more time with the man she loved. Now every day he stayed just made saying goodbye more difficult.
“I’m in no hurry to get back. Wes and I will stay until you’re better.”
Easing to the bench beside her, he stretched an arm over the back, surrounding her with his warmth.
“I’m better. Healing will take time. There’s nothing for you or Wes to do.”
Dark eyes narrowing, he bit down on his bottom lip. “I’d rather see you well myself.”
Which meant she couldn’t afford to show him any weakness. They lapsed into a tense silence. Although years had passed since she’d been in a relationship with Ian, she knew him well enough to know something weighed on his mind. Finally, unable to take the strained silence any longer, she turned to him. “Just spit it out. Whatever it is, saying it has to be better than stewing.”
His eyebrow quirked, and one side of his mouth turned up. The caving of his dimple caused a riot of fluttering in her stomach. Damn the man for being so gorgeous.
“I think you should reconsider coming home with me.”
When she opened her mouth to protest, he pulled his arm from behind her and held both hands up for her to stop. “You and Arabella. Hell, even Keso. You’re not safe here, Cameron. None of you are. He’s going to come back for Ara. Once he finds out you’re alive, he’ll come for you too. He—”
“I know.”
Her quiet admission did more to silence him than any argument.
“You know?”
She nodded. “You don’t have to convince me that we’re in danger. I know… Probably better than anyone.”
Hope filled his eyes as he straightened. “So, you’ll come? You’ll…”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“You keep saying that, but—”
“It’s the truth. Do you think I’ve never considered coming back? You weren’t the only one I left behind. I left my entire life. My history. There have been times over the years when I’ve missed the familiarity so badly, I physically ached for it. But I can’t take Arabella to the United States, Ian. Even for a visit. It’s impossible.”
Confused, he gave his head a hard shake. “Is it money? I’ll buy you both tickets. I’ll—”
“And what will you do when they ask for her passport? Her birth certificate? She doesn’t have those. Arabella Lawrence doesn’t exist.”
Ian’s mouth fell open. After all these years, she’d finally rendered him speechless.
“I delivered her in Keso’s apartment. Then Keira died and we just . . .” She shrugged. How could she explain the days following Keira’s death and Arabella’s birth? If she had it to do over, she would’ve made different choices. Probably.
“So, you go tell the government or whatever what happened and you…” His voice trailed off as she shook her head.
“Legally, technically, biologically she’s Victor Roberts’s daughter. She might be Keso’s niece, but that won’t matter if Roberts tries to take her.” And he’d already proven he was prepared to kill to get her.
Ian pushed up from the bench to pace away from her. “You could explain that her mother died. That Keso was the only family. That you…”
“That we kidnapped her.”
Spinning around, he regarded her out of wide eyes.
“We did. And I’d do it again a thousand times to protect her from a life with that bastard. But we kidnapped her. A promise to a dying mother will not stand up in court.” Though chances were with Victor Roberts involved, they’d never make it to a courtroom.
Defeated, Ian sank to the bench. Perhaps now he understood she wasn’t just being stubborn or heartless. That it wasn’t her lack of love for him that kept her away.
She slipped her hand into his much larger one, then squeezed. “I hear everything you’re saying, Ian. I know we would be safer with you. But if I try to take her home, she’ll be taken from me and given to Victor. And I’ll likely be arrested.” Which didn’t frighten her nearly as much as Arabella at Victor Roberts’s mercy.
Tightening his grip on her hand, Ian leaned over and planted a kiss on the top of her head. “We’ll figure it out,” he vowed. “One way or another, we’ll make sure you’re both safe.”
Nodding, she leaned into him. They would be safe. She had a plan, but neither that plan nor her future involved Ian.
* * *
Two days later, Ian stood outside the clinic. His bags were packed for his return trip home, but he wouldn’t be taking the most important things with him. At the sound of footsteps on the packed dirt, he lifted his head. Slowly, Cameron made her way to him. Looking at her face still made his stomach twist and his fists clinch. To say bruises covered her face didn’t accurately describe her. Blue and purple covered so much of her skin that she appeared to have simply turned colors. Eventually, the marks would turn green and yellow, then fade away. But Ian could never unsee what the monster had done to her.
“All packed up?” The stitches in her lip kept her from giving him a full smile. Something in the way she held herself aloof from him though, told him she wouldn’t have smiled even if she could.
“Yeah. I was planning to come by the cottage before I headed to the boat.”
Looking away, she gave a tiny nod. “I thought this would be better.”
“Better?”
“Easier.”
No. Nothing about any of this was easy. Whether he told her goodbye here at the clinic or at her cottage, he’d never done anything harder. How the hell had she walked away all those years ago?
“Have you changed your mind and decided to go with me?” He grinned as if he were joking. They both knew better.
Without returning his smile, she shook her head. “I’ve already—”
“Yeah. I know.” Not wanting to argue with her moments before he left, he stepped closer to pull her into his arms.
Instead, she stepped away.
Her action stung. “Cam?”