Desiree
Tell us how you really feel, Arjen.I refused to listen to anymore. I was no more than a possession to Arjen and me sticking around would only cause more trouble between the brothers. I didn’t want to be the thing that broke up two brothers who obviously cared deeply for each other.
I knew the risk I was taking while I was feeding my desire for Khane, and the worst part, I wasn’t sorry. Guilt, yes, sorrow, not an ounce. The connection I had with Khane had been that strong. As a matter of fact, it was strong enough that I would rather leave him than to be a constant problem he would face with me around.
Now that the dirty laundry had been aired, it was always going to be difficult for the three of us to be in a room together. I had been wrong to assume that the circumstances surrounding how we had come together would make my affair with Khane easier for Arjen to swallow.
The suffocating darkness appeared to grow thicker as I scooted to the edge of the bed, and closer to the light. As I reached for the lamp, I changed my mind and left the room plunged in darkness. The automatic lights snapped on when I walked into my closet, causing me to shield my eyes from the brightness. I jumped into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt before sliding into my shoes.
I snatched up my purse and slung it over my shoulder before easing from my room and thankfully, found the coast clear. I hadn’t even wasted time packing a bag as the urgent need to get out of the situation had me speed walking to my car.
Arjen and Khane’s loud shouting had threatened to bring the house down and had apparently drew the guards’ attention. They were in the study, but their voices filled the space of the entire house so loudly the intercom may as well have been blaring.
“I don’t want to fight you, Arjen!” Khane shouted.
“Too motherfucking late!” Arjen roared back before another series of thunderous knocks and pounding erupted.
Thankfully, Arjen’s security team was distracted by the arguing brothers, so they hadn’t noticed me slipping past them like a cat burglar.
When I was sure they could no longer see my car, I flipped on my headlights. I had no idea where the hell I was going, but I couldn’t stay and marry Arjen. He was going to punish Khane and me for the rest of our lives. At least with me gone, the brothers were more likely to heal the strong bond they’d shared. I couldn’t stick around knowing that I would always want Khane and couldn’t have him.
Shit! Desiree! You have royally fucked up this time.
If I were more like my cousin, I wouldn’t have cared one bit about the arguing brothers. She would have been right there arguing with them, telling them how this was an arrangement, it didn’t matter who she fucked, and that she would never love either one of them.
Mecca was set to marry Khane, which would seal the deal and strengthen the Vallin-Evans union. Besides, she was way more suited for handling a situation like the one I was running away from.
Thankfully, I had paid enough attention to know I needed to avoid CCTV and traffic cameras as much as possible because their cousin Tywin and someone they had called Rhino appeared to be the family experts in that area.
The Vallins ran the west coast, so I needed to go east, or as far south east as I could get.
A smile crept across my lips. First, I needed to ditch my car. Arjen undoubtedly had it fixed with a way to track me. Denver Union Station wasn’t that far away. I veered off on the next exit and drove off the side of the road.
As much as I loved my new car, I was going to trade it and have an Uber pick me up at a hotel a few miles off the exit. I didn’t need the brothers knowing where I was going. The hundreds of veins of tracks across the country could take me to any place I wanted to go. All I had to do was switch up my train every so often to keep them off my trail.
My phone buzzed for the hundredth time, but this time I answered when I saw that it was Mecca. I placed it on speaker, as I called up my Uber app.
“Where the hell are you, Des? Khane just called me, worried about you being off some place by yourself.”
“I’m…” The bright lights of a car pulling in behind me caused me to turn my head up from my phone and cut my words short.
“I’m more trouble than I’m worth. I’m about to make everyone’s lives easier and disappear.”
“I’m coming to get you. Where are you?” she asked, the stress in her tone made more guilt surface.
My eyes were glued to the man exiting the vehicle behind me. I hadn’t put on my flashers, and the vehicle wasn’t a police car. The man that approached was mountainous like one of the Vallins guards. “Dammit. They’ve found me already.” I was speaking more to myself than to Mecca. “You don’t have to come and get me. Arjen’s men have found me.”
“Thank goodness,” she called into the phone. “Please, don’t do this kind of shit again. If you need to get away, come and stay with me. Promise you’ll call me, Des.”
“I promise. Love you,” I called back into the phone. My eyes had never dropped away from the approaching man. “Love you too,” she responded before clicking off.
I fingered the button that would take down my window as the last few days replayed in my brain. My father was missing or hiding, and men had been spying on Mecca and me while we ate lunch, searching for his Bookkeeper. Men had also tried to take me while I was relaxing at a spa with Patrena. They were men that the Vallins hadn’t identified yet. Men that would likely be staked out searching for me. This man, at a closer view, wasn’t one of the guards I had seen around Arjen’s house.
Big mistake running from men that could protect you. Big mistake telling your cousin that the Vallins had found you. Smart move, you idiot!
Had I made the biggest mistake of my life leaving Arjen’s house, alone?