Grandma holds her hand up. “There’s no better time than the present, Ares. In a mere four months, you’ll be a father. This isn’t something you can run away from. This kind of thing is better faced head-on. The three of you need to learn how to co-parent, because your child is going to need you, and you cannot allow him or her to be raised in a hostile environment.” She turns to me, and I tense. I didn’t even realize she’d noticed me standing here. “Don’t you agree, Raven?”
I nod at her and suppress the unwarranted betrayal I feel. She’s right, of course, yet somehow I can’t accept that she is. I don’t want Hannah in my home. I won’t survive seeing more moments such as the one I walked in on. I don’t want to bear witness to the inevitable rekindling of their relationship.
Ares turns around, his eyes wide. “Baby,” he says, walking up to me.
I take a step back and force a smile. “You can have this room,” I tell Hannah. She stares at me for a moment before nodding, the edges of her lips turned up into a small smile. Something about the way she looks at me doesn’t sit well with me. I suppose it’s her mocking gaze, as though she knows she didn’t need my acknowledgement or permission when she’s got Grandma by her side.
I step away and make my way to my bedroom, my heart in disarray. This is all of my worst nightmares come true. Seeing them together back when Ares and I were nothing but friends was bearable, because I could hide behind our friendship. Now? Now I’ll have to watch my husband fall for the woman I tore him away from, all over again.
“Raven!”
I freeze at the sound of Grandma’s voice and turn around with a polite smile on my lips. Her gaze roams over my face, her expression worried. “Are you okay, my darling?”
I nod. “Of course.”
Grandma looks away. “This is all my fault. I can see you’re hurting, Raven. You wouldn’t be in this situation if not for me. I’m the one who demanded that you marry Ares, but I should have known that it was too late for the two of you. Throughout the years, fate has brought Hannah and Ares together over and over again. I was foolish to think I could untangle their destinies. My attempts to do so have harmed you, and for that, I am forever sorry.”
I shake my head. “No, Grandma. It’s okay, I promise. Ares and I will be okay. You were right about us, and I’ve never once blamed you for the situation we were put in. If anything, I owe you a great debt for it. The last couple of months have been the happiest I’ve ever been.”
She looks into my eyes, her gaze searching. “But that happiness can’t last, Raven. It won’t. My sweet girl, do you think I didn’t notice the pain in your beautiful eyes each time you were around Hannah and Ares?”
I look away and wrap my arms around myself protectively. Was I so transparent? My mind involuntarily drifts back to Hannah telling me that she and Ares used to joke about my crush on him. Did everyone know?
“I don’t want to watch you lose your spirit over the next couple of months or years, Raven. He might be angry and shocked right now, but we both know that his protective instincts will kick in soon enough. It won’t take long for him to realize that she truly is carrying his baby. He’d do anything for his child, don’t you think? Can you bear watching him worry about her? Will your heart stay intact when he places his hand on her belly to feel the baby kick? All of those moments they’ll share that you can’t be part of are bound to hurt you.”
I draw a shaky breath and lift my face. “Then what would you have me do, Grandma?”
“My sweet girl, I don’t know what the right thing to do is, but I want you to think about your own happiness. This isn’t what I wanted for you. For years, I watched you wither away because of your love for Ares. I don’t want you to go through that again. You should have a love so grand that everything else pales in comparison. You should never come second to anyone else, and you shouldn’t have to fight over a man’s attention. But that’s the fate that awaits you with Ares. Hannah won’t let him leave her clutches, and the new bonds between them can’t be broken.”
She looks away for a moment, her gaze filled with sorrow. “I love you just as much as I love Sierra. I have always seen you as one of my own, Raven. Long before you married Ares, I considered you a Windsor.”
Grandma reaches for me and cups my cheek, her thumb swiping away a tear I didn’t realize had fallen. “My sweet girl, if you want to be set free, I’ll let you go. I’ll give you half of Windsor Media and all my support. I never should have asked you to marry Ares in the first place. Let me right my wrongs, Raven.”
I pull away from her, shocked. “Are you asking me to divorce Ares?”
Grandma shakes her head. “No, Raven. I would never ask that of you. I would want nothing more than to keep you in our lives. What I’m asking you to do is to choose yourself. Choose happiness. Prioritize yourself. No one else is going to do it for you, child. It is my hope that you’ll think things through and choose Ares regardless, but I want you to know that you have my support if you decide otherwise.”
She smiles at me and rises to her tiptoes to kiss my forehead before walking away, leaving me standing here with a thousand doubts whirling through my thoughts.
ChapterSixty-One
Raven
* * *
I feel like a guest in my own home. Ares and I put so much effort into redesigning this place, and for a while, that worked for us. It allowed us to feel like we got a fresh start. Yet now, everywhere I look, I see Hannah.
Within the span of just a few days, she’s invaded every aspect of the life that I’d tried to cut her out off. It’s in her favorite mug laying in the sink, the new blanket on our sofa, and the countless baby magazines that have been spread through the house. It’s almost as though she wants to take every single opportunity she can get to remind me that she’s having a child with my husband.
I’ve barely spoken a word to her since she moved in, and much to my surprise, she hasn’t tried to provoke me either. She’s stayed out of my way for the most part, shooting me sweet smiles whenever our paths cross.
It just makes me feel that much more awful. I wish she’d lash out at me, so I could justify the hatred I feel. The way she’s acting these days reminds me of the past, back when I was so blinded to her venom that I didn’t realize she’d brought me to the brink.
“Rave?”
I tense at the sound of her voice. She joins me in the kitchen, her hand on her stomach. “God, I’m just hungry all the time,” she grumbles.
I watch as she walks straight over to the fridge and rummages through it. It grates on me for absolutely no reason. She isn’t doing anything wrong, yet having her in my home is killing me.