Chapter 125 Chapter One hundred and twenty four
ARA
I woke up in the morning feeling better than I’d done in weeks.
The sunlight slanted through the heavy curtains in soft golden bars across the bed. My body didn’t ache quite so much; the constant nausea had eased to a dull whisper.
For the first time in what felt like forever, I didn’t wake up with dread already sitting heavy on my chest.
Thayne was already up, standing at the foot of the bed in nothing but low-slung gray sweatpants.
He’d showered, his hair still damp, droplets clinging to the ends. He was watching me with that quiet intensity he sometimes got when he thought I wasn’t looking.
I pushed myself up on one elbow, rubbing sleep from my eyes.
“Good morning,” I said, my voice still thick with sleep.
He smiled, a small, real, smile the kind that reached his eyes.
“Good morning, beautiful.”
Then he surprised me. “You can finally speak with your sisters today.”
I stared at him, blinking, trying to process the words.
“What?”
He walked around the bed and sat on the edge beside me, reaching for my hand. His thumb brushed over my knuckles.
“We’re trying to trick our fathers into thinking your sisters are in another location,” he explained.
“My team rerouted the signal. When we call them, the fake location will be all they see. It’ll look like they’re halfway across the country. If anyone’s monitoring, they’ll chase the wrong trail.”
I sat up fully, my heart suddenly racing.
“You’re serious?”
He nodded. “Dead serious. I’ve had my guys working on it all night. The line is secure. It's encrypted, bounced through three different servers. No one will trace it back here. You can talk to them as long as you want.”
Tears pricked my eyes before I could stop them.
After so many weeks, I would finally talk to Millie and Mollie.
I hadn’t heard their voices in weeks. I hadn’t known if they were safe, if they were scared, if they hated me for dragging them into this nightmare.
I threw my arms around Thayne’s neck, burying my face in his shoulder.
“Thank you,” I whispered, “Thank you.”
He wrapped his arms around me, one hand cradling the back of my head, the other resting protectively over my belly.
The touch made me realize he knew now that Gave has been toying with him.
“You don’t have to thank me,” he murmured against my hair. “They’re your family. They’re our family. I should have done this sooner.”
I pulled back just enough to look at him.
“Why now?”
He exhaled slowly, eyes searching mine.
“Because I was wrong,” he said quietly. “I thought keeping you separate, keeping you safe meant keeping you in the dark. But it only made you feel alone. And I hate that I did that to you.”
“Thank you, Thayne.” My voice cracked on his name. “My heart has been aching for them, for weeks. They’re the only family I have left.”
He pulled me closer on the bed, one arm around my shoulders, the other resting protectively over my belly. His thumb traced slow circles there, the way he always did when he knew I needed grounding.
“I know,” he said quietly. “It’s why I put them in a place where no one would ever think to look.”
I leaned into him, breathing in the familiar scent of his skin. For the first time in days, the knot in my chest loosened just a fraction.
Then I remembered.
“Thayne… what about Gabe?”
He went still. Just for a second. It was barely noticeable if I hadn’t been pressed against him.
“What about him?”
I lifted my head to look at him. “He gave you five days to give him what he wanted. That deadline’s almost up. I think he might do something dangerous.” I swallowed. “And I also think my best friend, the woman he cheated on me with, is behind yesterday’s attack. I think she submitted herself as a vessel to one of our fathers. She must know Gabe is trying to get me back at all costs.”
Thayne’s expression didn’t change, but I felt the shift in his body. The way his muscles tightened and his breathing became slow and controlled.
The way it did when he was calculating threat levels.
“Emily,” he said, the name flatly, like he was tasting something bitter. “You're saying she's working for one of our fathers and then decided to take things to another level by hiring a hitman?”
I nodded. “She’s desperate. If she thinks Gabe will take me back, she’ll do anything to make sure I’m gone first.”
He was quiet for a long moment, staring at the far wall like he could see through it to whatever waited outside.
“I’ll look into jer,” he said finally. “And Gabe.”
“But if she’s working with him—”
“We’ll find out, then.”
I searched his face, trying to understand why he wasn't giving me straightforward replies.
“You’re not telling me everything.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I’m telling you what you need to know to stay safe.”
“That’s not good enough anymore.” I pulled back just enough to meet his gaze head-on. “I can't just stay here while Emily is plotting how to take me out.”
“I'll take care of it. I always do.” He said, before rising from the bed and turning on his heels.
Just like he promised, Thayne let me talk to my sisters for as long as I wanted. The call connected, and the moment I heard their voices, Millie's soft hello and Mollie's squeal of shock and joy, I broke.
We cried together, laughed through tears, shared the same old inside jokes that felt like lifelines after so long apart.
I told them I loved them a hundred times. They told me they were okay, that they missed me, that they knew I was coming for them.
I didn’t want the call to end, ever, but after nearly an hour they said their lesson tutor had just arrived and they had to go.
“Okay, babies,” I whispered, feeling sad that they had to go already. “I’ll call again soon. I love you two! Stay strong.”
“We love you too, Ara,” Millie said.
“Love you, big sis,” Mollie added.
The line clicked off, and I sat there staring at the blank screen, my heart still full and aching at the same time.
Then, just before the call fully disconnected, right as the silence settled, I heard it.
A familiar voice in the background, faint but unmistakable. I knew that voice. I used to hear it a lot in the past.
“Girls, who was that you were speaking to?”
Then the line went dead completely.
I moved so fast the phone nearly slipped from my fingers. I felt my heart galloping as I replayed the voice in my head. The smooth, clipped, that slight upward lilt at the end of every question.
Emily. Emily was with my sisters. That didn’t sound right. That wasn't supposed to happen, because if my theory was correct, she was working for one of two of our greatest enemies and trying to take me out.
I shook my head hard, trying to convince myself I’d imagined it. Maybe the stress, the hormones, the weeks of paranoia were finally cracking me open.
I’d already tried to tie her to the masked man yesterday. Maybe my mind was inventing connections that weren’t there.
But that voice belonged to her. I knew
it. I’d heard it.
Oh God. Oh no.
She was one million steps ahead of us already if she was disguising herself as their lesson tutor.