Chapter 35
A New Beginning
Heston
“No. No, Sebastian, go away. I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Heston.”
The voice broke through the fogginess in my head. But I wriggled away from the hand on my arm.
“Leave me alone. You destroyed my family.”
“Heston. It’s me, Devyn. Open your eyes.”
Devyn. That name was kindness, warmth and love, the very opposite of my step-father.
“Devyn!” My eyes snapped open. It was dark, so dark, and there was a shadowy presence hovering over me. I shrieked and an unseen hand turned on a bedside lamp. “Devyn.” I gulped and he lay beside me, taking me in his arms.
“I’m sweaty.” I kicked off the covers and my mate gave me the water bottle I kept beside the bed.
“Wanna share your dream?” He took the bottle and replaced the lid.
“That was no dream. A nightmare.” Anything with Sebastian was a nightmare times ten.
He’d been haunting my nights when I should have been in a deep sleep while nurturing my baby. He hadn’t been apprehended, and it wasn’t until I pieced together the story that it hit me; my father-in-law didn’t call the police. Instead, he’d declawed Roy and left my step-father to his own fate.
Sebastian had taken off with not much money. We’d hired a forensic accountant and his credit cards were maxed out and he’d already spent most of the available cash from the company. He’d been draining those accounts for months. And he’d sold what he could from the house.
What he hadn’t done before he disappeared was temper his lifestyle.
Knowing he was out there somewhere irked me. Maybe he wasn’t living the life he thought he was accustomed to. But he wasn’t behind bars. Even Roy had been punished; a punishment that would last a lifetime according to Devyn.
“This issue of Sebastian is distressing you and that’s not good for you or the baby.” Devyn stroked my brow. “What if we hired a private detective to find him?”
“And what?” There was no case because my father-in-law hadn’t notified the police. What were we going to do if we found him? Terrify him with my mate’s wolf? Now I thought about it, that sounded like a great idea.
But would the stress of waiting weeks, months or years until he was found be worth it? I couldn’t answer that. And he might elude anyone looking for him.
There was a knock at the door, followed by Dad’s concerned voice asking if everything was okay.
“I’m fine, Dad. I shouldn’t have eaten so many pickles at dinner.”
Devyn got up and made sure Dad got back to bed. He needed rest too and should be concentrating on his own health, not be worried about me. But I didn’t know how to get past my fixation on Sebastian. Perhaps therapy would help.
The next morning as I was having breakfast with Dad on the terrace, my phone buzzed. It was an unknown number and I almost ignored it. But maybe it was someone telling me I’d won the lotto.
In the years when we’d struggled for money, I never bought a lotto ticket, figuring we couldn’t afford it. But now money wasn’t a concern, I got one every week.
“Hello.”
“Is this Heston Davidson?”
“Heston Maverick Davidson, yes.” My heart sped up and I rubbed my belly as the baby kicked. Dad gave me a curious look and his hand holding a piece of toast froze half way to his mouth.
“We have your step-father in custody.”
Air whooshed out of me and I leaped up, bumping the table and sending dishes and cutlery flying onto the floor. I stood, surrounded by broken porcelain and bits of egg and toast, my palm sweating as I gripped the phone.
“Oh.”
“He was arrested for stealing from a convenience store and we found stolen credit cards in his possession.”
The detective continued listing what they had charged my step-father with. None of it was directly linked to my father’s company though Sebastian had been up to dirty tricks for years.
“Do you want to see him?” Devyn and I were in our bedroom and Dad was resting. After speaking with my dad, he said it was up to me if I wanted to be face to face with Sebastian but he wanted to speak to the man.
“I need to tell him that it takes two people to have an affair so I can’t put the blame solely on him, and your father was a grown man who could make his own decisions.”
Dad was right, of course, but in my mind my step-father was always the bad guy.
“But I want to look him in the eye when I tell him justice will be served if he is locked away for the rest of his life.” Dad’s steely gaze told me he was determined to speak to Sebastian.
I had a choice whether to inform the police of Sebastian’s forging of the will.
I chose not to. If I did, I would be involved, maybe I’d have to testify at trial.
If I stayed out of it, I could keep abreast of his situation from afar.
I chose the latter. Dad agreed and we hoped Father would have understood.
“Will he be wearing an orange jumpsuit?” Dad asked as we went through a metal detector at the prison where Sebastian was being held.
I giggled and the prison guards glared at me. Oops!
We sat waiting for Sebastian to be brought in and my knees trembled while my dad sat, his spine ramrod straight, staring straight ahead.
When my step-father was escorted in, he sported the haughty expression he had when he usually caught sight of me. But his gaze slid to Dad and he gasped.
“Didn’t expect to see me, did you?”
“What do you want?” Sebastian’s sneer was back.
“To tell you that while you think you’ve taken everything from us, you couldn’t be more wrong.” Dad took my hand and brought it to his lips. “We are a family, one that is expanding.”
“Listen old man—”
“Shut up.” The force of my voice, charged with anger, had Sebastian rearing back. “Do not speak to my father like that. This is the last time you’ll see us.”
“Lucky me.” He folded his arms but his hands were shaking.
“All the years you were with my father, I hated you. In my mind, you were the villain. But now I wonder if you were scared the whole time, thinking Father would regret his divorce.”
“Don’t kid yourself. He adored me.”
“I hope you made him happy. He was a good man and my father.” I stood up and Dad did the same.
I took no satisfaction from Sebastian’s gaping mouth and his trembling hands. There was no need for goodbyes and neither Dad nor I looked back as he tucked his arm in mine.
“How do you feel?” I asked as we walked out of the prison.
“Like a snake that’s shed its skin. The future looks good, Heston.”
That I agreed with.
“How was it?” Devyn was waiting in the car.
“Better than expected.” I helped Dad into the back seat. “I don’t think I’ll be having any more nightmares.”
I didn’t look back as Devyn drove away from the prison. Sebastian was part of our past and we were looking forward. “Are you sure you don’t want to get the same closure with Roy?”
“Maybe. But I have no burning desire to talk to him. Besides, he’s not going anywhere.”
I suspected Sebastian wasn’t either.
“How about we focus on us and the baby and start getting the nursery ready?” Devyn glanced at me before turning his eyes straight ahead.
“I’d like that but can we start tomorrow?
’ I yawned. While it was liberating seeing Sebastian and assigning him to the past, it was also exhausting.
I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep until tomorrow.
Those nightmares had been interfering with my sanity and I hoped today had banished them.
“I’m ready for bed even though it’s only lunch time,” Dad said from the back seat.
“I have an idea.” Devyn pulled up at a red light. “We order in and after we eat, we all take a long nap.”
“I vote for that.” I raised my hand.
“Me too.” That was Dad.
It would be fun concentrating on the baby and the future. And while I had the bump to prove it, I still had a hard time believing I was pregnant and that my mate, who was also my husband, was a wolf shifter. I hoped the baby would be a shifter.
The food arrived just after we walked into the apartment. I poked my nose into the spare bedroom that was filled with boxes and stuff we didn’t know what to do with. I pictured it with a crib and changing table, patterned wallpaper and a rocking chair.
“Maybe tomorrow we can start moving all the crap out of the nursery.”
Devyn paused his eating. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you call it that.”
“You’ll be hearing it a lot more.”