16. Sylvie
SIXTEEN
SYLVIE
My father’s Porsche was parked in front of the house, and knots formed in my stomach. I carefully unclipped the seat belt and shifted toward the door. “Thanks for taking me.”
I needed to get inside as quickly as possible, before my father confronted Duke and made a scene.
Duke’s hand reached out and brushed my arm, stopping me from exiting. “Are you okay?”
I focused on not glancing toward the car or the house. “Yep. Thanks again.” The hollow cheeriness infused in my voice was a lie, but I needed Duke to leave. Now.
Without looking back, I closed the truck door and hurried up the porch steps. The heavy door betrayed me, groaning when I opened it.
“Sylvie.” My father’s voice bounced off the high ceilings and echoed down the hallway.
Steeling my nerves, I lifted my chin and walked toward the living room. My fingers curled around the waxy paper of the ultrasound photos.
In the living room, Russell King was dressed in dark slacks, an expensive navy polo, and shiny dress shoes. Not a hair out of place, he looked like a man who ruled his kingdom.
Because he did.
I stood, shoulders back and chin high as I waited, just as I had been taught.
He looked me over once before returning to pace across the living room.
His eyes had a way of moving over me but never really seeing me .
I knew he saw my mother when he looked at me.
How could he not? We could have easily passed as sisters.
I’d given up on trying to prove how different from her I was a long time ago.
It didn’t matter what I did—he would always look at me and see her staring back at him.
“I spoke with Bug this morning. She’s informed me you’re planning to keep this baby?”
I swallowed and prayed my voice didn’t break. “I am.”
He stopped and turned to me as though he was still surprised to hear that I would keep a baby that was half-Sullivan. My dad never had a poker face, and the subtle disgust smeared across his features was glaring.
Hot, sweaty prickles tingled at my hairline as he stared at me.
With a curt nod, he continued pacing. “Well, then. We’ll just be sure he knows he’s a King. Raise him right.”
Tell him. Tell him you’re moving to Savannah and never coming back.
“Yes, sir.”
I hated how small and insignificant he made me feel. I hated that I couldn’t speak up against him, even now.
He sighed in relief and scrubbed a hand over his clean-shaven face, letting loose an audible sigh. My father rocked back on his heels. “And don’t you worry, I’ll take care of the Sullivan boy.”
I would have laughed at anyone calling Duke a boy until my father’s words sank in. “Take care of him? What would?—”
My father raised a hand, cutting me off. “That baby is a King. He will be raised as a King by Kings. That’s the end of the discussion.”
“Duke has every right to be involved with this baby.” I scoffed in disbelief that I even had to utter these words. I pressed my hand to my belly. “As the mother of this child, I get to choose.”
“You gave up your right to choose when you spread your legs for a Sullivan.” His angry words slapped me across the face. “I will not have another woman walk into my house and disrespect me.” We both knew exactly who he was talking about as his loud, angry words filled the living room.
Tears welled and my lip began to tremble as hurt and fury rattled through me.
“Don’t you dare,” he spit. “Don’t you dare cry and act like you’re the victim.” He pointed toward the stairwell. “You go upstairs, you fix that face, and hold your head up high. You’re a King and you will damn well act like it!”
“Sylvie.” The heat and anger in Duke’s voice had my head whipping around to see him storming through the doorway of my family home.
My father stammered. “Who the hell do you think you are barging in here like this? You’ve done enough.”
Duke’s dark eyes pinned my father in place.
“I’m the only one here who gives a shit about your daughter.
That’s what I’m doing here.” Tension filled the air as Duke clenched and unclenched his fists.
“Now, I would hate to disrespect a man in his family home, but that’s the mother of my child you’re speaking to.
If you can’t speak to her with respect, then you speak to me. ”
My father’s head reared back, aghast that anyone, let alone a Sullivan, would dare speak to him that way. My eyes widened. No one spoke to Russell King that way. Duke stepped up next to me, his hand landing gently at my lower back. My father’s eyes flicked down to his arm, then back up to me.
“Get out.”
I stepped forward to argue with him, to plead with him, maybe defuse the situation. When I realized he was speaking to me, my open mouth clamped shut.
As I sucked in a deep, shaky breath through my nose, Duke’s voice lowered to a grumbly whisper. “Come on, let’s go.”
I squared my shoulders and swallowed back the vomit that threatened to come up.
I turned, stubbornness and hurt driving my feet forward when my father’s words stopped me. “I always knew you were just like her.”
A whore. A black mark on the King name.
He didn’t have to say those words aloud, because I had heard him speak about my mother enough times to know exactly how he felt about her and how he had always, apparently, felt about me.
I turned to look at my father’s cold, hard face, ice running through my veins. “Maybe I am like her, but there’s a common denominator in these situations. The only person we are running from is you.”
I made it all the way down the porch steps, across the lawn, and to Duke’s truck before bursting into tears.
Once inside, Duke threw the truck in reverse and peeled out of the driveway. I had no idea where he was headed. All I knew was that the life I had always known was made of tinder, and in a single moment, I flipped a match and ignited it before my eyes.
Duke’s truck was pointed toward a quiet, dune-lined cliff. In the distance, waves pounded against the shoreline as tall beach grasses swayed in the October breeze. My tears had dried, and apart from mild nausea, I was numb. I wrapped my arms to hug my middle.
“What do you want to do?”
I was stunned and only managed a blink as I sneaked a glance in Duke’s direction. I scoffed and patted my sticky cheeks. “No one’s ever asked me that.”
“Well, I’m asking you.” The hard grit in his voice was undeniably sexy.
I swallowed hard. “I’m moving. To Savannah. Well, I was moving. I had plans to move. I have to get out of here.”
Duke stilled except for his hands as they clenched the truck’s steering wheel. “When?”
“The plan was spring, but...” I gestured to my belly. “Plans kind of changed.”
“Does it have to be Georgia?”
My brows pulled down in the center. “Um... no. I—I don’t think so.”
His lips pressed into a thin line, and his head jerked.
“Will you stay? Once the baby comes, we can figure the rest out, but you heard the doctor. Additional stress isn’t good for either one of you, and it sounds like nothing but stress in that house.
If you stay with me—even for a few months after you give birth—I can have some time with the baby before you leave. ”
The tortured look on his face was unbearable. The plan had always been to leave. To get out. Finally be free.
But now leaving would mean taking Duke’s child from him. Could I do that? Even if staying meant losing a part of myself?
He studied my face as I struggled to find the right words. “Look. I know what it’s like to want to leave and can’t. All I’m asking for is time—to help you while you figure it out. I’m not asking for forever.”
I’m not asking for forever.
His words shouldn’t have stung. It wasn’t like either of us ever planned to get pregnant and a baby bound us together forever.
Plus, it was undeniable that it would be nice to have his help once the baby arrived if the minimal sleep that the baby books proclaimed was actually true. Savannah would always be there.
I inhaled and set my shoulders. “Okay, but maybe there should be some rules.”
He nodded. “Like?”
“I’m paying rent.”
Duke’s head made the tiniest shake. “No, you’re not.”
“But I?—”
He softened his look. “You said it yourself; you’re saving money. I don’t need the rent, and you’re doing all the work by carrying the baby. A safe place to live is the least I can do. I insist.”
The strong finality of his words sent a ripple of heat through me. I swallowed thickly and nodded.
“It’s settled then. I’ve got you while you’re pregnant, and once the baby comes, we’ll figure the rest out. Anything else?”
“I’d like my family to be able to come over and see me. I know my father is a difficult man, but the rest of my family...” I trailed off. In reality my brothers could be difficult too. I needed to rein them in if this was ever going to work.
His jaw twitched as if he knew my brothers would be a pain in his ass. “It will be your home too. You can spend time with anyone you want to.” He looked at me. “But they will respect you. That’s nonnegotiable.”
“Of course.” I nodded, hoping it was true. With a deep breath, I sank into the leather seat. “So we’re really doing this?”
He looked out onto the violent waves. “Looks like it.” The quiet stretched between us. I let his masculine scent wash over me, and the warmth from his body settled my nerves.
Finally, his deep voice broke through the silence. “You know you can do this, right?” I looked at him, questioning. “You’re stronger than you think. You don’t need anybody. But what I’m telling you is you don’t have to do it alone.”
Duke was a man who took responsibility seriously, that much I knew. Whether my affection for him was a product of having his baby or something else, I wasn’t entirely sure. But I did know one thing: with Duke I felt safe.
For now, that would have to be enough.