16. Echo
ECHO
Sometimes plans change and require priorities to shift with them.
“Millicent, why the fuck do you keep calling me?” Jayden barked into the phone as he walked into his secret apartment, completely unaware of my presence. “Stop being a bitch about it. I’ve been giving you what you wanted.”
From the lounge chair in the corner of his living room, I kept my eye on his every move. He went from the fridge to the counter with a bottle of water.
It wasn’t dark enough for him to be this careless, yet he continued to fuss into the phone and call the woman all kinds of bitches until she said something that stopped all movement.
Mmm.
“What the fuck did you just say?”
He chuckled, and I tipped my head.
“Forever has nothing to do with anything. Leave her out of our arrangement.”
I smiled and decided to make myself known.
“Funny, because Forever has everything to do with everything in my world.”
The little bitch jumped and dropped his phone.
“You should check to see if the line is still connected before I say what I have to say.”
His eyes were slightly bucked as I stood and began to approach. I never thought a man with so much power at his fingertips could be this scary when mommy wasn’t around.
I looked down at his phone, which was flipped right side up.
“Damn. Your screen is fucked.”
He let out a sputtering breath as our eyes met.
“Why are you in my home uninvited?”
I shrugged.
“Got bored of waiting around for the action and decided to take matters into my own hands. How should I display your body when I’m done?”
It was hard to keep a straight face with him trembling in front of me like this.
This muthafucka was terrified.
“Killing me would be a mistake,” he said, standing straighter once he remembered who his mother was.
What a little bitch.
“Killing you would be my second greatest accomplishment,” I mused, leaning into the counter. “Had I come to end your life, you’d be dead already…” I waved my hand. “That’s neither here nor there. Don’t you want to know why I’ve sought you out, if not for your life?”
Jayden carefully moved around the island until he reached the spot where I’d found a gun sticking beneath the slab of marble countertop.
“Why’s that?” he asked, quickly reaching for it, only to find the handgun gone.
His eyes met mine, and I sighed, a bit of irritation slipping through my playful mask.
I really didn’t like this nigga, and it was taking everything in me not to dead him right here.
But the plans changed after his mother’s secret meetings were exposed.
My priorities shifted.
Killing them so soon after Jeremiah would send the rest of the wives scrambling, and I was too nosy not to get to the bottom of that.
“I have some easily verifiable information for you.”
He perked up at that, seemingly forgetting I’d broken into his apartment and cornered him with no way to protect himself.
And this is who they expect my baby to marry?
“You didn’t have to break in to get my attention.”
I pulled the handgun I took and pointed it at him.
“Where’s the fun in that?” I queried, tugging the safety back as I walked toward him. “Does your father know your ma is meeting secretly with the wives from other prominent families?”
Even though he was a bitch in my eyes, I had to give him his props. He didn’t cower away from the barrel of his pistol, touching the skin between his eyebrows.
“Say whatever you came to say.”
I chuckled, secured the safety, and pulled the clip from the gun before setting them on the counter. The bullets had been removed prior to his arrival.
“Your ma is about to ruin all your plans, baby boy…” I started backward with my smile on my face.
“Do you think the people of Everwood would vote for a traitor to represent their interests on a state and federal level? If the Carroway’s deepest darkest secrets start to unravel before the city’s eyes, how much support do you think you’ll garner when it’s time to campaign? ”
His mismatched eyes never left mine.
“What do you want?”
I pushed for the elevator.
“You should hire better security or move out. It was too easy to infiltrate this place.”
“Are you trying to sow discord between my family and me?”
I hummed.
“Maybe, but the truth is the truth, no matter my intentions…” The door slid open, and I glanced at him. “Oh, I forgot to ask. Have you seen the way your fiancée looks at me?”
I knew he was worried about her movements and felt like adding more fuel to the fire.
“What the fuck does Forever have to do with any of this?”
Someone’s upset.
“Didn’t you ask Millicent that not too long ago?”
The elevator door closed, and I let my smile drop. Now that the seeds were planted, all I had to do was watch them sprout and grow.
Seo-Yeon valued Jeremiah more than Jayden, who’d taken after his father; they each had their own agendas, but never had those individual goals collided in this way.
Nothing good comes from a family at odds, especially not one with skeletons buried beneath its foundation.
I can’t stay with you tonight.
Forever’s text disappointed me, but I’d half expected it. All of me knew not to get my hopes up for more time alone. More time to reconnect and get back to what we were.
She’d already done more than I expected for such a short time. My baby hated feeling exposed, especially to men.
Understood. I’ll be around.
I pressed the heel of my palm into my chest and sighed, before hitting an illegal turn and heading back to the office.
There was nothing at home for me without her.
“Mr. Cannon, you just missed your brother,” the guard on duty said as I entered. “Also, someone left this for you. I was instructed to put it in your hands.”
He held out a black envelope, wrapped in a gold bow, for me to take. I stared at it briefly, then slipped it from his hands.
“Did this someone leave a name?” I asked, frowning at the wax seal on the back in the shape of an F.
“Oh, yeah, she…” He tapped the visitor log. “…signed in here.”
My gaze lingered on the name his finger sat beside.
Forever Cannon?
The question mark made me feel a way, but now I understood why she didn’t want to see me.
Somebody had exposed more of our history, and she was confused by the version of her she’d forgotten.
“If you see Mrs. Cannon again, tell her she’s welcome to drop off her correspondence to me directly.”
He nodded slowly, and I started for the elevators, fingers brushing what they knew to be the Fairchild insignia.
The fuck did she have this for?
Instead of opening it, I dropped what was clearly an invitation on my desk and went to make a drink.
I contemplated calling her until the impulse was too hard to ignore.
“Did you get what I left for you?” she asked upon answering.
I hummed but feared speaking now that I had her on the phone. There was a lot of shit I wanted to say and get off my chest that would only make her run further from me.
How the fuck was I supposed to court the woman I already loved, who once loved me enough to accept my marriage proposal and elope?
This shit was more complicated than I thought it’d be.
“Have you looked at it?”
It took a minute for me to muster up my response.
“Not interested at the moment.”
She sighed, and I found myself doing the same without much thought.
“I’m sorry, Echo.”
Echo?
I downed the last of my whiskey and poured more, contemplating why hearing her use the nickname wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped.
“Who’d you talk to today?” I asked, lowering the automatic blinds on the way to my desk.
“Just another person who seems to know more about my love life than I do.”
Her attitude was evident, but unlike usual, I didn’t find it cute or funny.
“That mean you mad at me, my forever?”
All it represented was how far apart we were; how far she was from me .
“I know what you’re doing,” she said softly. “Mostly because I know myself. I thought everything at once would be too much, but now I feel like not knowing it all isn’t the right move either. I need time to think.”
I leaned my chair back and stared up at the ceiling.
“No matter how long you take, I’m not going anywhere.”
Giving up on her would be like ripping my own heart out of my chest. I refused to do it.
“I hate how sad you sound, Demetrius. I’m not trying to hurt you.”
I closed my eyes.
“You don’t have to explain, baby. I know.”
Whether she knew it or not, our connection was soul deep. Even now, memories missing and all, Forever could feel what I was feeling.
“Maybe look at the invitation, and preferably before Saturday. You’re my plus one.”
I sat up.
“No need to look when I know what it is. Who gave it to you?”
“The high priest paid me a visit,” she said without pause. “Apparently, me and the man I call Echo are under his protection now.”
Interesting.
“Oh yeah? Did Lucien give a reason for that?”
She chuckled.
“You sound jealous.“
I held back a scoff.
“That’s because I am,” I said, knocking the invitation in the trash. “Another man thinking me and mine need his protection feels like a challenge.”
I needed to pay my old friend a visit and set some shit straight for the future.
“The Fairchilds have taken an interest in you, but you’re worried about another man taking what doesn’t belong to him?”
She was asking all the right questions, just enough for me to plant another seed.
“Ask me my mother’s name.”
“Aurelia Samuels,” Forever said, revealing she’d been digging deep into my background.
I reached down and pulled the invitation for the trash, knowing in my heart I would attend as her plus one. Not just to be close to my woman, but to get a peek into the family I planned to go up against. Maybe even get the chance to put eyes on my ma.
“Soleme Fairchild,” I said softly, tugging at the ribbon. “That’s her true name.”
The silence to follow was palpable, but necessary. I let her think about why a man, whose family was notorious for its ties to the collective leader, would reveal where his loyalties truly lie.
Something I hadn’t known until this very moment.
The Fairchilds had clearly been watching me from the very beginning, and my wife leaving her calling card on bodies across Everwood was their way in.
She unknowingly called for them, and they came bearing a significant gift.
I pulled the thick acrylic from the envelope as Forever said, “Oh, I see now. They’re using me to get to you.”
You’re cordially invited…
“No, baby, they want to use us .”
She was my wife, and we would always be a package deal in my eyes, something only my mother could decipher for them.
So, you are alive.