Chapter 52
BELLA
Mine and Zeke’s penthouse
I’m awakened by the sound of Marisol’s screaming voice echoing down the hall.
“B! Get in here!”
Beside me, Cade rolls over to look at the alarm clock. 3:16 A.M. blinks back at us in bright, neon red.
He groans into his pillow, a sound worn thin by exhaustion. “Not again.”
I untangle myself out of our sheets and scoot to the edge of the mattress, tugging on a pair of leggings. “I’ll be back,” I whisper.
“I’m coming too,” Lex mutters, already rolling out of bed.
“It’s fine, I can just go.”
“I said I’m coming, baby.” His voice leaves no room for argument as his towering frame instantly casts a protective shadow over me.
“I’ll go start the coffee,” Cade says, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
These last ten days have been a challenge to say the least.
When we left the hospital, we had every intention of settling back into our apartment on the thirty-first floor.
Lock the world out, order takeout, and finally lose ourselves in each other.
Lord knows I’ve spent long enough imagining their hands on my body, rewriting the horror show of my time in Eden with their warmth.
We figured with Nate and Tex living in their old rooms in the penthouse, it would be all good. Not an issue or anything.
The universe however, laughed in our little naive faces.
The first night back, Marisol was pounding on our door before the clock even struck midnight. Her face was pale and streaked with tears because she, Tex, and Nate couldn’t pull Zeke out of the dark. When we rushed in, he was drenched in sweat and thrashing so violently he nearly fell off the bed.
It took almost all of us just to finally wake him. The second his eyes snapped open, he swung. A brutal and blind right hook that Lex caught a mere inch from my cheek.
The sheer look of horror on my brother’s face after he realized he almost hurt me broke something inside me. He sobbed, apologizing until his voice cracked into nothing. None of us blamed him.
Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. Lex did. His protective instinct is a lethal, volatile thing, and it took everything Cade had to talk him down from the ledge that night.
After two more sleepless nights in our apartment, the three of us admitted what we already knew. We couldn’t keep sprinting between floors every time Zeke woke up screaming. So we decided to pack everything we needed and move into my old room in the penthouse for a little while.
It’s been an agonizing, beautiful mess. Definitely not the way I ever envisioned my boyfriends bonding with my brother. But watching them navigate Zeke’s fractured pieces has become the only thing keeping me grounded lately.
Lex never flinches anymore when one of my brother’s fists fly his way. He just blocks it with ease and waits for the storm in Zeke’s dark eyes to calm. He’s never once mentioned the bruises the next day.
Cade somehow coaxed Zeke’s appetite back by turning our kitchen into a literal bakery.
He makes enough pancakes and pastries to feed a small army every single morning.
The first time I walked out onto the terrace and saw the two of them eating in absolute, understanding silence, I just stood there and cried.
They are so patient with him.
And God, they are patient with me. I’ve missed them so much. Honestly, I have. But after months of my uncle’s disgusting hands on my body and touches that made me want to claw out of my own skin, the thought of intimacy makes me freeze. They haven’t pushed. Not one single time.
Lex bolts past Marisol and heads straight toward Zeke the second we hit his room. Zeke is already rearing back, his eyes blown wide and muscles coiled to strike at Lex.
But Lex is faster now. He’s learned Zeke’s movements. He steps into the blind spot, slipping behind my brother and trapping his arm against his lower back, pulling Zeke’s spine flush against his chest in a violent but protective lock.
“Stop it, Z,” Lex commands, his voice low. “Snap out of it, man. You’re alright.”
“I’m sorry,” Marisol whispers, her voice trembling. She’s over by the dresser, her black and pink waves spilling over her shoulders as she wraps her arms tightly around herself. “I thought… We had two good nights. I thought we were finally past all this.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, stepping past the chaos to reach for her. “It’s not your fault, Mar.”
When I pull her into a brief, tight squeeze, she leans into me and lets out a shuddering breath.
That’s another new thing to add to the endless list of things I never saw coming: Marisol Vega being someone I actually enjoy having around. Before all of this, I literally loathed her. Too much history. Way too much drama.
But watching her navigate the wreckage of Zeke’s mind and seeing the fierce way she loves my brother has changed everything. This time, she didn’t run back to daddy when things got ugly. She stayed in the trenches with him, even when he was drowning in his own darkness.
And then she did something I never thought I’d see. The bitch grew a spine. Finally, she chose my brother over everything.
Sabine and I nearly choked when we overheard Marisol telling her father to shove the cartel up his ass because she wasn’t leaving New York. Not while Zeke needed her.
Anyone willing to stand toe-to-toe with a monster like Alejandro Vega and walk away without flinching earns my absolute respect.
Ironically, I think that’s why he finally named her his successor.
For the first time in her life, she stopped trying to be the annoying daddy’s little girl and became the woman she was always meant to be instead.
She chose love over power. And Alejandro rewarded her with both.
“Baby,” Lex rasps, his biceps straining as he holds Zeke’s thrashing weight. “A little help here.”
I stride across the room, stepping right into the danger zone, and cup my brother’s burning, damp cheeks in my hands.
“Zeke, look at me,” I command, steadying my voice against his panic. “Just breathe. Look at my eyes, Z.”
He blinks hard, a wild and feral look fills his dark eyes as he tries to force his gaze to focus on my mine.
“What is your name?” I demand.
He shakes his head, trying to pull away. I dig my fingers in gently and refuse to let him slip back under.
“I asked you a question, Zeke. What is your name?”
“Ezekiel…” A ragged breath tears from his chest. “Ezekiel Malik Blackwood.”
A small, breathless smile breaks out across my face as the relief rushes over me. “Again.”
His gaze finally locks onto mine as the terrifying emptiness in his eyes melts away into a heavy exhaustion. “Bella,” he whispers, the fight draining in his posture.
“She said,” Lex mutters from behind him. He loosens his grip from a restraint to a more supportive hold on my brother. “Fucking again, man.”
Zeke swallows hard and nods against my palms. “Ezekiel Malik Blackwood.”
“Good,” I whisper, pulling him down until my forehead rests against his. “That’s good.”
“I’ll take it from here,” Marisol whispers.
Lex slowly releases his hold as Marisol inches closer. Zeke reaches for her, wrapping both arms around her waist to pull her in close. And for the first time in days, I don’t feel guilty for taking a step back.
“We’ll be in our room if you need us,” I say.
His eyes find mine over her shoulder. “Thanks, sis.”
I smile through the sting in my eyes. “Always.”
Lex’s fingers weave through mine, giving my hand a gentle squeeze before guiding me toward the door. “Come on, baby.”
The smell of freshly roasted espresso greets us before we even make it to the bottom step of the spiral staircase.
Cade is already waiting in the kitchen, leaning shirtless against the island in gray sweatpants with a steaming mug cradled between his palms. He looks up the second we hit the bottom step.
“How’d it go?”
I accept the mug he offers and let the warmth settle into my palms before taking a slow sip.
“He came at me faster this time,” Lex mutters, rubbing his bicep. “But I caught him before I had to pin his ass down fully. He snapped out of it pretty quick this time, thank fuck.”
Cade’s shoulders soften. “That’s progress.”
“It is,” I whisper, taking another sip.
My tearful gaze drifts between them as silence settles over the three of us.
Cade notices. “Sweetheart?”
I shake my head, laughing softly through the tears. “I was just thinking…” My voice catches. “I don’t think I’ve thanked you.”
They exchange confused looks.
“For what?” Cade asks, setting his mug on the marble counter.
“For how you’ve been with him,” I say, letting my eyes roam between them. “For loving my brother like he belongs to you too. Like he always has.”
Lex snorts into his mug, a low and gravelly sound like the answer should’ve been obvious. “He does, baby.”
Something tightly coiled deep inside my chest finally gives way.
“You’ve spent the last ten days putting both of us back together,” I tell them.
Neither of them says a word. They just stand there in the quiet kitchen, completely still, letting me speak.
“I know this hasn’t been what either of you imagined when we finally got home. You waited. Every time I froze, every time I pulled away… you just waited. And I’m sorry.”
Cade reaches up, his fingers warm against my skin as he gently brushes a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “You don’t owe us an explanation.”
“Or a fucking apology, baby,” Lex adds, snaking his arms around me from behind. “We’ll wait another ten days, hell another ten months if we need to.”
“I know,” I whisper as my chest caves. “But I want to give you one.”
“Baby,” Lex says, his grip tightening around me. “You don’t have to tell us what happened in there. Not if you’re not ready.”
I nod, but the truth blurts out anyway. “He never forced himself on me, not fully.”
“Thank God,” Lex whispers.
He releases a long and shaky breath. The exhale blowing against the side of my face. I reach up to swipe the hair out of my eyes, watching as Cade’s shoulders visibly drop. It’s a suffocating fear I realize they must have been holding this entire time.