37. Chapter 37
One week later
“Thank you guys again for having me.” Daniela leaned back in her seat at the huge dining room table that Nick and Berkley had set up for his family and a handful of friends for Thanksgiving dinner.
They’d ended up adding another table by the pool with heating lamps, and even though they’d made it clear that the kids could eat with them and mix and match…all the teens and younger kids had unilaterally decided they wanted to be away from the adults. She’d never felt so old in her life.
“It doesn’t even feel like Thanksgiving, not with everything going on,” she added.
“Right,” Cormac murmured next to her, his arm around the back of her chair.
Though he wasn’t touching her. Nope, he’d been pretty damn hands-off over the last week until literally last night. Then he’d fucked her like he was about to die.
And she had no idea what was going on in his head. Last night had almost felt like a good-bye. Though the thought of saying good-bye to him ripped her up inside, she felt like their time together was coming to an end.
Maybe because he’d helped her get free, essentially, helped keep her safe.
Now he was free of his own guilt and he could move on?
That sounded stupid to her, but the man had been all fake smiles the last week as she waded through the aftermath of her father’s arrest making national freaking news.
She’d been hiding out with him because a news van had been camped out at her place.
Though according to one of her neighbors, they’d finally left last night.
“Well, I’m off, but thank you all for the grub.” Cleo, one of their many cousins, who’d watched Daniela’s gallery one day for Cormac, stood and grabbed an unopened bottle of red. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to take this to my next party.”
Berkley snort-laughed. “Yes, because of your boldness, you wonderful weirdo. We better see you Christmas Eve.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” The purple-haired woman was gone after a salute to all of them.
Daniela hadn’t been invited for Christmas Eve and didn’t think an invite was incoming. Which was just as well. It was time for her to move on with her life. Alone, unfortunately. She loved Cormac, had no doubt about it, but he hadn’t made clear what he wanted.
And a man like Cormac… If he wanted a future with her, he’d have made that crystal clear by now.
“Come on, guys. Let’s start clearing off some stuff,” Nick said into the pleasant lull. “Ladies, we’ll bring you more drinks.”
A small cheer went up from the table, making Daniela grin through the ache in her chest.
Krystal, who was sitting directly across from her, leaned forward slightly. “Any news from your brother? He’s been a master at avoiding journalists.”
“Yeah, he’s good like that,” she said dryly.
“He and Edith are holed up somewhere. I honestly don’t know where but they’re still in North Carolina.
He invited me to stay with them but I didn’t want to be the third wheel.
” And she was still processing everything.
Now that their father was behind bars for all sorts of murder—and other crimes—and Logan was dead, Julian wasn’t talking about WITSEC anymore.
She knew he still had a lot to handle with or without the Feds, but she knew he was being very helpful to them.
It seemed like he and Edith—and Daniela—were all going to be given fresh starts.
Julian was even going to sign the nightclubs he’d taken over from William Young back to Young.
Though Young had stated he wanted to stay partners, which was telling in terms of how financially savvy her brother was.
Julian agreed only if Young agreed to start going to Gamblers Anonymous and get help.
Daniela hoped things worked out with them.
“From what I hear, your father might not even insist on a trial. The evidence is so overwhelming. I heard a rumor that his attorney told him to settle or risk getting the death penalty.” Krystal leaned back, picked up her half-empty wineglass. “But I don’t know for sure.”
“I think you’re right. Agent Lee, Grace, has stopped by Cormac’s place a couple times to talk to me.
She’s been surprisingly straightforward about everything.
They have no idea who actually killed Logan either.
” There’d been some sort of riot in the holding facility.
A couple guys had gotten injured and Logan had been stabbed but none of it had been on security cameras.
Krystal nodded. “The working theory is that your father hired someone to kill him, but he’s not talking about that to anyone if he did.”
Daniela didn’t think it had been her father, but she would never tell anyone she thought Julian had been the one behind Logan’s murder. “Logan had a lot of enemies,” she simply said.
“I’m glad he’s gone and not a threat to you,” Berkley added. “And I hope this is okay to bring up now, but I’ve been wondering if we could have a memorial for our moms. Like maybe do a joint…something?”
Daniela blinked back a rush of tears and nodded as she looked at Krystal, then Silvia and Clover. The other women were helping the men carry all the dirty dishes to the kitchen so it was just the five of them. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I love that idea.”
Krystal nodded, wiped away a few fat tears. “Yeah, me too. Thank you, Berkley. That’s a great idea. I think we should invite Pilar too. And any of the women from their original group of friends.”
“She was really kind. It was so nice to meet her today,” Daniela said. The petite woman had stopped by a couple hours ago and stayed for a bit before her daughter had picked her up. Apparently they had a couple more Thanksgiving parties to get to.
Holidays had always been something Daniela dreaded, but this one was different.
Instead of going to one of her cousins’ houses, or Julian’s, she was with people she felt comfortable around.
She didn’t have to put on a fake smile, she could just be herself.
There was a kind of freedom in that she’d never expected, never imagined really.
It was like something inside her had snapped free and that tension she’d been carrying her entire life was just gone.
She hoped one day she and Julian formed a more comfortable relationship, but for now, she was glad they’d both found some peace. That the monster who’d tormented them in different ways was behind bars and never getting out.
Their father had absolutely no one who was loyal to him anymore.
Once Julian had taken over, he’d managed to clean house so subtly, their father hadn’t realized what he’d been doing.
Logan had been the only one Julian had allowed his father to essentially push on him, but that was because he’d been planning to use Logan as a scapegoat.
Daniela couldn’t know for sure, but she was pretty sure Julian was still helping Agent Lee with some other things. After Logan was killed and they had enough solid evidence to put Alexander behind bars forever, Julian had decided to forgo WITSEC.
She still wasn’t sure what his plan was, but from what he’d said, he was going fully legit.
He hadn’t been able to when their father was around, but now that he was out of the picture, Julian was making big changes.
Daniela had a feeling he’d eventually move, likely by the end of next year.
Edith had mentioned loving the Pacific Northwest and there’d been something in her voice that told Daniela the two of them would end up there.
Not that she needed to be worrying about that now. She was simply trying to keep her mind off the fact that there was a clear wall between her and Cormac.
And not one of her making.
Things had been so tense the last week and she had no idea what to do about it. She didn’t want to put him in the awkward position of having to let her down easy once the dust had settled. And to be fair, she didn’t want to hear it.
When the women started to talk about Christmas and she could hear the others in the kitchen laughing and joking, something speared her right in the chest. Some emotion she wasn’t sure she wanted to define. She needed to just get the hell out of there.
Clearing her throat, she pulled her cell phone out of her pants pocket.
“Ah, my brother just texted me. They’re back early and I think I’m going to head out and meet him for a bit.
Would I be a complete monster if I don’t help clean up at all?
” She looked at Berkley with a grin even through the tightness in her chest.
“I wasn’t going to let you clean anyway.” Berkley sounded almost affronted. Grinning, she stood. “And I’m going to send you with a full pie because we have so many desserts it’s criminal. Come on.”
Daniela mouthed to Krystal that she’d call her later, then said her good-byes to the women in the dining room before heading to the kitchen.
Cormac set down a glass he was drying. “Hey, Berkley said you’re heading out. I’ll wrap up here and grab my stuff.”
“You planned this,” Micah called out to Cormac. “Just to get out of dishes, you slacker.” He tossed the dish towel at him with a laugh.
Daniela plastered on a smile. “No, stay with your family. I’m just going to meet up with Julian and wish him a happy Thanksgiving. And thanks to your wonderful sister, I’ll be bringing him pie.” More like she was going to drown her emotions in pie at her house.
She’d only been back once since the FBI had arrested her father, but she needed to face her place anyway. She’d already decided to put it on the market in the spring and start over somewhere fresh. Maybe somewhere closer to the coast, like Wilmington or Wrightsville. Who knew.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his expression hard to read.
“Of course. And I only had one glass of wine.” Not even a full one.
It was Thanksgiving so she wasn’t worried about a news van showing back up. And she simply couldn’t be here in this perfect house with all this happiness a second longer.
Not when she knew that things weren’t going to last.
“Can one of your siblings give you a ride?” she asked him.
“I’ll take him home,” Micah called out. “After he finishes the dishes.”
“At least let me walk you out.”
“No, stay, do your dish duty,” she said with a laugh even as she had to shove back tears. She gave Cormac a quick hug and brush of her mouth against his before she practically ran from Nick and Berkley’s mansion.
Or at least it felt like she was running.
Away from herself, the man she loved, and all the happiness right in front of her face. None of which was hers.