I was packing my suitcases while he stood in the doorway, his eyes following my every move.
“I’m going home. Unless I’m a prisoner, there’s nothing you can do about it,” I said, stuffing the last of our clothes in the bag.
Sebastian still hadn’t gotten back, and I was sick of waiting around for him. It would be much easier to do this without him here anyway, so I decided to move out while the moving was good.
Gears looked from me to the suitcase and back, conflicted. Well, he could be as conflicted as he wanted to be, but I was going home. I wouldn’t spend another minute living in the same building Sebastian was in.
Since they’d arrested Clive, I didn’t get cold sweats anymore at the thought of going home. I was 99.4 percent sure I would be safe there.
“But Sebastian said—”
I ignored him and kept looking under the bed and couch, making sure we didn’t leave anything behind. Luca and Lena were busy turning the tap in the bathroom on and off, getting soaked in the process. But I had no time to lose, so I let them go crazy until we were ready to leave.
“You want me to put them in the car?” Grim asked, pushing past Gears and pointing at my bags.
“You have impeccable timing,” I said.
He grinned and grabbed my three bags with ease.
“What the fuck are you doing, man?” Gears whined when Grim pushed past him.
“Letting her go home. Which is what she wants and what she’ll get.”
And that was that, apparently.
Grim put all my bags in the car and then helped me with the kids while Gears looked like he was about to pass out. Not sure how he survived being part of a motorcycle club with the way he was wringing his hands.
He needed to relax. I was leaving their compound, not stealing their silver.
“Whatever happens, you remember to call me if you need anything,” Grim said, stopping me from getting into the car.
I put my arms around him for a short but tight hug and nodded. “I know.”
He closed my door for me once I was safely buckled in, and I started the car. The motor purred to life, and there wasn’t a single warning light flashing at me.
I checked the dashboard, wondering if maybe the lights broke as well. And where was the angry beeping? I wound my window down, and Grim leaned in.
“Did you do something to my car?” I asked.
“I can’t believe you were driving that health hazard,” he said. “Sebastian fixed it.”
I stared at him, giving him my best impression of an owl. “He fixed it? All of it?”
“The guys helped since there was quite a bit to do. Can’t believe the thing was still running.”
“Wow, thanks so much,” I said, words not adequate to describe how grateful I was. Buying a new car would have been impossible. Someone fixing my rust bucket meant everything to me, even if it was Sebastian who’d done it.
“That was all Sebastian,” he said with a wink. “Don’t be a stranger.”
I rolled the window back up and waved to him on my way out of the compound.
When we drove through the gates and hit the road, I didn’t feel free like I thought I would. There was no weight off my chest, no happy dance. Instead, I felt like I’d left a piece of me at the compound.
I drove straight home, leaving our bags in the car and only taking the blankies and stuffed animals out that couldn’t be left there for the night. The kids were happy to be home and went straight into the backyard.
Luca let out a shriek as soon as he was through the door, and I raced after them. There was a fence around the backyard, and there wasn’t much in it except a few trees and a small sandbox. I wondered if he’d tripped.
“Mom, look,” Luca shrieked, racing Lena to a swing set that wasn’t there when we’d left.
Something else that hadn’t been there was the playhouse nestled underneath the big oak tree.
“A swing,” Luca called out, doing his best to help Lena.
“Swing, swing, swing,” Lena chanted, hanging off the seat with one leg, Luca pushing her up.
I blinked a few times, making sure I wasn’t having a mental breakdown and hallucinating. After the ninth blink, everything was still there, and I followed the happy shrieks to help my kids.
We spent the next hour outside, exploring the additions to our yard. I had no explanation for where they’d come from. I couldn’t afford anything this big and shiny. And everything was brand-new, putting it further out of my reach.
I had some investigating to do and started with Stella since she liked grand gestures. This would be right up her alley.
She picked up right away, her phone an extension of her arm.
“You guys back home yet?” she asked.
I’d only told her that we were spending a few days with Sebastian. She thought we were together anyway and didn’t need an explanation.
“Got back an hour ago,” I replied, watching Luca open and close the shutters on the playhouse three million times. Lena was busy rearranging the fully stocked interior that included a kitchen, chairs, a table, and a shelf with papers and pens.
“You working tonight?” Stella asked.
“No, but I have to go in tomorrow. I know it’s short notice, but can you watch the kids by any chance?”
“Of course I can. Mason has now decided that he needs to finish the house within the next few months, so I have plenty of time. I barely see him anymore.”
Oh no, that didn’t sound like the bubbly Stella I knew. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I’m just being a big baby. Since Mason has a full-time job, renovating a house this big on top of it takes a while and a lot of his time. And I know I shouldn’t complain because he’s doing it for us, but I
