“Here we go,” Robin walked back into the room with a smile. “I hope you’re hungry, I put quite a bit on the plate.”

“Thanks. I’m pretty starved.” I sat back down on the couch and grabbed some grapes. “So who’s the guy in the photo?” I pointed to the console and almost groaned to myself. I just couldn’t stop the little green monster from coming out.

“Oh,” Robin paused. “That’s me and my ex. Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry.” I gave her a quick smile, trying to pretend I was not terribly disappointed. “Do you still love him and miss him, then?”

“No.” She shook her head slowly. “Not really.”

“So sometimes?” I leaned towards her.

“I guess.” She sighed and sat back. “I don’t have feelings for him anymore. But sometimes I miss him. We used to be friends.”

“I see.” I didn’t see and I didn’t want to do anything but smash the photo.

“Do you still miss your ex?” Robin looked at me curiously and her eyes were alert.

“No,” I shook my head as anger raced through me. “I hate her.” I sighed and then paused. “Well, no, I don’t hate her. But I dislike the person she is. She’s the sort of woman who makes you want to protect her because she acts like she’s a victim, but really it’s others who need protecting from her.”

“Sounds like she really hurt you.”

“She did hurt me.” I said bitterly. “In her own way, she hurt me the best way she knew how.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. She was married, you know. She escaped from her ex. She told me that he had been beating her. She even had some scars. She was really broken. I knew that from the start. I could see it in her face, hear it in her voice. We both were in Palm Bonita because we had to be, not because we wanted to be, and we both missed the outside world. That’s how we bonded.” I talked more than I had expected to, but I wanted Robin to understand. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but once she realized I was gone and why, I wanted her to remember this conversation and understand why I had to leave. I wanted her to know it wasn’t because I didn’t like her.

“That sounds pretty reasonable.” She nodded, but I could see little sparks of jealousy in her eyes as well.

“We shared personal and intimate information about each other.” I sighed. “I told her why I was really in Palm Bonita. I had wanted her to know I wasn’t one of the bad guys. That I was really there for a good reason. I even told her who my father was and that I came from a family of money. I made all the mistakes I wasn’t supposed to make. And she held it over me.”

“She blackmailed you?” Robin gasped.

“No,” I shook my head. “She was too smart for that. But she would ask for things or expect things. She would hold stuff over my head. She was smart, you know. She knew how to word things to make you wonder and feel sorry for her. And I fell for it.”

“She doesn’t seem like a very nice person.”

“Oh, she wasn’t.” I sighed and shook my head. “She wasn’t a nice person at all.” I stared into Robin’s eyes wanting to tell her everything so badly. But I was scared. I had made that mistake before and it had nearly cost me everything. I couldn’t risk anything going wrong at this point. “Excuse me a second,” I smiled at Robin as my phone rang and I answered it. “Hello, Lucky.”

“Noah.” Lucky’s voice was low. “You need to come home.”

“Why, what’s wrong?” I said quickly and with worry. “Is it Zane?”

“No.” She took a deep breath. “Zane and I did something.”

“What did you guys do?” My heart pounded with fear and all I could think about was when Lucky had taken my phone a couple of days ago. “Did you call my mom?”

“No.” She paused. “Zane, please you have to come home.”

“Why, Lucky? Why?”

“Noah, Skylar’s here.”

I almost dropped the phone on the floor as shock fell over me. What was going on? “What do you mean Skylar’s there? There’s no way. How could she get there by herself?”

“She’s not by herself.”

“Oh, God.” My face turned pale and my heart started beating fast. “Oh, my God.”

“I’m sorry, Noah.” She gulped. “I didn’t know. We didn’t know. We thought this would be good for you. I’m—”

“What did you do, Lucky?” I shouted in the phone, angrier than I had ever been in my life.

“Please just come home.” She sobbed. “I don’t want to be here alone with her.”

“Where’s Zane?”

“He’s not at home.”

“I’m on my way.” I ended the call and turned to a worried-looking Robin. I pulled her up and towards me and looked her straight in the eyes. “I’m sorry, I have to go.” I kissed her hard and tried to remember the taste of her lips and the smell of her hair as I held her close to me for a few moments.

“What’s going on, Noah?” She looked at me with a scared expression. “What’s wrong with Lucky?”

“I have to go.” I said wildly grabbing my car keys. “My ex is here.” I looked at her shocked and hurt expression but I didn’t have time to explain everything to her. “I’m sorry but I have to go.” I ran out of the door, without looking back and ran to my car quickly. I needed to get home before anything happened. I jumped into my car in both excitement and fear. I was excited that I would finally be reunited with Skylar but I was extremely worried about what else might go down. I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. No matter what happened tonight, I wasn’t going to let Skylar get hurt again. No matter what!

* * *

I walked into the house slowly. I was scared about what was going to happen. I didn’t even really understand how they had both gotten there, but I had a feeling Zane and Lucky were to blame. I thought back to two days ago in the kitchen when I’d had the conversation with Skylar right in front of Zane, and how minutes later Lucky had conveniently wanted to borrow my phone. Then I remembered the call she had received in the car, and the new number she had taken down to call. It all clicked into my head. I was pretty sure I knew how they had gotten her. Zane and Lucky had most probably tried to help me out, but they had no idea what the situation was. They had no idea that they had most probably made the situation worse for me and Skylar. They had no idea who she was to me.

I had only been in the door for a few minutes when someone came running into my arms. “Noah, Noah, it’s really you.” She cried tears of joy as she jumped into my arms and I picked Skylar up and swung her around.

“It’s really me, angel.” I sat her down and kissed her on the cheek, staring at her beautiful and innocent face. She looked just the same as I remembered her, with her big wide blue eyes, the little button nose, and a big gap in her front teeth. I crouched down so that I was on eye-level with her and looked into her eyes. “I’m sorry that I left Palm Bonita without saying goodbye.”

“You never came back to see me.” Her eyes were wide and wet. “I thought I made you mad at me.”

“You could never make me mad at you. I love you. You know that.” I gave her a huge hug and my heart melted as she hugged me back tightly. As I hugged her, I wondered at the love I had for this child. This child who wasn’t mine, but who had completely stolen my heart the very first time I’d met her.

“Well, now, now. Isn’t this a cozy scene?” Monica walked up to us and gave us a haughty stare. “I always love to see my ex hugging my little bastard of a stepdaughter.”

“Monica, not in front of Skylar.” I covered the child’s ears and glared at her. As I stared at her beautiful but evil face, I wondered how I had ever been taken in by her. She was most probably the worst person I had ever had the misfortune of dating. She had drawn me in with her smile and acting, but she had shown me her true colors pretty quickly after that. I’d wanted to break up with her a few months after we started dating, but I had already established a relationship with Skylar and I also knew that the only way I could look after Skylar and spend time with her was to keep on dating Monica.

“I don’t know why you love that brat of a kid so much,” she sneered at me, and then looked around the house with wide greedy eyes. “This place is so much more than I thought it would be. I guess you’re as rich as you said.”

“What do you want, Monica?” I glared at her before looking back down at Skylar. “Hey, honey, want to go play in the backyard?”

“Yes, please.” She hugged my leg and then ran to the back. “Can I pick some flowers, Uncle Noah?”

“Of course.” I beamed at her and waited until I saw her walk out the French doors to turn back to Monica. “What do you want?” I glared at her, and let my distaste show through.

“You better ask your new lover, Lucky. She’s the one that called me.”

“Lucky is my brother’s fiancée.” I shook my head in disgust.

“I’m sure you’re fucking her.” Monica leered at me as she stepped in closer to me. “Or maybe you’ve been missing me. Is that why I’m here? Been missing you.”

“I’ve missed you as much as a good man misses hell.”

“Noah, you’re back.” Lucky ran down the stairs and gave me a despairing and apologetic look.

“Yes.” I nodded coldly.

“Where’s Skylar?” She looked around wildly and I grabbed her arm.

“She’s in the backyard.” I nodded towards the back.

“She’s a kid.” Lucky looked at me with big eyes. “Skylar’s a kid.”

“Yes.”

“So you really didn’t miss your ex, did you?” Lucky chewed on her lower lip and I sighed.

“I told you that I didn’t miss my ex.” I sighed. “I told you you didn’t really understand.”

“I’m still here, bitches.” Monica interrupted us. “Where the fuck is my money?”

“What money?” It took everything in me not to physically harm her.