Chapter 26 - This is Exhausting

**Devon**

“Serena, I learned my lesson. I will never hide anything from you again. I swear by all that is holy, I will tell you every little thing if that is what you desire. We were wrong and we didn’t mean to hurt you. We just wanted a little more information, and I didn’t know how else to get it.”

I dropped to my knees in front of her. “I adore you. My love for you is so huge I don’t know how to express it adequately. I will do better; I will be better. Please forgive me, sweet girl. You are my life.”

Tears were shining in her eyes. “I’ll forgive you eventually, but not today. Not only did you disrespect me, but you tore my heart out and stomped that sucker flat. How about I go find an old boyfriend to go on a date with, get a drink with? How about we go through life with me completely disregarding everything you feel is important, huh, Devon?” she demanded.

Garrett and I growled at the same time. Paul must have come in behind me because he made a low sound deep in his chest too.

“I know you don’t see it, but we did this for you. Our dad is worse than we have led you to believe. He will try to manipulate you and us. He will try to break us up for whatever nefarious reason he alone feels is important. It’s not an excuse, but it is the truth. And you are not leaving us for another man. Not ever. We’ll tie you down until you forgive us if we must. I see the pain we caused, and I want to erase it. Please let us make this up to you, Baby Girl. Please.” I groveled, on my knees for the most wonderful woman in the world.

Paul dropped beside me. “Everything he said and more, Serena. We want to protect you and we go about in the wrong way sometimes. This was way beyond, and we know it, but we are used to doing things our own way and answering to no one. You say we disrespected you, but it’s because we respect you that we tried out damnedest to find out what our father was doing behind our backs. Again, we have no excuse, but we need you to know you were always at the forefront our minds. Always, sweetheart.”

“I’m going to go take a nap. This is exhausting,” she stood and left the room with both of us on our knees basically begging for her forgiveness.

We both sighed at the same time.

“Way to fucking go, guys. She’s been up all night, pacing and crying. You’ve really done it this time. I barely got her to eat a little toast and jam with her coffee. How are you going to fix this?” Garrett wanted to know.

Paul stood. “Find out which bedroom she went into to sleep. Then pack a bag with enough clothes for two days. If she’s in your room, Garrett, I’ll pack her bags for her since her things are in my room. As soon as she wakes up, we’re leaving to go to the cabin. We need to get away from here and it will be restful there. That’s all the plan I have for now. She trusts you, so you need to convince her to go, otherwise we’ll have to force her, and I don’t want to risk making things worse.” I nodded my assent.

“I’ll go tell her mother that we are taking her on a surprise trip. We’ll come back Friday night so we can rest before the party on Saturday.” Paul finished.

It was as good a plan as any. I loved the cabin and the mountains. We work so much that we don’t go there often enough. I was actually looking forward to it.

Garrett nodded, on board with the this development. I just hoped that over the next couple of days, she learned to forgive us. We needed a united front for dad’s party. Any chink in the armor could be just the thing dad needs to complete his plans, whatever they are.

I called Lacey when I got back to my room. I wanted to know if she heard anything else since we last talked.

“I haven’t heard anything more, Devon, but Dad is going all out. He’s got cleaners and a party planner. He must have invited fifty people or more. I know it will be a catered event with ice sculptures and a huge cake. Mom has been groaning about it for days but won’t tell me what the fuss is all about.” Lacey explained.

“Jeez. What the heck is going on? Do you know anything about the guest list?”

“I tried to get a peek at it yesterday when Mom set her clipboard down in the kitchen, but she immediately came back for it. Whatever it is, he’s got her totally freaked out. I’d ditch if I was you. You’re grown ass men. What can he do to you?” she asked.

I wondered the same thing, but if we embarrassed him, it would be way worse for us. No. We needed to face this head on. Whatever it is, indeed.

“We can’t run from it. He’ll just make things worse later on if we embarrass him. We think he wants to force us to marry women of his choice to strengthen his alliances with the other families. It’s like he thinks he’s the mafia king or something,” I complained.

“Yeah, this ain’t the Middle Ages,” she quipped.

“I’m worried he’ll do the same to you, Lacey. In another year or so when you finish school. It’s hard to protect you when you live under his roof,” I warned her.

She was quiet as what I said sunk in.

“You won’t let that happened, will you Devon? Please, brother, don’t let him sell me to the highest bidder.”

Lacey was a smart girl. She understood what our father was made of.

“We’re on it. We won’t let anything happen to you; I promise.” I swore to her. “Keep us informed. We will make sure to keep you safe, no matter the cost.”

“I know you will, but if he doesn’t get his way this time, it will be worse for me, and you know it.” She pouted.

I did know. Dad could be vicious and vindictive when he didn’t get what he wanted. As soon as the dinner party was over, we had to start planning a rescue for Lacey. She would have it worse than us, at least we could fight and claw our way out of any situation, and we were adults. Lacey wouldn’t be eighteen until next year.

“Just be on your guard at all times and call or text every day even if it’s just an emoji. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll know something is wrong right away.”

It was the only plan I had for now.

“I gotta go. We’ll be out of town until Friday, we have something to deal with. Don’t forget to text me.” I said as we hung up.

I had to go pack a bag for our trip.