To Have and To Hold (*coco + soggypoptart)

“Sure you are. Come on, let’s get you some breakfast!” Naya swooped Poppy up into the air and saddled her on her waist, making the three year-old break out into an adorable giggle.

Naya took the seat at the breakfast table opposite Julian with Poppy on her lap.

“Now...” Naya began, addressing Poppy, “we have pancakes, sausages and bacon...which one would you like?”

Poppy moved her thumb from her mouth and looked at Julian before saying, “pamcakes.”

“Sweetie, its 'pancakes', not pamcakes,” Naya corrected her gently. “Come on, say it with me: pan–cakes...”

Poppy looked determined. “Pam-cakes...”

“Never mind,” Naya chuckled, plaiting a pancake onto Poppy’s plate before tucking into her own breakfast.

Silence fell at the table, until Julian broke it.

“Uh, Naya...” he began.

Naya was chewing her food. “Hm?”

“Your god-daughter keeps looking at me...”

Naya turned towards Poppy. “Don’t stare, sweetie, it’s rude,” she then addressed Julian with a smile, “I think she likes you.”

The little girl sat there and seemed to smile even brighter when Julian stared back at her. She was cute. But, Julian had promised himself, no children. Ever. Not even if he fell in love with someone, which was never going to happen. This thought was ingraved in his mind. To put it more blunt, it was burned into his brain. It was like an eleventh commandment. No children. No child, no baby ect...

Poppy finally focused enough to pick the pancake up with her tiny fingers and plunge them into her mouth. She smiled, her cheeks were full of food. She looked up at Naya to make sure she was eating right.

Naya nodded. Then, Poppy stopped and pointed at Naya's cheek.

"Owie?" Poppy questioned.

Naya stopped chewing. She looked up at Julian and could see last night’s frown returning to his face.

“Just a small owie,” she assured Poppy. She was silly to think that Poppy wouldn’t notice, even with the makeup. This was Rosa’s daughter she was talking about and that woman had the eyes of a hawk!

Sensing the sudden tension in the air, Naya quickly changed the subject, “uh would you like another pancake, Poppy?”

The little girl nodded enthusiastically. Naya stood from her seat and headed into the kitchen. As she plaited up some more pancakes, she glanced at her reflection on the microwave, her eyes falling on the now visible bruise. So much for her $100 'miracle' foundation...

Just as she was about to head back out into the living room, her cell phone began to ring. It was Danni.

“Hey, Danni,” she answered.

“Hey, guess what?” Danni seemed super excited about something.

“What?” Naya asked, slightly curious.

“D'you remember yesterday you suggested that we should all get together sometime to meet Julian properly...”

Naya didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“Well, tonight will be perfect! I’m hosting this charity dinner for a local children’s hospital in my apartment. It’s gonna be awesome! I already got tickets for you, Julian and the girls-”

Naya cut in abruptly. “No, Danni...today’s really not a good time-”

This time Danni interrupted.

“This isn't up for discussion, Naya,” she said sternly. “When you came up with the idea, I told you I’d hold you to it. This is our only chance to properly meet him before I have to leave for France next week.”

“Why are you going to France?” Naya asked.

“Long story,” Danni brushed off before returning to the subject at hand. “Anyway...I'll be waiting for you at the door. Be there by 9.”

“But-” Naya struggled.

Danni ignored her pleas. “I gotta go, the florists are here...see you tonight.”

Before Naya could protest, Danni hung up. Looking highly annoyed, Naya grabbed the plate of pancakes and returned to the living room only to see Julian up and putting his jacket on, the frown still evident on his face.

“Where are you going?” she asked him.

“Out,” he replied.

Naya’s face fell slightly. “But...” she paused. Truthfully, she’d hoped that after what had happened last night, Julian would stay home with her today. She felt safe with him around. “Okay,” she said, putting on a fake smile in order to try to hide her disappointment, “d’you think you could be back before 8?”

“Why?” he asked her.

“Uh, Danni’s hosting a charity dinner at her apartment and...she wants us to be there...”

Naya deliberately left out the part about her sister and her friends planning to use the event in order to ‘get to know him’. It'd only scare him off...

Julian thought for a moment, letting the keys jingle in his hand. He looked at Naya's face. Those men better pray that they never met Julian again. They better pray hard. Julian nodded, the frown still on his face. He stood up straight and opened the door, a cold breeze swung in.

"I'll be back by then." He paused and then looked down at Poppy, then at Naya. "Lock the door." he said, it wasn't a question it was a do-or-die. Julian wasn't up for a debate today.

Naya nodded, and fell into a step behind him. As soon as Julian shut the door, he heard the lock turn. She would be safe in the house. She would...

Julian went into town. It seemed like hours away when it was only twenty minutes or so. He went into a pawn shop. He knew exactly what he was looking for. He had really hoped this day would never come, but it had. He was going to put on his war face and buy what he came in here to buy...

Naya spent the entire day watching the door like a scared rabbit. She couldn’t help herself. While she spent the day entertaining Poppy with crayons, candy and music, her eyes would occasionally glance at the windows or she'd find herself checking the front door to see if it was still locked...

Once the clock struck seven, Naya began to prepare her and Poppy’s clothes for the charity dinner. She was still unsure about the idea. Her sister and her friends didn’t know Julian’s personality, or about what had happened last night. Naya only hoped they didn’t do or say anything to get him angry.

She headed towards the bedroom and started going through her rack of clothes. After several seconds past, she pulled out a simple floor-length black strapless dress. It was beautiful but plain, probably the plainest thing she owned. It had no beads, diamonds or designs, she wasn’t particularly in the mood for them. After deciding on her outfit, she began to rummage through Poppy’s bag until she came across an adorable black velvet dress.

“Ooh! This is cute!” Naya said, taking the dress out and holding it up to Poppy, who was sat in front of the television with her thumb in her mouth. “Does Poppy wanna match with Auntie Naya?” she cooed at her.

The little girl nodded enthusiastically before pulling her thumb out from her mouth and running excitedly towards the dress.

Naya swooped Poppy into her arms and up onto the bed to dress her. As Poppy lifted her chubby hands in the air to put the dress on, Naya smiled. Ever since she could remember, Naya had absolutely adored children; she once swore that she'd have as many of them as she could once she got married, but that all changed after she met Jace...

It had been almost two years since her abortion. Naya would often wonder, had she not gone through with it, she would’ve had a girl or a boy right now who was the same age as Poppy. Her decision to abort her child out of fear and shame left her wonder whether she deserved to ever have children again. Then Rosa made her the godmother to her daughter. Naya was so happy she cried. It was as if she'd been given a second chance...

Once Poppy was dressed, and her blond curls were accompanied by a cute sparkly butterfly clip, Naya dressed herself, giving her brown curls an extra bounce to them, while spending the remainder of the time fixing her face, making sure her bruise couldn’t be seen.

Suddenly, she heard a knock at the trailer door and her heart began to pound. Slowly, she stepped out of the bathroom and peered through the curtain only to sigh in relief. It was Julian.

Julian stood underneath the hooding of the porch. It was pissing down rain. Really annoying actually. He wondered what Naya had been doing all day. He held a small brief case in his hand. The rain was so loud that he didn't even hear the lock turn or the door open. He had to rely on his eyesight, which was also starting to slowly fail him. He saw Naya she looked even more beautiful than she had when he left. She moved past and let him in. Julian was soaked. Her eyes were wide.

"Is it that bad outside?" she asked, a little shaken.

Julian looked at her, his clothes were dripping. "We'll lets just say I was only outside for five mintues." She grabbed a towel and tried to hand it to him. He shook his head. "I'm going to take a shower, I'll be out in ten." He set the brief case on the table and knew that even if Naya wanted to get into the brief case she'd have to punch the code in. She didn't know the code. Julian did.

Julian entered the bedroom, Poppy was in a little dress and passed out on the bed. Julian looked at the little creature and then looked back at Naya. He opened his mouth, then shook his head and went into the bathroom. Julian dressed in the bathroom and came out. He was wearing his normal suit and tie. Funny, he didn't feel weird in a tux like he had when he was younger. When his family only cared about protecting the ones they loved. That died with a couple of people. Julian swore that Jennifer and now Naya wouldn't be one of those people...

Once Julian stepped out of the bathroom fully dressed, Naya glanced over at the clock.

"We should get going," she said, moving into the bedroom and gently picking Poppy up, reasting her small blonde head on Naya's shoulders.

Suddenly they could hear a car beeping from outside. Julian looked to Naya.

"Uh...I called for a cab," she explained, placing Poppy's colourful blanket over her sleeping body, "I didn't want to go in the truck..." she trailed off hoping Julian would understand.

Julian nodded, the frown still evident on his face.

It was a long drive to Danni's apartment. By the time they had arrived outside Danni's apartment complex, the rain had become heavier. Naya hurriedly scurried inside the complex with Poppy still in he arm whilst Julian paid the driver.

Once inside the elevator, Naya took a quick peek at her reflection from the mirror inside, fixing her curls and checking her face one last time before stepping outside to see her read-headed sister standing by the doorway with Naya's freinds beside her.

"You're late." they all acknowledged.

Naya looked up at the clock just visible inside Danni's apartment. "Only by a minute!"

Danni ignored her. “Where’s Julian?” she asked sternly, looking past Naya. "You promised you'd bring him."

“I did bring him, he’s downstairs paying the driver...” Naya informed her.

Lola scoffed. “Are you sure he didn't just run away?” her voice was full of disapproval.

Naya gave her a look.

“Come on, let’s get you a drink...” Danni said, ushering Naya into her beautifully decorated apartment.

Guests were already inside, gathered in small circles talking amongst themselves with champagne glasses in their hands whilst a harp played lazily in the background.

Naya handed the sleeping Poppy over to one of the maids who took her to Danni's bedroom, before heading for the bar. Once seated, the barman, a seriously good-looking French exchange student, handed Naya a martini, which she gratefully took.

"Oh, by the way, I invited Julian's sister, Jennifer,” Danni told her, casually. "She should be here soon..."

Naya smiled. "That was nice of you."

Danni shrugged, before eyeing her little sister. “You look nervous,” she mused, taking a seat beside her.

“That’s because I am nervous,” she replied, draining her martini in one go before ordering another. “Just remember, Julian isn’t in the best of moods today, so-”

“Is he ever in a good mood?” Lola questioned.

“Yes, actually...” Naya pressed, not knowing why she suddenly sounded so defensive, “sometimes he can be quite pleasant...”

Lola raised a brow. “Oh really?” she mused, clearly not convinced. “So, that must mean you two have made some progress then?”

Naya didn't quite know how to respond to that. “I guess so...”

There was a long pause in which Naya drained her martini and the barman handed her another. Finally, Danni broke the silence.

“Well, someone might as well say it...are we talking about progress in the bedroom or progress in general?”

Naya nearly choked on her second martini before glaring at Danni, her cheeks flushed. The girls burst into fits of laughter at her reaction. Just as Naya was about to refute Danni's innapropriate comment, Lola, ever the observant one, jumped her.

"You blushed!” Lola said, staring at Naya as though she couldn’t believe it. “You’re so totally starting to like him, aren’t you?”

Naya had never heard something so ridiculous. “Oh please...” she rolled her eyes and got to her feet before draining her glass and ordering her third martini. She suddenly spotted Julian enter the apartment and turned to face Danni and the girls. “Julian’s here,” she said draning her third drink in one go before adding, “please try to be nice...”

"Uh, we'll pass thank you..." Danni responded bluntly.

Naya didn't like the look on her sister's face at all.

Julian felt a little empty on the inside, but that was normal. He wasn't nervous or anxious and quiet sadly he wasn't even excited or pleased to be meeting her friends. He was going to act polite, an always gentleman. He wondered if she had set this up. Or had someone else? Why did they want to meet him? He isn't going to stick around. In fact Julian had the divorce papers in his office at work. So when their year was up, so was this pointless marriage.

All the women had drinks in their perfectly manicured hands except, Naya. Her face was as if she hadn't expected this. All these women, but Julian knew she had. Maybe she was feeling guilty? He felt a little over whelmed. A woman a little bit shorter than Julian and almost an exact replica of Naya struted to the front of the room. Naya's sister, no doubt. She wasn't smiling, she had a serious almost fierce look on her face...

Wow, Julian was in Hell. Aaaaannnnd, they wore shinning, glittery, high heeled uniforms! Julian needed a drink, and fast!

Naya watched intently as Danni approached, her friends following closely behind. An awkward silence followed, which Naya sheepishly broke.

“Uh Julian, these are my friends,” she pointed at them all individually, “Lola, Bree, Ali and Penelope...”

Naya’s friends raised their glasses in response, knowing smiles spread across their faces as they scanned Julian up and down.

Naya moved swiftly to Danni, “and this is my elder sister, Danni this is...Julian...” she was going to say ‘my husband’ but she couldn’t bring herself to it.

Another awkward silence followed as she too joined Naya’s friends in scanning Julian up and down.

“Nice to meet you,” Julian smiled politely, breaking the silence and putting out his hand like a gentleman.

“Oh, believe me, the pleasure’s all mine...” Danni’s voice dripped with venom as she shook Julian’s hand. She threw Naya a smile which Naya didn’t return, before pointing to a near-by table beside the stage, “Please, take a seat and help yourself to a drink. I’ll join you both after the toast and then we can all have a little chat together...get to know Naya's husband a little bit better...” she said the word ‘know’ extremely pointedly before stepping onto the stage, leaving Naya and Julian to take their seats.

“I’m sorry about them,” Naya said guiltily once she was sure her sister and friends were out of sight. “They’re not usually like this...well they are but, I mean...” she quicklyy grabbed a glass of champagne and took a swig from it.

“Naya...” Julian frowned, “how many glasses have you had?”

“Just one,” she lied.

Julian had a ‘yeah right’ look on his face but he chose not to press the matter further, instead he took a swig from his own glass, before speaking, “were you alright at home today by yourself?”

Naya nodded. “Poppy kept me busy...” she paused as she suddenly remembered the mysterious briefcase Julian had returned home with that night. She wondered if he was in a good mood to share. “Where did you go by the way?” she asked tentatively, “and where did you get that briefcase from?”

Julian took another swig from his champagne glass before calmly answering, “It’s not important.”

Naya glared at him. He was obviously keeping something from her.

“Just because I'm not your favourite person in the world, it doesn’t mean you have to lie to me all the time...” she said quietly as she watched Danni take to the stage to begin the charity proceedings with a toast.

Julian raised an eyebrow. His had the look of distaste on his face, and he didn't care who knew it. He wasn't lying. It wasn't important, she didn't need to know.

"I'm not lying." he responded.

She looked at him, a smirk on her face. "Then... Tell me, what's in it."

Julian simply stared. "Nothing, you need to worry about, Angel."

Naya was in no mood to start an argument, so she left the conversation at that and listened to her sister’s speech.

“I would like to thank everyone for coming here tonight. I know that this charity is as dear to your hearts as it is to mine. Now, as you know, I first started this back in 2009, with the hope that one day...”

“Nice dress...”

Naya nearly jumped from the familiarity of the voice that came suddenly from behind her. A shiver crawled up her back as she turned her head to see Jace smiling down at her, his arm around a tall blonde woman.

“Jace?” Julian raised a brow, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Well...” Jace began with a smile, “Jennifer was originally invited to come and I offered to be her plus-one, but in the end she couldn’t make it so she gave me her ticket and told me to go instead...”

“And I’m guessing this is your plus-one?” Julian asked, eying the tall blonde woman.

“Indeed it is bro,” Jace smirked, his eyes piercing Naya’s before he took the blonde woman lovingly by the hand. “Meet top Russian supermodel Ana Metzger.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” the blonde woman said with her thick Russian accent.

Naya simply stared at her and Jace, dazed, until the sound of her sister’s voice brought her back to reality.

“...it is with the support that you show us here tonight that will help us continue with our efforts to provide education and medical care to the world’s most poorest, vulnerable and destitute children. Thank you.”

The speech ended with a toast, before Danni was applauded off-stage. Naya quickly excused herself from the table before grabbing Danni as she stepped off the raised dais.

“Naya, what’s wrong?” Danni asked, noticing the look of horror on her sister’s face. “Is everything okay?”

“Jace is here,” Naya told her.

“What? Where?” Danni’s eyes widened in horror as her eyes finally fell on Julian’s younger brother who was now helping himself to a seat beside his brother, “Who the hell invited that scum-bag?”

“Apparently, Jennifer couldn’t make it tonight so she gave him her ticket...” Naya explained, her heart racing with fear.

Danni looked completely incredulous. “Well, there’s no way in hell I’m letting him stay here...” she quickly raised her hand towards a beefy man guarding the front door, “Lance!” she called for him.

“No, Danni!” Naya quickly stopped her. “It’s too late, Julian’s already seen him, if you get security to drag Jace out now, Julian will start to get suspicious.”

“But, this is Jace we’re talking about!” Danni pressed. “I can’t have him come here uninvited wagging his latest trashy girlfriend in your face!”

Naya let out a deep sigh in defeat. “Look, I can’t deal with this right now, I’m gonna go upstairs to check on Poppy, just stay down here and keep an eye on the two of them for me, alright?”

Danni looked determined. “Fine, but I’m telling you, Naya, I am not gonna let him get away with this!”

Naya ignored Danni’s threats. She miserably grabbed a whole champagne bottle from a passing waiter before gathering her dress and heading upstairs.

Jace's new model friend, she was beautiful. Breath taking actually. She sat next to Jace and batted her eyelashes. Julian was feeling very uncomfertable around them. He didn't care what country that model was from he didn't trust her. Julian watched Naya grab a champaine bottle and leave in a hurry. No way in hell was he going to let her get drunk and make a fool out of both of them. Julian politely excused himself and began to follow Naya. He was slightly... Kinda... Maaaaybe worried about her, but he would never admit that out loud. He got within inches of her when Danni stepped in front of him.

She threw her hands on her hips and gave him a dirty look. "Where do you think you are going?" she said.

Julian looked down at her, "I'm going to check on my wife." It was in mono tone, completely flat and emotionless.

Her eyebrows crashed together, not meeting in the middle. "She's fine."

It was Julian's turn to make a face. "Oh, really? She just looks sooo fine to me." Julian said saracsticly, he wasn't in the mood to get a lecture from another yet again family memeber.

Danni bit the inside of her cheek in fury. Julian would know because sometimes he did that too. Her hands on her hips became a fence to block Julian off. "If you really cared about her. You would make sure that Jace stayed far far away from her."

Julian's face flooded with fury. "Excuse me... Danni, my brother wouldn't hurt Naya. What the hell are you talking about?"

Danni's face suddenly drained of all color. "Oh, God... You don't know..." She muttered. "Shit... Excuse me, I have a show to keep on." With that she scurried out of his way.

Now Julian was curious. She had secrets? So what? He did too. He just wanted to know what...

Naya was on Danni’s bed, lying beside a sleeping Poppy. She kicked her heels from her feet and began drinking from the champagne bottle as if it were water. Unfortunately, she was nowhere near as drunk as she hoped...

Getting up from the bed with a deep sigh, she settled the half-empty bottle on the floor and approached Danni’s dressing table to look at herself in the mirror. Luckily, her foundation was holding up well, the bruise on her left cheek was nowhere to be seen. As she fixed her brown curls into place, her eyes suddenly wandered down to the side of her neck where faint finger-nail marks could be seen. She hurriedly covered them, her eyes burning with tears as she recalled the story behind them; It happened over a year ago...Jace had come back to their hotel after accusing her of being unfaithful...she remembered seeing blood on his clothes...she asked him what he’d done...he grabbed her by the neck and-

“Naya.”

She jumped at the sound of her name and instantly turned to see Julian enter the room.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she clutched at her pounding heart. “God, you scared me...what are you doing up here?”

“I came to check up on you,” he frowned.

“Why? I'm fine...” she told him.

“No, you're not, you’re crying...”

Naya quickly wiped away her tears from her face.

“What the hell’s going on?” Julian asked her.

Naya tried to look confused. “N-nothing’s going on...I just came to check on Poppy...”

“Don’t play dumb with me, I meant what’s going on with you and my brother,” Julian said. “Why the hell are you up here crying?”

Naya tried to remain calm. “I have no idea what you're talking about...”

Julian looked irritated.

“That night at our wedding rehearsal dinner when I first asked you about Jace...” he began, “you told me that he had a 'thing' for you back in High school, but that he eventually got over it...was that the truth, or was there something else you didn’t want to tell me?”

Naya felt sick.

“I...” she struggled, “...look, your overreacting...”

Julian frowned. “Am I? Because your sister seems to know what I’m talking about.”

“What?” Naya couldn’t believe it. “What did...what did Danni say to you?”

“She said enough to make me wonder if what you told me about Jace was the whole truth,” said Julian.

Naya struggled to come up with a response. She nervously looked up at him and wasn't surprised to find that she couldn’t read his face at all. She didn’t know whether he was concerned about her, or whether he was just curious about his younger brother. Either way, Naya would rather throw herself from the balcony of her sister’s apartment than ever tell Julian what happened between her and Jace.

She swallowed hard and cleared her throat before responding to him. “I swear to you nothing – other than what I told you at the dinner – happened between me and Jace.”

She felt a lump in her throat as she said those words. She hated lying, always had done, but for some reason she found that she hated lying to Julian even more. It confused her, all these sudden emotions fighting inside her...

Everyone had secrets. Hell, Julian had enough to build another human being. He didn't want to push her but parts of him wanted her to just be straight with him. No more lies and no more games. He wanted to shake it out of her. Wanted to maybe even beat it out of her as if she were a punching bag. He knew that if he pushed her she would just become more distant and even more difficult to deal with than she already was. He noticed that waterfalls seemed to be pouring out of her eyes.

He clenched his fists. "If it were nothing, you wouldn't be blubbering about it." He growled. He had honestly had enough. Yes, he felt sympathetic. Crying got you no where. Regreting the past doesn't make everything okay and it sure as hell doesn't change anything.

Her bottom lip trembled. Then she suddenly had her war face on. "It was nothing, and I am not blubbering!"

Julian looked at her for a mintue. Then shook his head. "Okay, what ever. I'm... I'm leaving."

"You can't just leave! You have to stay this is a social event. People expect us to be here!" She yelled.

Julian turned on her. His green eyes turning completely black. "I don't give a damn what people expect. If you don't want to tell me your secrets that's fine, but don't you dare act like I owe you the favor." Just like that everything turned silent.

She just gaped at him like he hadn't really gone there. Yes he had, and just like that Julian stalked out of the room.

Naya didn’t bother stopping him. Seathing in anger, she watched him storm out of the room. He’d said a lot of hurtful things to her in the past, but this was unforgivable...truly...she was done with this marriage.

She grabbed the half-empty champagne bottle again and took another long hard swig from it before whipping out her cell phone. Several seconds later, Danni ran into the room, a look of panic across her face.

“What happened?” she breathed, stepping inside her bedroom and closing the door behind her. “Why did Julian just storm off like that?”

Naya looked up from her phone and addressed Danni angrily, “Because you said something to him about Jace!” she responded angrily.

Danni bit her bottom lip. “Look, I’m sorry, alright,” she said, “I thought he knew...”

Naya looked incredulous. “You thought he knew?” she repeated, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, “Danni, do you really think Julian would still be with me if he knew?”

Danni put her hands in her face. “You're right. I’m so sorry...”

“Don’t be,” said Naya, before going through her contacts list.

“Who are you calling?” Danni asked.

“My lawyer,” Naya replied.

“What? Why?”

“I want a divorce.”

Danni gaped at her in shock.

“But, Naya-”

“You don’t know what it’s like, Danni...” Naya said, wiping away the tears building in her eyes. “He’s so awful to me, he’s insensitive and cruel...he has this temper that scares me, it’s like I have to walk on egg-shells around him...I feel like I can’t breathe or be myself because I’m worried that he might snap at me at any moment...” Naya felt more tears building up. “He doesn’t care about me at all, Danni...there was a point when I really thought he did but he doesn’t...he doesn’t care about anyone...”

Danni placed a caring hand to Naya’s cheek.

“I hate seeing you like this,” Danni said. “Divorce him. Don’t worry about mom or dad, or grandpa or anyone else, just do it.”

Naya nodded, wiping away her tears again adamantly before she gathered up the courage to call her lawyer. As the phone rang, a million and one thoughts ran through her head.

“I’ll have to book a hotel room for the night...” Naya spoke to herself.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you and Poppy can stay here with me.”

“But you’re leaving for France soon.”

“France can wait, your more important.”

“Danni-”

“I don’t wanna hear it, Nay. No way am I leaving you here on your own to deal with this...”

Suddenly, Lola, Bree, Ali and Penelope all ran upstairs and stormed into the room. They had a look of horror on each of their faces.

“What’s happened?” Danni asked them all.

Lola swallowed hard. “Okay, so...you know how you told us to keep an eye on Jace while you were gone?”

“Yeah,” Danni responded.

“Well....Julian just grabbed Jace on his way out.”

Naya stared at them in horror. She could hear her lawyer finally pick up the phone.

“Miss du Maurier, how can I help you?” he spoke down the line...