Chapter 7 - The Sacred Vow
When Griffin stepped back into the room, the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Hazel was awake now. She was sitting on the sofa next to Iris, both girls holding hands, staring at Griffin with wide, cautious eyes. Sloan was sitting up higher in her bed, her face pale, holding her IV line.
Griffin walked over to the side of Sloan’s bed and sat back down in the vinyl chair. The terrifying storm that had just erupted in the hallway was completely gone from his face. In its place was a profound, quiet solemnity.
"She's gone," Griffin said softly to Sloan. "She will never touch you, your family, or our daughters ever again. I promise you that on my life."
Sloan looked at him, her hazel eyes filled with a complex storm of emotions—grief, relief, fear, and a tiny, buried ember of hope. "Griffin... what happens now? You can't just... you can't just take them from me."
"Take them from you?" Griffin repeated, looking genuinely pained by the suggestion. "Sloan... do you really think I could ever do that to you after everything you’ve suffered?"
He reached out, taking her slender hand in both of his.
"I am not taking anything from you," Griffin said, his voice dropping into a soft, intimate whisper meant only for her. "I am going to give you everything you were deprived of for ten years. You are never going to worry about a medical bill, a rent payment, or an architectural deadline ever again."
"I don't want your money, Griffin," Sloan whispered defensively, her old pride flaring up. "I raised them without a penny of Drake money for eight years—"
"I know you did!" Griffin interrupted gently. "You are the strongest, most incredible woman I have ever known, Sloan. You did the impossible. But you don't have to carry the entire world on your shoulders anymore. Let me carry it with you."
Hazel slowly got up from the sofa, trailing her pink blanket behind her, and walked over to the side of the bed. She looked up at Griffin, her steel-blue eyes searching his face.
"Are you going to be our daddy now?" Hazel asked quietly.
Griffin turned his head toward the little girl. The billionaire who had just destroyed his own mother without flinching felt his throat lock up completely. He reached out, gently wrapping his arm around Hazel’s waist, pulling her close to his side.
"Only if you want me to be, Hazel," Griffin whispered, tears glistening in his eyes. "I know I’m eight years late. I know I have a lot of proving to do. But I promise you... I will spend every single day of the rest of my life earning that name."
Iris walked over too, standing beside her sister. "Can we live in a house with a yard for a dog?" she asked pragmatically. "Mommy said we couldn't have a dog in the duplex because the landlord said no."
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Griffin let out a soft, genuine laugh, wiping a tear from his cheek. "Iris, I will buy you a house with a yard big enough for ten dogs."
Sloan watched the three of them—her twin daughters, who had been her entire world, and the man she had never stopped loving despite ten years of pain. For the first time in eight years, the heavy, crushing knot of anxiety in her chest began to unwind.
