Billionaire, I Am Not Your Wife! novel Chapter 6

Chapter 6: A Brother’s Love

Sedona’s POV

“Where are you?” His voice was urgent now, filled with concern, cutting to the point; he didn’t appear to blame or say, ‘I told you so. To him. I was just his kid sister, who was hurt, and he was ready to fight whoever had caused some reaction from me.

‘Are you hurt? Are you safe?”

‘I’m in Chicago. I’m… I’m not hurt. Well, I am, but not physically, there is….”

I couldn’t form coherent sentences. Everything I’d been holding in for three years came pouring out in broken words and gasping breaths as I tried to force out the words that I desperately needed him to hear.

‘Sedona, breathe. Just breathe, okay? Whatever it is, we’ll fix it. Are you alone? Is someone threatening you? Are you being held for ransom?”

‘No, I’m-” Another sob cut me off. “Cam, I’m sick. I’m really sick.”

The line went silent, he didn’t say anything but I could hear the heavy sound of him just breathing, apparently trying to cope with what I told him. I could picture him, standing wherever he was, his face going still the way it always did when he was processing something serious.

‘How sick?” he asked quietly like he was afraid of the answer he was going to hear.

‘Gastric cancer. Stage three.” The words came easier/now. “The doctor said three months. Maybe four. Without treatment, anyway.”

‘Jesus Christ.” I heard movement on his end, footsteps, a door closing.

‘Sedona, where exactly are you? Give me an address.”

“You don’t have to-”

“Give me the address. Now.”

I rattled off Logan’s address, my voice surprisingly steady now that the initial breakdown had passed, I was starting to feel better, just the fact that Cameron was coming to find me, made me feel better than I was, moments ago.

“Got it. I’m getting on a plane tonight,” Cameron said. “Don’t make any decisions, don’t do anything until I get there. Do you understand?”

“Cam, I left. I ran away from the wedding. I humiliated the family. I—”

“I don’t care.” His voice was fierce. “Do you hear me? I don’t care about any of that. You’re my sister. That’s all that matters.”

Fresh tears spilled down my cheeks, but they were different now-not born of despair but of relief. For relief that I wouldn’t be alone anymore.

“You should blame me,” I whispered. “I’ve been so stupid, Cam. I thought I was choosing love, but I was just-”

“Stop.” His tone softened as he spoke to me in that soothing voice.

“Sedona, I watched you at those family dinners before the wedding. I saw how miserable you were, how trapped you felt. You wanted a choice, wanted to live your own life. No one should blame you for that. I never did.”

“But Enzo-”

“Enzo survived. Actually, he married Rachel about six months after you left.”

I blinked in shock. “Rachel? My best friend Rachel?”

“The very same. They have a daughter now. Molly. She’s adorable.’ Looks just like Rachel.” Cameron paused. “Rachel was devastated when you disappeared, you know. She thought something terrible had happened to you. We all did.”

The guilt threatened to overwhelm me again. Rachel had been my closest friend since childhood, and I’d vanished without a word to her too. I didn’t want to tell her anything because I knew my family would ask her questions and she was never good at lying and my location would be discovered.

“I’m sorry,” I said again, the words feeling inadequate but it was the only thing that I was capable of saying. “I’m so sorry for everything.”

“I wanted to be loved,” I said simply. “I wanted someone to choose me for me, not for the family name or the business connections. I thought Logan did. I thought I’d found something real.”

“And instead you found a man who married you because you looked like someone else.”

“Yeah,” I whispered. “Instead I found that. For someone who was so desperate about true love ended up being scammed of it, probably the universe giving me karma I deserved for hurting Enzo who had done nothing wrong to me, and yet I disgraced him, ironic isn’t it?”

“I’m getting you out of there,” Cameron said firmly. “Tonight if I can manage it, tomorrow morning at the latest. We’ll bring you home to Seattle, get you the best doctors, the best treatment. You’re not dying alone in that house, do you understand? You’re not dying at all if I have anything to say about it.”

“Cam, the cancer is stage three. It’s already spread-”

“I don’t care if it’s stage ten. We’re fighting this. You’re a Preston, Sedona. We don’t give up.” He paused. “And you’re my little sister. I’m not losing you. Not after just getting you back.”

I pressed my hand to my mouth, trying to muffle the/sob that escaped.

But I was tired of pretending to be Sedona Hayes, instead of Sedona Preston. I was also very tired of being small and invisible by my own family.

“Okay,” I said finally. “Okay, Cam. Come get me. Take me home.”

“I will get on our family private jet. Pack whatever matters to you. Leave everything else.”

After we hung up, I sat on the bed holding my phone, feeling something I hadn’t felt in years: hope.

My phone buzzed with a notification. Another photo from Katherine’s i********:-this time of Logan and Nick on Space Mountain, both of them laughing.

The caption read: “Making memories with my favorite people.

I looked at the photo one last time, at my husband and son looking happier without me and felt peace blossoming in my heart. Let them have their perfect little family. I was going home.