Demi POV
After three weeks in paradise, I was more than reluctant to go back home. Livy said she was tired of Bora Bora and Wilmer said he had work to do. I really just wanted to stay there with Luca but I knew I had to return to the real world. It just felt like things were gonna be different now that Wilmer knew about Luke. Speaking of Luke, I really had no idea how I was going to handle him. Was I supposed to break up with him in person or over the phone? Even though I was terrified for my safety and the safety of my family, I just felt like Wilmer wouldn't let me go back to Luke, even if it was to protect all of them.
We made it back to Wilmer's house and the kids basically passed out in the living room. I carried Luca upstairs and Wilmer carried Livy. Then we took all of the luggage upstairs as well. Wilmer tried to take my Louis Vuitton set upstairs but I stopped him because I was planning on going home.
"You can just put them in my car," I said, but Wilmer shook his head.
"You're not going back home."
"Why not?"
"You actually want to go home? You want Luke to go to your house and beat the shit out of you again? I don't care if you want to go back to him, you're a grown woman, but I will do everything I can to protect you. So you're staying here until we figure something out," Wilmer demanded as I scoffed at his idea. I did not want to live under the same roof as Wilmer. I also couldn't hide from Luke forever. He was going to find me eventually.
"I can take care of myself. And we? This has nothing to do with you. I don't need your help."
"Like hell you don't. You're kidding me, right? You think I'm about to let him do this shit to you-"
"You didn't care about me before so why do you care now? All you care about is taking my kids away from me."
"Damnit, Demi, you're the mother of my children. You're the only woman that I've ever loved. I know we're divorced and we'll probably never be together again, but for the sake of our children, I can not let you go back to Luke. I can not allow you to put yourself in that situation again and whether you like it or not, I will do everything in my power to protect you," Wilmer said with so much passion and determination in his voice that it made me think of when he first told me that he wanted to marry me and start a family with me.
"Thank you," I whispered, refusing to look him in the eyes. He nodded and began to take my suitcases up to the guest room. I turned my phone on and saw all of the texts, voicemails, and missed calls from Luke, but instead of responding to them or opening them to see what they said, I turned my phone off again. I didn't want to think about him anymore. Maybe if I stayed away long enough he would forget about me and just let me be. His injury should be healing up and he should be able to fight soon. Maybe he would go back to his career and let me worry about my kids without having to deal with him as well.
Once again, I couldn't sleep. It was dead silent in the house and I still had my phone off, so there was nothing for me to do. There was nothing good on TV either. I just wished that I could sleep without feeling like Luke would bust into this room at any minute and take me away from my family. He doesn't know where Wilmer lives, but if he wanted to find me bad enough it wouldn't be hard for him to get his address.
I heard footsteps downstairs and brought the covers up to my nose. If someone had broken in the alarm would've went off, but what if Wilmer didn't set it? I heard a door slam and nearly jumped out of my skin. The footsteps were getting closer, coming up the stairs and directly towards my room. This is it. This is the end. Luke is gonna take me away and beat me and -
"Demi? You okay?" It was just Wilmer. He was standing in the doorway in a pair of boxers without a shirt on.
"Was that you downstairs?"
"Yeah, I was just making sure the alarm was on. You good?" He asked again, realizing that I hadn't answered his question. I was clutching the covers so hard that my knuckles were turning white, and I was shaking violently as I tried to calm myself down.
"Yeah," I breathed out, even though I wasn't. Wilmer sighed and entered the room, prying the covers out of my grasp and tucking himself underneath him. He didn't try to wrap his arms around me or anything. He just laid there next to me and that was all that I needed.
"Thank you. I'm sorry, but it's just hard for me to sleep," I apologized. I'm sure he would rather be in his own bed. I would rather be in his bed. It was really nice and comfortable.
"Don't apologize for what that asshole did to you," Wilmer said as I nodded and pulled the covers back up to my chin.
"I love you too. You're the only man I've ever loved too," I said, remembering what he had told me earlier when he was convincing me to stay.
"Goodnight Demi. I'm right here. No one is gonna hurt you anymore. I promise." He didn't say anything after that. If he did, I didn't remember because I fell asleep peacefully for the first time in months.
The next day every time I needed to leave the house, Wilmer went with me. The kids were back in school so we dropped them off together, even though Livy had an attitude for some odd reason. I let her get away with it but I will talk to her about it when she gets home.
"Mom, can I go to the mall with Penelope?" Livy asked when she got home. I was cooking dinner for everyone because I had to take Livy to dance while Wilmer stayed with Luca.
"What? No, you have dance in thirty minutes. Sit down and eat," I demanded. I don't know what's wrong with me today but I'm just in a horrible mood. I'm just so on edge. I turned my phone back on and Luke has stopped trying to contact me. I don't know if that's a good thing or not but it's been bothering me all day. I think it's because I'm paranoid.
"But we don't have school tomorrow and all of my friends are going to the mall then having a sleepover, why can't I go?" Livy whined as I rolled my eyes and dumped some spinach and a piece of chicken breast on her plate.
"Olivia, you're not going because you committed to this competition team and that means going to practice every day. You can go to the sleepover but not to the mall. Now hurry up and eat. We have to be there at 3:00 and it takes us thirty minutes to get there," I stressed, going upstairs to pack her dance bag for her because she was moving much too slow for my liking. When I came back downstairs, she was too busy on her phone to finish her half eaten food so I snatched her phone away while dumping her food into a plastic container.
"Eat it in the car, lets go, I told you we couldn't be late," I said as we both got into the car and I sped to the studio. Livy was slow walking inside but when she finally did make it inside I threw her dance bag at her and went upstairs to the viewing room. I should be safe here because Luke doesn't know where Livy takes dance classes at and it's a dance studio. He wouldn't come up here causing drama even if he did know where she took classes at.
An hour later while they had a five minute break, Livy came upstairs and sat on my lap with a pout on her face. If this was about her stupid sleepover I was probably gonna yell at her.
"My hip hurts. Can we go home?" Livy questioned as I rolled my eyes.
"When does it hurt?"
"Whenever I do anything with a split in it. It really hurts. Can we please go home?" she said as I sighed and rubbed her back.
"We can't just go home every time you're in pain. Let me see if I can get an ice pack from the front desk," I responded. She nodded as I stood up and went downstairs to the front desk where I asked for an ice pack. The receptionist handed it to me and I was about to go back to the viewing room until I heard a voice that caused me to freeze.
"Demi, where the hell have you been?"
