DONOVAN (Book Three)

FOURTEEN

I leave the house with my bag and Leo's Dinosaur suitcase towards the van. I stop once I spot Don putting everyone's bags in the back of the van.

I want to turn away, but we are leaving our two-week vacation today. I approach him and place the stuff down next to his feet. I glance up at him and look at his lips.

My body heated up, and my heart beat hard. I squeak like a mouse as Seth surprises me by dropping his bag.

"You okay, CJ?" Seth ask. "You look feverish."

"I'm...I'm okay. It's just hot," I fan myself, avoiding Don's concerned eyes. "I'm going to call Leo. Leo! Come on, darling. It's time to go." Walking away while calling my son to get away from Don.

I blew air from holding my breath too long until Lily jumped and scared me. "Hey CJ, you okay?"

"Please, don't do that. You're going to give me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry," she says as if I blame her for getting scared.

"No, it's my fault. What is that you call me?"

"Oh, I was checking each of the rooms to see if anyone missed something, and I found this on the floor of your room." Lily handed me a small black wooden box containing my engagement ring to Eddie with all the other things he gave me. A key to his presidential suite apartment, the key to his BMW, a gold card if ever I need to go shopping, and the picture where he proposes to me in Paris taken by one of my friends. "It seems important. Don't worry. I didn't look inside."

"Thank you," I say to her as she smiles at me and then walks to the others. My smile died down. I brought this thing with me so I can bury it somewhere where I never find it and will forget my past with Eddie.

There will be a time when I tell Eddie the truth. Tell my true feelings for him. I have to end it before I regret it.

While everyone was preparing to leave, I walked towards the lake behind the house. The scenery is beautiful. I'm going to miss this feeling.

With the small box containing my past. I lift my arm above my head, and with brutal force, I throw the box as it dives into the lake. It's probably sinking at the bottom of the lake, and I feel free.

I inhale the smell of Mother Nature, raise my hands above my head to stretch, and let it out.

"CJ?" Effie shout my name from behind. "It's time to go."

"Coming!" I pull on a big smile as I rush back to the others.

After an eight-hour drive back home to Long Beach, I couldn't feel much better being back and ready to work at the bar. Everyone got back to their daily lives. Effie had missed out on work for two weeks and had to make it up with dance practice and preparing for her upcoming showcase. Lena wants to reveal her to the world a bit too soon. Effie is talented in singing and dancing. I'm sure she will show the world what she is capable of.

Also, once back, Lena offered Lily a job working at her company as its editor after college. I've seen some of the videos Lily showed me, and I was astonished. Especially during the Lake Tahoe trip, she has been filming us with her new waterproof camera. So I'm sure she will edit the video and show her masterpiece.

The Wolfe brothers returned to their shop, but Logan and Seth went to the gym, and Ares, shadowing Odin around the company, still got a long way to go. He's got to work hard to be the next CEO of IMMORTAL. Or else it's business school for him. Which he should take up to learn about running a company. Ares is an intelligent guy. He can. I'm sure he can handle it.

Jordan has been helping out with her family's restaurant during the summer. And Terry, still out on her mission. I hope she is safe out there. I don't know what the task is to make her stay long.