Mafia Lord's Mute Sweetheart

Chapter 34: Chapter 34 This is just the beginning

"Cedric, it is okay," she said softly, her voice choked with tears. "I will not tell anyone. I promise and I will not expect anything back from you. Nothing at all."

Cedric let out a long breath. His shoulders sagged with relief.

"You are my best friend," he said, reaching out to hug her.

Then he realized they were both very naked.

He stopped mid-motion, his arms hovering awkwardly in the air. His face flushed red in embarrassment. He cleared his throat, pulled his hands back and looked away.

Naomi bit her lip to keep from smiling.

Cedric scrambled off the bed and snatched his clothes from the floor. His hands shook as he pulled on his pants. His fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt. He didn’t look at her. He couldn’t. She was his best friend and he had just slept with her.

"I have to go," he muttered.

"Cedric—"

"I have to go, Naomi. I am sorry. I am so sorry."

He walked to the door, his bare feet cold on the wooden floor. He paused with his hand on the handle, his back to her.

"This never happened," he said firmly.

"Of course," Naomi whispered, her voice cracking like thin ice. She looked down at her hands, twisting the bedsheet between her fingers. "This never happened. I will take this secret to my grave, Cedric. I promise."

Cedric walked out of the room without looking back. The door closed behind him with a soft click.

Naomi waited.

She listened to his footsteps fade down the hallway. Listened to the distant sound of another door opening and closing.

Suddenly she smiled. A slow, creeping smile that spread across her face like poison spreading through blood.

She threw off the blanket and stood up, naked and unashamed. She walked to the mirror and looked at her reflection. Her eyes were still red from crying. Her lips were still swollen from where she had bitten them. Her body was marked with bruises she had given herself.

She looked ruined and perfect.

She traced her finger along the glass, following the curve of her own jaw.

"You think this is over, Cedric?" she whispered, her voice low and dangerous. "You think one awkward conversation and a few whispered promises will make me go away?"

She laughed. It was not a happy sound. It was sharp and cold, like ice breaking apart.

"I have loved you since high school. Do you remember? Do you even remember me? All those years standing next to you, laughing at your jokes, helping you when needed, listening to your problems. And you never once looked at me. Not once."

Her hand curled into a fist.

"But Jessica? Oh, Jessica you noticed. Jessica you wanted. Jessica you chose." She spat the name like venom. "And that mute girl—that poor, voiceless doll your grandfather forced on you? You married her. You put a ring on her finger. But me? I was just your friend. Just Naomi. Just the girl in the background." She paused, her eyes turning cold. "No more. I will be the main character."

She turned away from the mirror and walked to the window. The ocean sparkled in the morning sun. The waves crashed against the shore. The sky was clear and blue, endless and beautiful.

Naomi pressed her palm against the cold glass.

"I waited. I waited for years. I watched you fall in love with her. I smiled and I nodded and I pretended to be happy for you."

She turned around and leaned against the window frame, crossing her arms over her chest.

"But now? Now I have something. A secret weapon. You think you slept with me, Cedric. You think you betrayed Jessica. You think you are guilty." She laughed again, softer this time. "And you will carry that guilt forever. Every time you look at Jessica, you will remember this morning. Every time you touch her, you will wonder if she knows or if I tell her."

She walked back to the bed and picked up his pillow. She hugged it to her chest, breathing in the fading scent of his cologne.

"This is just the beginning," she whispered into the fabric. "I will make you fall in love with me, Cedric Evermont. I will make you forget Jessica ever existed. I will make you choose me."

She closed her eyes and smiled.

"You will be mine, Soon. Very soon."

She hugged the pillow tighter.

"And when you are mine, I will never let you go."

But her reason wouldn’t stay quiet. If he could betray Daisy with Jessica, what was there to stop him from doing the same to her? And Jessica hadn’t been the first. Before her, there had been so many others.

❀┈┈┈┈❀

Morning light streamed through the windows of the Evermont mansion.

Daisy woke up on the cold ground behind the bushes, her knitted blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The sun was warm on her face, chasing away the chill of the night. She blinked her eyes open and looked at the sky.

It was early morning. The sun was up, and the sky had turned a soft, clear blue.

She sat up slowly, her body stiff from sleeping on the hard ground. Her baggy white dress was wrinkled. Her leggings were damp with dew. Her sandals were covered in grass stains.

She looked like a mess. She did not care.

She folded her blanket and hid it back in the old storeroom. Then she walked toward the mansion, keeping to the edges of the garden, staying out of sight.

The servants were already awake, moving through the house, preparing breakfast. None of them looked at her or spoke to her as Jenna had instructed them.

Daisy slipped inside through the back door and walked quickly to her room. She closed the door behind her and locked it.

Then she ran to her bathroom.

She opened the door and checked the bathtub.

Her scarf was there, still soaking in the liquid.

She sighed in relief.

"Excellent," she mused inwardly, retrieving the scarf from the tub. It was dripping wet, heavy with the sleep oil formula she had been working on. The fragrance enveloped her: a blend of Soft and Calming. Ideal.

She had been working on this formulation for weeks. Adjusting the ratios. Testing the scent. Trying to get it just right.

And now it was ready.

She smiled happily and squeezed the water out of the scarf, careful not to waste a single drop of the precious liquid. Then she walked to her window and draped the scarf over the back of her wooden chair, positioning it so the morning sun would dry it quickly.

She grinned happily.

This formulation was to improve sleep and would help give deep, restful, dreamless sleep and she wanted to give it to Cedric.

He had been looking tired lately. Pale and exhausted. She did not know if it was work or stress or something else. She just knew she wanted to help him.

So she had made him a sleep scarf. Something he could keep on his pillow. Something that would help him rest.

She turned away from the window and sat on her bed.

Then she started thinking about what gift she should prepare for Grandpa James.

His birthday was coming soon. She wanted to give him something special but what should she give him?