FALLING FOR THE LYCAN BIKER: MY BESTFRIEND BROTHER

Chapter 67: I’M WORSE THAN CALLUM?

Chapter 68

Lumi

"I don’t doubt it," I murmured softly, forcing a small smile to my face. "He’s done more for me and Theo than anyone else ever has. I know how much he cares."

Neve looked at me for a few more seconds, her sharp eyes scanning my face, trying to see past the neutral expression I was trying so hard to maintain.

She knew me too well to completely buy the excuse that I was just too busy with company paperwork to send a single text message, but she was kind enough not to drag the truth out of me.

Slowly, her shoulders dropped, and a softer expression took over her face. She reached out, squeezing my hands gently.

"My babe and I will be going back tomorrow morning. The logistics stuff here is finally sorted out, and it’s time for us to head back home."

I felt a sudden, sharp ache of sadness in my chest. I nodded quickly, swallowing the lump forming in my throat.

"I know. I understand, Neve. You guys have already spent way more time here than you should have. You’ve basically put your own lives on hold just to help me clean up my mess."

"Don’t ever call it that," Neve chided gently, her grip on my fingers tightening. "We are family, Lumi. There is nowhere else we would have been. But now that the dust is settling, we really need to get back."

"Take care of each other, okay?" I said, looking her straight in the eyes. "Promise me you’ll look after yourself."

"I promise," Neve smiled, her familiar, bright energy peeking through. "And you have to do the exact same thing. No more running yourself into the ground, okay?"

"I’ll try," I replied with a small laugh.

Neve let go of my hands and glanced back toward the hallway where Theo was sleeping. Her face grew serious again, her eyebrows drawing together as she thought over her next words carefully.

"Lumi, before I go, can I give you one piece of advice? As your friend?"

"Of course," I said, leaning against the kitchen counter, ready to listen.

"I think you should enroll Theo into a daycare," Neve said softly but firmly.

I blinked, the suggestion catching me completely off guard. My immediate instinct was to tighten up, fear freezing my chest. Put him in a daycare? Where I couldn’t see him? Where anyone could just walk in?

"Neve, I don’t know..." I began, my voice tight. "With Callum still out there, even with the court order..."

"Lumi, listen to me," Neve interrupted gently, stepping closer and placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I know you’re terrified. I know everything inside your body is screaming at you to lock him indoors always, to keep him hidden away where the world can’t touch him.

But you can’t live like that, and neither can he. He needs to have friends. He needs to get used to being around other kids and playing outside.

I know you want to protect him with everything you have, but you also need to let him grow. You can’t let your fear build a cage around him."

The words hit me right in the center of my chest, knocking the breath right out of my lungs.

My first reaction was defensive, but as I stood there in the quiet apartment, looking into her honest eyes, I knew she was completely right.

I was letting the trauma of London dictate how I raised my son. I couldn’t keep him a prisoner just because the world outside was full of unpredictable shadows.

I sucked in a shaky breath, the tension leaving my shoulders as I gave her a genuine nod.

"You’re right. He’s been through so much, he deserves to just be a normal kid for a change. I’ll look into some local daycares this week."

"Good," Neve beamed, looking incredibly relieved. She leaned in, wrapping her arms around me in one last, tight hug, and pressed a warm kiss to my cheek. "Take care, Lumi. I’ll call you the second we land."

"Bye, Neve. Safe travels," I murmured.

I stood by the doorway, watching her walk towards the exit, when the heavy front door finally clicked shut and the lock turned, the apartment suddenly felt incredibly large and empty.

I walked back over to the living room rug, looking down at the scattered business files and logistics charts, but the numbers didn’t make sense anymore. Neve’s words kept repeating in my mind.

I rubbed my temples, trying to clear the messy, chaotic thoughts from my brain. I had full custody of my son for the next five months.

Callum was gone. Sienna was gone. I had everything I had been fighting for since the day I filed for divorce.

So why did it feel like the most terrifying Chapter of my life was just about to begin?

I had just barely managed to stack the financial files into a neat pile on the coffee table when another knock sounded at the door.

I froze, glancing at the wall clock. Neve had left only twenty minutes ago. Had she forgotten her phone? Her keys?

I walked over and pulled the door open, the words of inquiry already forming on my tongue, but they died instantly in my throat.

Ren stood in the dim lighting of the hallway.

He looked exactly the same as he always did—the heavy leather jacket resting easily on his broad shoulders, his dark jeans, his gaze fixed on the floor before he slowly lifted his head to meet my eyes.

But looking at him now made a cold, rigid wall go up inside my chest. The gentle, quiet man standing before me was a complete contrast to the terrifying shadow whose brutal words had echoed down that clinic corridor.

Every time I looked at his lips, I didn’t think about the sofa anymore; I thought about him calmly promising to erase a man from existence.

I didn’t step back to invite him in. I stood firmly in the center of the doorway, gripping the edge of the door tight with one hand and anchoring myself against the frame with the other, completely blocking his entry into my home.

"What do you want, Ren?" I asked. My voice was flat, empty of the warmth and the soft cadence that used to come so naturally whenever he was around.

Ren’s eyes scanned my face, searching for something he clearly wasn’t finding. He cleared his throat, his hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck in that familiar, hesitant gesture he always used when he was trying to be careful around me.

"Neve called me. She said she was still here at the apartment and that I should meet her."

"Neve isn’t here anymore," I replied instantly, my tone sharp and dismissive, cutting through the quiet hallway like a blade.

"She left twenty minutes ago. She’s staying at the hotel downtown with her boyfriend tonight, and they’re flying back home tomorrow morning."

Ren stilled completely. He looked at me, and I knew he understood exactly what I wasn’t saying.

I wasn’t just telling him his sister was gone; I was telling him he wasn’t welcome in my home. I was letting him know that the short distance between us on this threshold was as far as he was ever going to get.

Slowly, the casual posture slipped away from him. A deep, heavy look of hurt washed across his hard features, his jaw tightening as he stared down at me.

It was the look of a man who had just had a door slammed in his spirit before the physical one could even close.

But I didn’t care. The sting of pity I might have felt days ago was completely gone, swallowed up by the terrifying memory of his voice.

I didn’t want him near me. More than that, I didn’t want him anywhere near my son.

"Lumi," he said softly, his voice dropping into that low, gravelly register that used to comfort me when I was broken, but now only made my skin crawl with apprehension.

"Are we really going to do this? Are you really going to shut me out because of what happened over there?"

"You need to leave, Ren," I said, my voice trembling slightly but remaining entirely firm. I looked him dead in the eyes, letting him see the absolute finality in my expression.

"I just got five months of peace with my son, and I intend to keep it that way. I don’t want your world bleeding into mine. I don’t want a man who does underground things, a man who talks about making people disappear, anywhere near Theo."

My chest shook as I let the hidden truth out into the open, the words tumbling out before I could stop them.

"I am trying to raise a good, normal boy. I don’t want you to be a role model to my son, Ren. Because the way you live, the things you do... it will only ruin him.

A boy looks up to the men around him, and I won’t have him learning how to be a monster. It was the same reason I took him from Callum but it seems like you’re a little worse. If I let you stay in his life, you will eliminate his chance at a normal future. You’ll destroy him."

I saw what my words did to him but I didn’t mind because I wanted him to understand my feelings. I wasn’t going to sugar-coat anything.

The hurt in his eyes deepened, turning into something dark, hollowed out, and entirely empty.

He didn’t argue. He didn’t try to defend himself, or tell me I had it all wrong, or make excuses for the horror he had unleashed in London.

He just stood there on the cold doormat, absorbing the harsh reality that the woman he had fought for now looked at him with fear and disgust.

"Is that what you think of me?" he whispered, his voice barely audible. "A monster? I’m worse than Callum?" I shouldn’t have said that part because it was a lie but I wanted to hurt him too the way I felt hurt when I heard his threat.

"I think you should go," I said.

Without waiting for his response, I pulled the heavy door shut, turning the deadbolt into place with a sharp, heavy click that echoed through the empty apartment.

I leaned my back against the wood, sliding down until my knees hit the floor, my heart beating wildly as I listened to the silence on the other side of the door.