Fall an act of descent.
Sophia’s Point of View
Get a hold of yourself, Sophia.
I berated myself as I pulled away from Mr Prescott, his stained shirt in hand. I dropped it in the hamper before getting a spare from his closet.
“Is this fine or-” My voice cut off abruptly as I stepped out of the closet, my heart slowing to a crawl, ice filling my veins.
No, it couldn’t be.
When I had taken Mr Prescott’s shirt off, with his back pressed against the wheelchair, I’d missed it but now from this angle, there was no missing it.
No missing the tattoo that covered most of his back. An ouroboros. A symbol of the eternal cycle of life and rebirth.
But this wasn’t the first time I had seen that tattoo.
The shirt I was holding slipped from my grasp as Mr Prescott turned to look at me in askance.
The last time I had seen that tattoo was three months ago, the morning after a night I had done my best to erase from my mind. The night of my wedding anniversary and regretful one night stand.
And that tattoo? I had seen it on the back of my one nightstand. I had only a brief glimpse of it before I had pretty much raced out of the hotel room.
“Miss Evergreen?” Mr Prescott’s voice brought me out of my mind for a second, his gaze shifting from me to his shirt on the floor, an unvoiced question in his gaze.
No, it couldn’t be him.
“I didn’t know you had a tattoo.” I said, my voice more even than I felt on the inside.
Mr Prescott frowned slightly. “What?”
“Please excuse me.” I said gruffly before leaving the room as fast as my legs could carry me.
I knew I had been the one to volunteer to take care of Mr Prescott in place of the nurse and the last thing I should have been doing was leaving him alone but I was so out of it that I didn’t realize I had wandered into our garden until I almost fell into the garden bed.
My one night stand couldn’t be Mr Prescott. It was impossible.
I would have remembered it. Remembered him. For me being with Mr Prescott was like touching a live wire.
A stare from him had me on my tiptoes. Every moment he had ever touched me, kissed me remained emblazoned on my memory so how could I have forgotten an entire night?
For the first time since my one night stand, I tried to recall that night. Dark long hair, flashing neon lights overhead, broken glass and a spilt drink were all I could summon.
And for the morning after, all I could recall was the horror of discovering my mistake, my mad dash for my clothes and a brief glimpse at the back of the man I had been with. It was at that moment I saw that tattoo.
Or was it possible I was remembering things wrong?
No. I was certain I had seen an Ouroboros tattoo but had it been the exact replica of the one on Mr Prescott’s back? I wasn’t sure.
But I didn’t believe in coincidence either so I thought of it.
If Mr Prescott had a one night with a stranger from the little I knew of him, I was certain of one thing, he was too meticulous to just let her be. He would have tried to find her.
Was that why he had approached me to be his wife?
No. That didn’t seem right either. The timeline didn’t match.
Why would he have waited all those weeks instead of immediately capitalizing on my weakness?
If it had really been Mr Prescott, he could have just blackmailed me into working for him instead of trying to win me over with money and it would have worked. I would have done anything at that time to avoid the scrutiny of the press.
Sophia, calm down. But I couldn’t be calm.
Not until I erased this gnawing feeling in my chest.
I returned to the room but Mr Prescott was already fast asleep on the bed.
He had managed to get out of the wheelchair but he was still shirtless and his bandage around his middle was lightly stained red.
Damn. He must have ripped a stitch trying to get into bed in my absence.
Guilt filled my chest. I was the one who’d neglected him despite my promises to take care of him and here I was expecting the worst from Mr Prescott all because of my patchy memory from three months ago.
The Ouroboros tattoo was very popular these days and as a CEO, of one of the leading businesses in North America, he had to maintain a professional presence at all times. Where else could he get a tattoo but his back? It was just a coincidence.
Mr Prescott wasn’t my one night stand.
I checked his meds. He had taken them. I had to do better. To Mr Prescott. And my unborn children. It was time I tried to find out who the father of my children was but before that, there was something else I needed to do that couldn’t wait a second more.
“What are you doing here?” Kate exclaimed, her entire face a bright hot red that I would have found funny under any other circumstances but this.
“Why?” I scoffed making sure to raise my voice as I stood at the foyer of the Baxter mansion. “Were you expecting me to be dead, Kate?”
Kate flushed, her face a bright tomato red then she pointed at the door, her movements aggressive and erratic.
“Get the hell out of my house right now!” She said, her voice practically trembling with fear.
She was scared that I was going to reveal her secret here so she was trying to get rid of me.
Like I would let it be that easy.
I folded my arms combatively, meeting her gaze easily.
“Last I checked, you still aren’t married to Jerry Baxter so this house isn’t yours.”
Rage flashed in Kate’s eyes.
“You piece of-” She cursed raising her hand to hit me but the slap never landed as Jerry appeared from nowhere catching her arm midway.