My Best Friend's Dad

A Silent Promise

Tristan's POV

The house was too quiet after Rowan left. The kind of quiet that didn’t settle but scraped along your nerves, like the silence itself was mocking you, yet the tension was still in the air. Camille was still sitting at my table with a wine glass balanced in her hand, a smirk carved into her lips like it was permanent. I didn’t bother hiding my irritation. I leaned against the wall as I crossed my arms, and let my eyes cut through her.

“You’re a pain in my ass, Camille.”

Her smirk widened. She swirled the wine in her glass, the liquid catching the light. “At least I live up to my last name.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, exhaling hard through my teeth. She had always been like this, quick, sharp, infuriating. But now, with her suddenly shoved into my house under Rowan’s so-called authority and the amended Will, the air felt poisoned.

“You being here changes nothing,” I said. “You can play queen of the castle all you want, but I’m not bending towards this little charade. If it comes down to it, I will move in with Elona. I would rather share a one-room apartment with her than breathe the same air as you.”

The words left my mouth before I thought them through, and I froze. Elona, the court, the Grace case, the hearings, the headlines that would eat her alive. I couldn’t risk her becoming collateral damage. I couldn’t risk dragging her deeper into the mess than she already was. Damn it.

"F^ck," I hissed as my fingers through my hair, letting out a breath. I clenched my fists at my sides, my jaw tight. Camille saw it. Of course, she saw everything.

“Ah,” she said softly, setting her wine glass down with a delicate clink. “Caught yourself there, didn’t you? You want to run to her, but you can’t. Not with everything collapsing around you.” Her smirk returned, infuriatingly smug.

I leaned forward, my hands flat against the table, my shadow stretching across to her side. “Stay away from me,” I said, my voice low and dangerous. “Stay out of my way. Don’t speak for me, don’t act for me, and don’t think for one damn second that you hold any power in this house. You’re here because Rowan allows it and with the amended Will, not because I do. Don’t confuse the two.” For the first time, her smirk faltered just slightly. I took the opening. “Where were you, Camille? For three years, where the hell were you?” I glared at her.

She shifted in her seat, the faintest crack in her armor. Her eyes darted away, just for a second. “I needed to get away,” she said, her voice was quieter than before. “After everything that happened… the grief was too much. I couldn’t stay here. So, I left.”

I folded my arms, waiting. “Left where?” I pushed.

“Greece,” she admitted, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I stayed with an old friend. Worked part-time. Just… breathed. I tried to forget.” Her voice was steady, but her body betrayed her. The way she couldn’t quite meet my eyes. She was hiding something and I felt it. But I didn’t push. I wasn’t giving her the satisfaction of thinking I cared enough to drag it out of her.

Instead, I straightened and said, “You should call Cris.”

That made her blink. “What?”

“You should call her,” I repeated. “She was crushed when you left. She texted you, called you, begged you for answers, and you gave her nothing. She deserved more than silence. If you want to make amends with anyone, start with her. Don’t waste your breath on me.” Camille’s smirk was gone now, replaced by a faint, brittle frown. She didn’t reply. I didn’t wait for her to.

I turned and left the dining room, heading down the hallway to my bedroom. My chest was tight, fury still smoldering under my skin, but when I reached the bedroom door, all of that fire dimmed into something else entirely. Elona was inside, gathering some of her things.

Her delicate hands were folding a sweater, sliding it into a suitcase. Her hair fell over her shoulders like a curtain, hiding most of her face, but I didn’t need to see it to know how she felt. The quiet way she moved, the heaviness in her posture, it was enough. “Elona,” I said softly.

She glanced up, her eyes wet but steady. “I’ll just take a few things. I don’t want to make it harder for you.”

Those words gutted me. Harder for me. As if she wasn’t the one being forced out of her own life. As if she wasn’t the one caught in the crossfire of battles she never asked for. Before she could turn away again, I stepped forward and pulled her into my arms. She resisted for a second...just a second, but then she melted against me, her forehead pressing into my chest.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered into her hair. My throat was tight, and my voice was rough. “I’m so damn sorry. This is only temporary. I swear to you, it’s temporary.”

Her hands gripped the back of my shirt, clutching like she didn’t trust herself to let go. “I know,” she whispered back. “I just hate it.”

“I hate it too.” We stayed like that for a long time, breathing each other in, letting the silence say what words couldn’t until I pulled away. I hated to see her this way. "I will take a quick shower," I said, and she nodded before getting back to packing.

***

Later the evening, when the house was dark and quiet, she lay in my bed beside me. Her things were packed, sitting like a weight in the corner of the room, but for the moment, she was here with me. She had her heat pad on and I knew that she was in some pain. But I reached out to cup the side of her face and she leaned into me and pressed her lips against mine and then we kissed slowly, and desperately, like we were trying to steal back every second that was being taken from us. But as our bodies pressed closer, her breath hitched, not with pleasure, but with pain.

She squeezed her eyes shut, tears slipping free, her hands trembling against my chest. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s my endo. It’s bad tonight.”

My heart clenched. I pulled back instantly, cupping her face with both hands, my thumbs brushing away the tears. “Don’t apologize,” I murmured. “Don’t you dare apologize.”

She shook her head, tears still falling. “I just wanted-”

“I know,” I said quickly, pressing my forehead against hers. “I know. But I’d rather hold you like this than see you in pain.”

She let out a shaky breath, her body trembling as I pulled the blanket up around her. I tucked her against me, holding her like she was the most fragile thing in the world, because right now, she was.

“You need to go to the hospital,” I said softly, brushing my lips against her temple. “The way you’re hurting… I don’t like it.”

“I have a check-up coming up in a few weeks,” she whispered, her voice was small. “Dr. Matthews wants to see how things are going.”

“A few weeks is too long,” I muttered. “I don’t care if it’s tomorrow, next week, or the middle of the night, you’re not going alone. I’m going with you. Every appointment, every test, every second. No matter what. Screw the court and screw everyone else.”

Her fingers curled into my shirt, holding tight. “You don’t have to-”

“Yes, I do,” I cut in firmly. “I need to. Because you’re not in this alone. You will always have me by your side. And when you're in your apartment or alone somewhere during this court sh^t, call me and I will be there.”

Her tears slowed, her body relaxing little by little against mine. I kissed her hair, then her cheek, then the corner of her mouth, gentle and careful, as if each kiss could soothe the pain away. "F^ck end," I whispered, and she sighed softly, her eyes closed, and I held her tighter.

As she drifted towards sleep, my mind wouldn’t still. Tomorrow was the preliminary hearing. Tomorrow, I will walk into a courtroom already painted as a villain. And tomorrow morning, Elona will leave my home.

I lay awake long after her breathing evened out, my arm wrapped protectively around her. I stared into the darkness, my jaw clenched, fury and fear gnawing at me from the inside as my heart rate spiked. I could fight Camille and I could fight Grace and every vulture circling my company. But somehow my trust in Rowan was vanishing too. The only thing that I couldn’t fight was the pain etched across Elona’s face tonight. The pain that made her cry in my arms while I was helpless to fix it.

I kissed the top of her head, my whisper lost to the silence. “I’ll protect you. No matter what it takes.” And I prayed like hell that I could keep that promise.