Nolan would.
It was how I knew he couldn’t have found out before he disappeared. If he had, I likely would have ended up in the hospital. But he never said a word to me.
And Cian didn’t either.
Until now.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Maddie
The elevator doors opened, and my father walked in. Helping my mother find the information she needed woke something inside me. Something I never thought would come to life.
Hope.
“We may have found something,” I said with enthusiasm. But the look on my father’s face told me he wasn’t listening. I looked at my mother, and her smile was gone.
Standing up, I faced my father. “Dad? What’s wrong?”
“Maddie, sweetheart, I need to speak to your mother.” It was a dismissal. His eyes never left my mother, but I didn’t want to leave them alone. Not after what she’d just told me about my stepfather. That was how I thought about him now. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t deny he’d been married to my mother.
But he wasn’t my father.
I didn’t believe my father would hurt her, not physically. But the anger that radiated off him had me concerned. I’d never seen him angry like this. My mother must have seen the worry on my face because she smiled at me and said, “It’s okay, honey. You have that meeting you need to go to.”
My brow furrowed, not understanding at first, but it quickly came back to me. She’d been against me talking to Mr. Sinclair, but now she wanted me to go. Whatever had made my father angry, she must have known what it was.
“If you’re sure?” I pressed.
“I am.” She wrapped her arms around me and whispered, “He won’t hurt me. I’ve been waiting for this.”
I closed my eyes against my tears. Suddenly I was seven years old, hearing my parents fighting. At the time, I’d wished they would divorce, but now... now all I wanted was to watch my father kiss my mother the way he did that first morning I saw them together. I wanted to see him playfully swat her ass.
My mother stepped back, and I stood before my father.
“I don’t know why you’re so angry, but let her explain,” I begged.
He pulled me against his chest and whispered, “I still love her with every fuckin’ cell in my body.”
I nodded against his shoulder, then moved toward the elevator, leaving them to work out whatever had come between them.
When I stepped out into the lobby, I smiled at Walter as he held the door for me. Stepping out onto the street, I took a deep inhale of the warm air. Summer was almost here, and before long, the pressing heat would be on us.
I walked to the train station, enjoying the quiet sounds of the city. Boston was so different from New York. The people were similar, and the traffic wasn’t any different, but the sounds and smells were like night and day.
There was a hint of saltwater in the air, mingling with the scent of magnolia and cherry blossoms that lined the streets and parks. The noise of the traffic was subdued; there were no honking horns or screaming pedestrians to drown out the hum of the cars.
Yet I missed New York. It was where I’d grown up. Where I’d planned to raise my children. Until I met Salvatore.
The love of my life.
The man whose heart I broke when I walked away. The man whose death was my fault, because I let myself fall in love with someone who wasn’t Irish.
As the train pulled into the station, I sighed. I still loved this city, but being here broke my heart. Knowing my son was only a few blocks away, and I couldn’t see his face, hear his voice, or hold him in my arms. I took a deep breath as I stepped off the train. I was here for a reason, and until my task was completed, Henry had to be put back into the locked box inside my heart.
The one place he would never be hurt.
Looking up at the building I was so familiar with, I smiled as I thought of my friend. He was living in Nebraska now with his husband and daughter. I shook my head, thinking about Dante Sharp living in the country.
