Julian breaks the silence. “The boys seem really comfortable with you now.”
“They are,” Cassian says. “Took some time, but we’re getting there.”
“More than getting there. They adore you.”
Nadia sets down her glass. “Have you thought about increasing the visits? More days, longer hours?”
Cassian looks at me. Waiting for my answer instead of pushing for what he wants.
“I think we could do that,” I say. “If everyone’s comfortable with it.”
“I am,” Julian says. “This is working. Better than I expected.”
Nadia nods. “The boys are thriving. That’s what matters.”
We talk logistics for a while. Four days a week instead of two. Longer visits. Eventually working toward overnights when everyone’s ready.
Cassian listens, agrees to everything, doesn’t push for more than what’s offered. He’s learning patience. Learning that being their father means putting their needs first, even when it means moving slower than he wants.
By the time he leaves, it’s past eleven.
I walk him to the door out of habit. We stop in the foyer. Julian and Nadia are still in the sitting room, voices carrying down the hall.
“Thank you,” Cassian says quietly. “For today. For agreeing to more time.”
“You’ve earned it. Goodnight, Cassian.”
“Goodnight, Aurelia.”
He leaves, and I’m alone in the foyer with the memory of his smile and the way the boys held his hands in the park.
This is what normal feels like.
And I never want it to end.
32
CASSIAN
Declan walksinto my office without knocking. I’m reviewing contracts for the real estate deal Julian and I are building when he drops a folder on my desk.
“We have a problem.”
I look up. His face is grim.
“What kind of problem?”
“Three of our informants in Brighton Beach reported the same thing this week. Petrov soldiers have been in the area.”
Brighton Beach. Russian territory. The Petrovs’ stronghold.
“Doing what?”
“Watching. Not causing trouble, not making moves. Just observing.”
“Observing what?”
Declan pulls out photos from the folder. Surveillance shots. Grainy but clear enough. Men in dark clothes standing on street corners, sitting in cars, loitering outside buildings. “Your routes.The places you go regularly.” He taps one photo. “This was taken outside the building where your boys had their school physicals.”
