He crosses the room and pulls me into a hug. I break down against his chest. Years of fear and running and hiding are finally catching up.
“We’ll figure it out,” he says quietly. “But you can’t push him away. The boys need both of you.”
“I know.”
“Then fix it. Before this gets worse.”
But I don’t know how to fix it when I’m this scared. Don’t know how to trust Cassian to keep us safe when the threat is this real.
That night, I check on the boys three times before midnight. They’re both asleep. Safe in their beds with security postedoutside their door. But I can’t shake the feeling that we’re running out of time. That the Petrovs are out there somewhere, watching, waiting. And when they move, nothing we’ve done will be enough to stop them.
34
CASSIAN
Aurelia thinks I should die.
The thought won’t leave me alone. Sits in my head on repeat while I drive back to the office. While I pour myself a drink I don’t want. While I stare out the windows at the city and try to process what she actually said.
Better than making them grow up dead.
Like I’m the liability. The threat. The problem that needs to be removed so everyone else can be safe. Six years I searched for her. Six years of not knowing if she was alive or dead or suffering. And when I finally found her, when I finally got my sons back, she tells me they’d be better off without me.
I down the whiskey and pour another.
My phone buzzes. Declan.
“What?”
“You sound angry.”
“I am angry.”
“What happened?”
“Aurelia thinks I should turn myself over to the Petrovs. Let them kill me so the boys will be safe.”
Silence on the other end.
“Declan.”
“I’m trying to figure out what to say to that.”
“Don’t. There’s nothing to say.”
“Did she actually suggest you sacrifice yourself?”
“Word for word. Said it would end the threat before it touches our sons.”
“And you said?”
“That I’m not going anywhere. That they need their father.”
“How’d she take it?”
“Badly. I left before I said things I couldn’t take back.”
More silence. Then Declan says carefully, “She’s scared.”
