Cassian’s hands clench into fists at his sides.
For three seconds, nobody moves.
Then Declan puts a hand on Cassian’s shoulder. “Let them go.”
“They’re my sons?—”
“I know. But you’re not doing this here. Not like this.”
The tension doesn’t break so much as fracture. Cassian steps aside, and Julian immediately pulls me toward the door.
We’re almost out when Cassian speaks again. “I will see my sons.” His voice is cold and final. “With or without your permission, Aurelia. I will be part of their lives. And if you try to keep them from me, I will make sure you regret it.”
23
CASSIAN
Two days.I give myself two days to cool down before I do something I can’t take back.
It doesn’t work. The rage sits in my chest like a living thing, burning hotter every time I think about those photos. My sons. Five years old. Dark hair, green eyes, and faces that look like mine did at that age.
Finn and Liam.
The boys I met in Ballycotton a year ago. I played with them for ten minutes near the harbor. They kicked a ball around, laughed when I pretended to miss, and told me their names with that easy trust children have before the world teaches them better.
I remember thinking they were sweet kids. Well-behaved. The nannies watching them seemed fond of them, kept saying things in Irish that made the boys giggle.
I didn’t know.
I talked to my sons, and I didn’t know.
That’s what Aurelia stole from me. Not just five years of their lives, but the chance to recognize them. To feel that connection fathers are supposed to feel when they see their children for the first time.
She took everything.
Declan walks into my office without knocking on the second day. He takes one look at my face and stops in the doorway. “You’re planning something.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t.”
“Too late.”
He closes the door behind him and sits down across from my desk. “Taking the children from the Vances will start a war. You understand that, right? Julian will come after you with everything he has. Other families will get involved. This could destabilize the entire city.”
“Let it. They’re my sons.” I lean forward, hands flat on the desk. “She kept them from me for five years. Let me search and grieve while she raised them in secret. In my village, Declan. She hid them in the place I go to visit my mother.”
“I understand you’re angry?—”
“I’m past angry. I met them. A year ago. I talked to them, played with them, and then I left. Do you know what that feels like? To realize you spent ten minutes with your children and didn’t recognize them?”
Declan’s quiet for a moment. “What’s the plan?”
“The school. Public place, lots of witnesses. Julian can’t have heavy security without drawing attention from other parents.”
“He’ll have some security.”
“Not enough.”
