“I…” I lick my dry lips. “I panicked.”
Jazz puts herself between us. “Tiana is used to having Noah in her sight. When he disappeared, we both got a fright.”
“Dante!” Noah places the ball on an invisible line and takes a few steps back. “Look!”
Dante turns to Reino.
Reino shoves his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “The kid came outside. I didn’t think there was any harm in playing a game with him.”
“Next time, clear it with Tatiana first.” Dante’s tone leaves no room for argument. “She’s his mother and needs to know where he is. That means at all times.”
“It won’t happen again.” Reino nods at me. “My apologies.”
Noah charges and kicks the ball with every ounce of strength he possesses in his short leg. “Look!”
The guy who plays goalkeeper—Ted—makes a big show of trying to catch but missing the ball. It rolls between the recycling bins and hits the fence at the back.
The guys cheer and clap, which makes Noah’s chest puff out with pride as he runs back to us. “Did you see that? Did you see?”
“Well done, buddy.” Dante high-fives him. “What’s the score?”
“We’re just kicking for fun.” Reino winks. “I’m sure Noah will rub our faces in the dirt if we play for real.”
Noah laughs from his tummy. “That’s not true, silly.” He’s young, but he’s never been gullible.
When Dante faces me again, his smile carries an edge. “Jazz can play referee if you prefer to have someone you trust watch him while you finish your work inside.”
I make a point of ignoring Dante, addressing Noah instead. “Only ten more minutes. It’s almost time for your snack.”
Snacks have never failed as a bribe when it comes to Noah. It’s low, but desperate measures and all that…
Jazz offers to stay while the game continues. Dante follows me inside.
“Give us a moment,” he says to the men standing at attention next to the back door.
They go outside and close the door behind them, leaving me alone with Dante in the kitchen.
“Tatiana—”
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have thought the same if the roles were reversed.”
“We clearly have trust issues.”
I laugh. “Did you only figure that out now?”
“He’s my child. I’ll never do anything to hurt him. That includes taking him away from his mother.” He backs me up to the sink, crowding me. “But I understand why you’d react like that.”
He understands? Of all the lies he told me, this one may be the worst. “You don’t understand anything.”
He stops short of me, his manner infuriatingly gentle. “I understand better than you think.”
That he can be so calm when I’m falling apart in every way that matters only angers me more.
“You have no idea.” Years of resentment pushes to the surface, causing a lump to lodge in my throat and forcing me to swallow before I can speak again. “Where were you when I walked the streets, homeless, and my water broke? Tell me, Dante.” A wry smile twists my lips. “Oh, I think I know. You were living the high life, throwing extravagant parties in my parents’ condo.” At the narrowing of his eyes, I push out a laugh. “Yes, I kept tabs on what was happening in New York. What were you doing on that night, huh, the night I gave birth?” I saw the media photos of him with beautiful women on his arm, attending fundraisers and high society events. “Let me guess. You were sipping champagne at some fancy gala, congratulating yourself on rubbing shoulders with the city’s rich and famous. Or maybe you were reclining in my father’s chair with your feet on his desk, enjoying a hundred dollar glass of whisky while counting all the money you’ve stolen.”
My name sounds like a growl on his lips. “Tatiana.”
The way he says that is a warning for me to shut my mouth, but now that I’ve opened the lid on all those frightening, bitter feelings, I can’t stop. “No, Dante. You don’t know how it feels to find out the father of your baby, a man you loved and trusted, used and betrayed you. You don’t know how it feels to be cut off from everyone you cared about and every penny you owned, and to go into labor, scared, broke, and alone, so don’t tell me you understand. You don’t have an inkling what it’s like to sit at a sick child’s bedside, night after night, praying he’ll pull through. Do you have any idea what it feels like to need your mom when you become one yourself but knowing she’ll never be there for you?” I swallow again, biting hard on my teeth not to spill the hot tears burning at the back of my eyes. “To lie awake and worry where the money is going to come from to buy your baby’s next meal?” My voice is filled with contempt. “I don’t think you do.”
