Page 92 of Inked in Devotion

“What?” I asked, and I tried my best not to tuck my hair behind an ear because I was self-conscious.

“I’m moving back in,” he informed me.

“Excuse me?”

“We tried it your way; it didn’t work. You need me.”

“Are you still saying I can’t keep my son safe?”

“No, I’m saying our son needs both of us. He’s not an ordinary boy. It might not even be about me.”

“What do you mean?”

“What’s bugging me about this theory that Marena is connected to me is that she’s been at this job as a child welfare liaison for five years. I’m having Ilya dig deeper, but what if it has to do with her being just part of a kidnapping ring targeting infants?”

“She wants to kidnap Sebastian?”

“Having her kidnap Sebastian is too obvious. She’s the scout.”

My heart raced. “The attack on my apartment. Sebastian was the target. We never figured out the motive, whether it was Theo’s enemies or former employees or officials who benefited from the NGO we took over.”

“I would eliminate anyone connected to the NGO except Marena. Ilya looked into it, and none of them have the connections nor the means to do surveillance and execute a sophisticated attack.”

I worried my lips. “But you have suspects.”

“I do.”

Theo returned and gave me a careful once-over. “I want you to stay overnight to make sure the drugs are out of your system.”

“That’s fine,” I said.

“I asked Lucy to bring Sebastian this afternoon,” Kolya said. “Is that okay?”

Should I be wary? I wasn’t. But a different emotion occupied space in my heart. Missing my son. Missing my son with Kolya around us. I shouldn’t entertain the idea until Kolya came clean about this infuriating secret he was hiding from me. I couldn’t stomach more heartaches.

Theo stared at me pensively. There was a question in his eyes he wanted to ask, but he wasn’t sure if it was the right time.

“I talked to Jeremiah yesterday,” I said.

My brother’s stance relaxed. “I reviewed the surveillance footage.”

Kolya was a ball of aggression beside me.

“He said he might have killed Renée.”

“Might have?” Kolya exploded. “What does that even mean?”

“Fuck,” Theo cursed, and then, keeping eye contact, he asked, “Care to elaborate?”

“He said…he was told he did.”

“By who?” Theo’s voice sharpened.

“He said he was given drugs. Could it be the same ones given to me that caused me to black out?”

“That’s it,” Kolya growled. “I don’t want you talking to Jeremiah again. He’s messing with you. Tell you what…? Give me thirty minutes with him.”

Theo chuckled darkly. “And what? Torture a confession out of him? Jerry is unwell.”