Chapter 36
RENéE
I sat cross-legged on the floor, a cluster of kids surrounding me. Olivia was perched in my lap, her tiny fingers busy braiding what she could of my hair, while the others were deep into an intense debate about which superhero would win in a fight.
“Batman, obviously,” Marco declared, puffing out his chest.
“Wrong!” Ellie shot back. “Superman would crush Batman! He’s an alien. Batman’s just a guy with gadgets.”
“Batman’s smarter!” Marco argued, folding his arms.
“And richer,” I chimed in, earning a triumphant grin from Marco and an exaggerated groan from Ellie.
“You’re supposed to be on my side, Renée!” Ellie protested, pouting dramatically hugging her little stuffed bunny.
I laughed, holding up my hands. “I’m Switzerland here. Totally neutral.”
“Swit-zer-what?” Olivia asked, scrunching her nose.
“Neutral,” I clarified with a smile. “It means I don’t take sides. I’m fair to everyone.”
Olivia tilted her head, considering. “I still think Superman would win,” she said firmly.
The group burst into giggles, and I couldn’t help but laugh with them. It felt good—light.
Then my phone rang. The sound grated against the peace of the moment, pulling me back to reality. I didn’t even need to check the screen to know who it was. Javier.
“Who is it?” Olivia asked, craning her neck to look at the phone in my hand.
“Just someone who’s in trouble with me,” I said, pressing the side button to silence the call. “Doctor’s orders—no contact for a few more days.”
The kids giggled at that, Ellie leaned closer. “Was that your boyfriend?” She asked giggling. “Are you mad at him? Like, really mad?”
Kids these days.
“Let’s just say he deserves some time in the penalty box,” I replied, smirking.
Olivia tugged on my sleeve, her big brown eyes sparkling as she stared up at me. “Can we get ice cream? Please?”
Aww! The way she said please melted my heart into a puddle. I would bring you all the ice cream in the world baby.
I glanced at the supervisor across the room, already knowing the answer. “I don’t know, Liv. I’ll have to check.”
When I asked, the supervisor shook her head with a firm but apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Renée. We can’t let them leave the premises, even with you.”
The kids groaned in unison, their little faces falling.
“But why not?” Marco asked, crossing his arms. “Renée’s not a stranger!”
“She’s practically one of us,” Ellie added, her eyes pleading.
I sighed, ruffling Olivia’s hair. “Rules are rules, guys. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find another way.”
The gears in my mind turned as I started brainstorming. Ice cream wasn’t off the table yet. If we couldn’t go to it, maybe it could come to us.
Pulling out my phone, I started searching for ice cream trucks nearby. One call led to another, but no luck. Every truck was too far away or unavailable. Thirty minutes later, I was out of options and starting to feel defeated.
Then, as if on cue, the kids gasped, their attention snapping to the front gates.
An ice cream truck pulled up, its cheerful music cutting through the quiet. Javier stepped out, a smug grin plastered across his face as he leaned casually against the truck.
“Did someone order dessert?” he called out, waving.
The kids erupted into cheers, scrambling to their feet and racing toward the gates. I stayed back for a moment, shaking my head with a mixture of annoyance and begrudging admiration.
“Show-off,” I muttered under my breath, but even I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.
The kids were munching away at their ice creams, their giggles ringing out like music. I leaned against the fence, watching them with a soft smile. It felt so... peaceful. I could spend my life like this, watching over them, seeing their smiles light up the world.
In my mind, I pictured them growing up—waving goodbye as they headed off to school, clapping at their high school graduations, cheering them on as they found their passions, their dreams. Someday, they’d fall in love, get married, and start families of their own. God, I hoped they’d get that chance—a real shot at happiness. And maybe, just maybe, I’d be here to see it all.
A cone of ice cream appeared in front of me, interrupting my thoughts.
“Double chocolate with extra chocolate chips,” came Javier’s voice.
I didn’t even look at him. Rolling my eyes, I snatched the cone from his hand. No matter how mad I was, there was no way I was passing up double chocolate with extra chocolate chips. Nope.
Javier stood beside me, his presence annoyingly steady. He was staring at me, and I could feel his gaze burning into the side of my face. I gave him a quick glance and rolled my eyes again.
He chuckled because of course he did. “The kids sure do love ice cream,” he said, nodding toward the chaotic joy in front of us. “Look how happy they are.”
He wasn’t wrong. They were absolutely delighted, sticky fingers and all. For a brief second, I felt a flicker of gratitude toward him.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, reluctantly. “For this.”
He smiled, that stupidly charming grin of his. “Anything for you, love.”
I glared at him, pointing my cone at his chest. “How did you even know?”
He shrugged, completely unfazed. “I may or may not have overheard you calling every ice cream truck in town,” he said innocently. “And let’s just say I have connections in all the right places.”
He winked.
I rolled my eyes again, though the corners of my mouth betrayed me by twitching upward. “So basically, you were stalking me.”
He laughed. “Observing. There’s a difference.”
Before I could retort, Marco ran up, face smeared with chocolate and his ice cream forgotten in his hand.
“Renée!” he shouted. “Ellie’s cheating!”
“Am not!” Ellie yelled from behind him, holding a dripping cone in one hand and a plastic cup of water in the other.
“What’s going on?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
Marco pointed dramatically. “She started a water fight!”
“I didn’t start it! You did!” Ellie yelled, chucking the water in his direction. Marco ducked, and the splash hit Olivia instead.
Olivia gasped, her jaw-dropping. “Ellie!”
“I didn’t mean to!” Ellie cried, but it was too late. Olivia grabbed her cup of water and launched it at Ellie.
Before I knew it, chaos erupted. The kids were screaming and laughing, water flying in every direction.
“Renée! Help!” Marco yelled, dragging me into the fray.
I tried to stay dry, but someone—probably Ellie—sneak-attacked me with a cup of water, soaking the back of my shirt. “Oh, you’re so in for it!” I shouted, grabbing a nearby bucket.
“Uh-oh,” Javier muttered, stepping back with his hands up.
“Nope. You’re not getting out of this,” I said, dumping half the bucket on his head.
The look of utter shock on his face was priceless. “You’re going to regret that,” he said, grabbing his cup of water.
The fight escalated. Laughter echoed through the air as we all got drenched, kids and adults alike. For a moment, there were no grudges, no anger, just pure, unfiltered fun.
By the time the chaos died down, we were all soaked and breathless, grinning from ear to ear.
Maybe, I thought as I wrung out my hair, Javier’s silent treatment could be shortened. Just a little.
Hael looked like hell, slumped over the counter with a cup of coffee he wasn’t even drinking. His hair was a mess, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He didn’t need to say anything for me to know how bad it was.
I finished chewing the last bite of my toast and tilted my head. “Didn’t get much sleep last night?”
He glanced at me, barely, and shook his head.
I sighed. “The coffee’s not going to help, brother.”
He didn’t respond, just stared into the mug like it held the answers to life. I didn’t press. I knew what this was. He got these episodes sometimes—randomly, without warning. Guilt, self-loathing, trauma—it hit him like a freight train and turned him into a shell of himself. They didn’t come as often as they used to, but when they did, they still gutted him.
“Renée,” he said suddenly. I looked up, meeting his tired eyes. “Are you sure about Javier?”
I stilled, my fork hovering over my plate. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what it means.” His tone was low.
I leaned back, crossing my arms. “Javier’s not the problem here, Hael. You’re projecting.”
He didn’t even flinch. “Does he know? Anything?”
“No,” I said, a little too quickly. “But… I don’t know how long that’ll last.”
Hael’s jaw tightened, his fingers clenching around the mug. “You should leave him.”
“Excuse me?” My voice was sharper than I intended.
“You heard me.” He set the mug down and looked at me. “He’s dangerous, Renée. Maybe not to you yet, but he could be. Do you think this ends well? For you? For him? For me?”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” I snapped, standing so quickly that my chair scraped against the floor. “I know what I’m doing, Hael.”
“Do you?” he shot back. “Because it sounds like you’re banking on a man with a past that could bury you both.”
“His past is just that—his past,” I said, my voice trembling with anger. “If it ever comes back to haunt us, it won’t just be him standing there. It’ll be both of us.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. “I don’t need you to protect me from him, Hael. If I’m wrong, if everything falls apart, then that’s on me. Not you. I’ll never let it fall on you.”
There was a pause, a heavy one. My chest heaved with the weight of my words.
“I don’t know what he’ll do if he learns the truth someday,” I admitted, quieter now. “But until then? I want this. I want what we have, even if it’s fragile. Even if it breaks.”
Hael looked at me like he wanted to say something, anything, but he stayed silent. I didn’t wait for him to find the words. Turning on my heel, I walked out of the kitchen.
Maybe Hael was scared for me. I couldn’t blame him. He had his reasons—solid ones if I was being honest. I mean, I had been kidnapped before, dragged into the chaos of our family’s enemies more times than I cared to count. Every time, it left another crack in the fragile sense of security I tried to hold on to.
But this wasn’t that.
I trusted Javier. Doesn’t matter the circumstances or the shadows in his past; I trusted him in a way that felt unshakable. Sure, there were risks. There always were. But if I let every ghost of what happened to me dictate my choices, I’d be living in fear forever.
Hael was justified in his worry—I could see that—but it didn’t mean he was right. Trust was messy, tangled up in instincts and blind leaps, but I wasn’t about to let doubt creep in.