Chapter 12 #2
We get the bag from the back of the car. When we reenter through the front door, Tatiana comes down the hallway, wearing her signature long-sleeved T-shirt and leggings. Her hair falls in wild curls around her shoulders.
At the sight of me, she stiffens. “You’re back.”
“Missed me?”
She scoffs.
“Mommy!” Noah takes the bag from me and runs to her. “Dante brought me a present.”
She studies me with a strange expression I can’t place, something between sadness and acceptance.
“That’s kind of him,” she says with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.
He jumps up and down. “Can I open it now, Dante?”
“It’s not wrapped, but yes, you can take it out now.”
He sprints to the lounge and shakes the contents out on the sofa.
Chuckling, I follow him.
“Oh, wow!” He grabs the soccer ball and shows it to Tatiana, who reluctantly comes closer. “Look, Mommy! A real soccer ball!”
“That’s so you can practice those kicks.”
He drops the ball and holds up the soccer T-shirt and shorts. “And a real soccer shirt too.”
“I hope it’s your team.”
He frowns. “I don’t have a team.”
“That’s all right. You’ve only just started to play. You have time to decide who you want to support. We can watch a few games together to help you make up your mind.”
He squeals. “Really?”
“What did I say about never lying to you?”
Wrapping his arms around my legs, he hugs me as if his life depends on it. “Thank you, Dante.”
I catch Tatiana’s gaze where she hovers a short distance away. Even as tenderness softens her green eyes, they glimmer with the unbearable grief of loss, almost as if I’ve stuck my fist into her chest and ripped out her heart.
“Thank you,” Noah says again.
I force my attention back to him. “You’re welcome, buddy. But you left something in the bag.”
He gasps. “There’s more?” Grabbing the bag, he shakes it with all his might until the shoebox falls out.
He frowns at me.
“Go on.” I motion at the box. “Open it.”
He wiggles off the lid, and then his mouth drops open. “Soccer shoes!”
I take one out of the box. “We can exchange them if they don’t fit.”
“Can I try them on?” He bounces like a monkey, swinging his arms backward and forward. “Please?”
I pat the sofa. “Sit down.”
He scrambles to obey.
“Do you know how to tie laces?”
Lifting his leg, he shows me his sneaker. “These work with Velcro.”
“It’s easy.” I crouch down in front of him. “I’ll teach you.”
The floorboards creak behind me.
When I look over my shoulder, Tatiana is walking from the room, her back straight and that sway in her hips present.
For now, I focus on Noah. We spend a few minutes practicing how to tie his laces. I use the bunny ear method my father taught me.
Noah walks up and down the hallway to assure me the shoes don’t pinch his toes or chafe his heels, and then he runs outside with the ball, eager to show the men his gifts.
I use the opportunity to go after Tatiana. I find her in the basement, taking towels from the dryer. She folds them into a basket without acknowledging me.
Stopping at her back, I try to get a read on her.
“That was sweet.” She hooks a tendril of hair behind her ear. “What you did for Noah.”
I cup her waist and turn her around. “If that’s so sweet, why do you look like you’re attending a funeral?”
She dodges me, twisting out of my hold. “Deceiving me is one thing, but if you break Noah’s heart, I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”
I contemplate the sudden change in her attitude. “I thought you didn’t want me around him at all. You told me in not so many words and on more than one occasion that he’s not my son.”
She leans her palms on the dryer behind her. “You’re not going to listen, are you?”
“No.”
“So there’s no point in fighting the inevitable.” She hesitates. “And Noah needs you.”
To admit that obviously hurts her. It’s evident in the unshed tears that glisten in her hauntingly beautiful eyes.
I cup her cheek. “He’ll always need you too.”
She pushes my hand away. “This isn’t about me.” She continues in a forceful tone. “It’s about Noah, Dante.”
“I’ll never hurt him intentionally.”
“Please, don’t.” It almost sounds like begging, which is very unlike her. “He won’t understand.”
“I already said I won’t.”
A beat passes while she scrutinizes me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was scraping together her courage to ask me for something.
“What do you want, Tatiana?”
“If I give you Leander…” She wipes another strand of hair behind her ear. “If I give you what you want to bring down my brother, I want something in return.”
This is going to be interesting. “Yes?” I cross my arms. “And what is that?”
“I want you to let me go. I want my freedom. We can share custody of Noah.”
Those words make me see red, and I never see fucking red, not even when I flick a blade or pull a trigger. “Do you think you have any power to negotiate with me?”
Her delicate throat moves under the scarf as she swallows. At the same time, she lifts her chin and meets my gaze head-on. “Yes.”
“I beg to differ, darling.” I move in, trapping her against the dryer. “You’ll do as I say. Nothing less and nothing more.”
Sparks detonate in those jade green eyes. “Or?”
“Or nothing. I don’t need your consent or your cooperation. You will sign those contracts when my lawyer present them even if I have to take your pretty hand in mine and sign for you.”
“Why?” She takes a ragged breath. “Why are you so dead-set on keeping me?”
“Because you’re mine. I warned you before I took your virginity. I was clear about my intentions so there wouldn’t be any confusion later. You knew exactly what the consequences would be when you gave your body to me.”
“I didn’t know you were playing me,” she hisses.
“I did it for a very good reason, which I already explained.”
“For Lee,” she bites out.
“Yes, for Lee, but also for you.”
“Oh, please.” Anger contorts her expression. “Don’t tell me you betrayed me because you wanted to keep me.”
“That’s precisely why I did it.”
“Bullshit.” She all but spits the words at me. “I don’t believe you.”
“Believe me or not, there was no other way.”
“Like hell.” She glares at me, those tears still shimmering in her eyes, but she makes a brave effort of biting them back. “You didn’t have to go that far.”
“For you? I would’ve gone to the ends of the world, darling.”
“Don’t lie to me more than you already have. It’s never been about me.”
“We’re not going to continue this conversation. I told you you’re not ready to listen to me. We’ll talk again when you are.”
The tears she fights so hard to contain slip free. “I hate you so much. You have no idea.”
“Hush.” I frame her face in both hands and wipe the tears with my thumbs from her cheeks. “I didn’t come here to make you cry.”
“Why did you come?” Her voice breaks. “To torment me?”
“No, darling.” I pull her against my chest and wrap my arms around her, reveling in how perfectly her small body fits against mine. “I brought you something too, something that’ll make you feel better.”
She pushes away from me. “I don’t need something to make me feel better. What I need is my life back.”
I brush a hand over her silky hair. “You’ll have a better life. You’ll have protection, and you won’t want for anything. Noah will have a family.”
At that, a sob catches in her throat.
The sound is like a spike hammered into my heart. “Like I said, it doesn’t have to be bad for you, Tatiana. Come, now. Wipe away those tears.” I remove the small jewelry box from my pocket, take her hand, and place it on her palm. “This is for you.”
She looks from the box to my face, anxiety flashing in her teary eyes. “What’s this?”
“Don’t worry.” My chuckle is dry. “It’s not an engagement ring.”
Her curiosity must get the better of her, because after a few seconds’ hesitation, she flips back the lid.
The expression on her face isn’t gratitude or relief as I expected.
When she looks at the square gold ring with the sun rays engraved around the ruby and the gold tooth still encrusted in blood that lies on the white velvet, horror distorts her features.
Instead of looking at me as her hero, the villain who’ll slay her enemies, she looks at me as if I’m the monster.
That won’t do. Not at all.
I take the box and close it with a calm I don’t feel. I slide it back in my pocket so that I can get rid of the evidence now that she knows what I’ve done. For her.
Pinning her in place with my hands on her hips, I say, “Don’t pretend you’re not a little relieved.”
“You killed them,” she utters breathlessly. “That’s why you left.”
“Your brother sent them after you. He bugged the toy your mother bought for Noah.”
Shock passes through her eyes.
“He planted a tracking device in the eye. When it died, he lost your trail.”
“The dinosaur,” she whispers.
“When did your mother give it to you?”
She stares distractedly at a point over my shoulder. “She sent it with Jazz just before I ran.”
I narrow my eyes. “So Jazz knew about your plans.”
She looks back at me quickly. “She had no idea where I was going. We thought it was better if she didn’t know.”
“Why is there no hospital record of Noah’s birth?”
Her shock changes into surprise. “Why do you ask?”
“I checked. There’s no records of his birth, only the fake birth certificate.”
“I had a home birth with a midwife. She let me have the baby at her place because I couldn’t give birth at the shelter where I stayed, and I couldn’t risk going to a hospital.”
My gut twists inside-out. “Something could’ve gone wrong.”
Her gaze is steady on mine. “It didn’t.”
“Why Noah?”
She frowns. “What?”
“Why did you choose Noah and not a family name?”
“The men in my family didn’t inspire me. I wasn’t going to call my son after one of them.”
I couldn’t agree more.
“Besides,” she continues, “I like Noah. Don’t you?”
“It’s a good name.”
She looks down at me from her meagre height. “Good.” And then her composure changes. “Condoms.”
“What?”