I can’t let him see me for the same reason I didn’t go running straight to him when we escaped my father—because it’s the first place my father would look.
“Solenne, get off the swing,” I demand. “Arron, I need you here,” I call over my shoulder as I move to grab the backpack at my feet and slip it over my shoulder.
“Mommy,” Solenne protests.
“Solenne,” I stay sternly, and she catches the familiar warning in my voice. The way I used to tell them to leave the room with one word when I could hear my father coming.
Solenne jumps off the swing and runs to my side. I take her delicate little wrist in my hand, ready to turn and escape along the back pathway that leads through the trees.
But as I look up, I look straight into his eyes.
And my heart sinks to the pit of my stomach.
Simon. He has changed. He looks harder. His expression is distant and walled. He is still the most gorgeous man I have ever set my eyes on, but his eyes don’t hold any of the warmth I remember in them. I can feel my palms beginning to sweat.
My Simon. The man I loved more than anything.
We stare at each other for a long moment. His face is one of absolute shock. His eyes drift from me to the children, and my heart races three times as fast. I know how obvious it is. I know how much they look like him.
I see it the second he understands. The moment reality hits him. His body seems to slump, then straighten in a matter of seconds. His lips part, and his caramel eyes shoot wide.
This morning, when we came to the park, I had a million thoughts on my mind, but seeing Simon was not one of them.
“We need to go,” I whisper to Arron. “Don’t let go of my hand,” I tell them both.
“Mommy, who is that man?” Arron asks nervously.
“It’s… It’s someone I used to know a long time ago,” I say weakly, hating that I have to lie to him. Hating that my son is looking right at his father, and he doesn’t know it.
Chapter3 - Simon
“Raya,” I say her name with such force that my sister is at my side in a moment.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, glancing across the playground, searching for the danger.
“You need to get the kids out of here.” I signal to the security team with a stern nod, and they start moving towards us, also looking around the playground in search of danger that they can’t find.
“Simon, what is going on?” Raya asks sternly, her eyes narrowing and her breathing becoming faster.
“Please, just go, it’s more of a precaution, but get the kids out of here,” I tell her.
She doesn’t like not understanding, but she nods. “Be careful, please, whatever is going on,” she says before she turns to the children and, with a happy, friendly voice, shouts, “Who wants ice cream?”
I wait, still staring at Selene, while Raya ushers the children towards the cars with the help of the undercover security team.
Selene looks ready to run. She looks like she’s seen a ghost, and the fear that has flushed her face pale is so thick I can see her muscles tensing from here.
I take a careful step towards her, and she takes a step backward, her hands still gripping the children’s.
“Selene,” I say her name gently, taking another step. “It’s been a long time.”
She glances over her shoulder.
“It… it has,” she mutters, not sure what to do. She still wants to run, but I’ve managed to approach her in such a way that she can’t. Not as easily as she would have liked.
“The children,” I say, “I had no idea you’d had children.”
“I… I met someone. He’s waiting for me,” she stammers. The little boy looks up at me with glowing caramel eyes, bright in the sunlight that catches his blonde hair. A mirror image of me. Up close, it’s even more astounding how much he looks like me.
