Page 30 of Fateful Reunion

“I mean you no harm. I’m here for the girl.” She cast a glance toward the back side of the house. “Given what happened here tonight, my coven has voted to take her in immediately. Better for all of us. Don’t you agree?”

“If she agrees to go with you, my men won’t stop you,” Samson said.

On the stairs, Charles heard footsteps. He looked over his shoulder. Ilaria had put on a sweater and jeans and was walking toward them. She, too, had sensed the arrival of the witch of the mark. When Ilaria reached the bottom of the stairs, Charles took her hand.

“Are you ready for this?”

She smiled and glanced at the stranger. “I’ve always been ready.” Then she looked back to the top of the stairs, where Grayson stood, his hands in his pockets, a solemn expression on his face.

“Thank you,” Ilaria whispered, her voice thick with tears.

Charles squeezed her hand and she met his eyes. “I will miss you, sweetheart.”

Ilaria threw her arms around him. “I’ll miss you, too, Uncle Charles.”

In that moment he felt like more than just an uncle, he felt like a father who was losing his daughter. As if Ilaria felt it, she looked up and locked eyes with him. “One day, we’ll meet again. Promise me you won’t worry about me. It’s time you lived your own life now. You’ve sacrificed so much of it already.”

Involuntarily, his gaze drifted away from Ilaria to Roxanne, who stood between her colleagues. She’d lowered her weapon, though her colleagues were still pointing theirs at the witch.

“Come, my child.” The witch of the mark stretched out her hand, and without hesitation or fear Ilaria took it and allowed the stranger to lead her away.

Relieved breaths filled the room, mixing with the muffled clicks of guns being put back on safety and holstered. The threat was finally over.

Charles felt the tension roll off Samson.

“Let’s get the hell out of here, guys,” Samson said to his men. He glanced at Roxanne. “You leaving with us?”

Charles caught the look that Roxanne slanted him, before she answered her boss’s question. “There’s something I need to do first. I’ll see you all at headquarters tomorrow night.”

Samson nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later, all of Roxanne’s colleagues had left and taken all the evidence that a fight had taken place here with them.

He and Roxanne were finally alone.

10

Roxanne watched Charles close the door behind her colleagues and turn the deadbolt. When he turned around, she met his gaze.

She didn’t really know how to start, what to say, what to do, but she knew it was her turn. She felt it.

“When I saw Ilaria’s mark, when I saw it pulse, I finally understood why you did what you did. Why you left me.”

He reached out his hand. “I never wanted to.”

“You had no choice. Without you, Ilaria would have never survived to adulthood. And you did it knowing that any moment she could turn on you and allow the evil inside her to destroy you.”

She saw his eyes grow moist, and he said, “Because I knew that if I could deliver Ilaria to safety, then I would be allowed to return to you. If you could forgive me for what I did.”

Slowly, she shook her head. “Forgive you?”

He dropped his head.

“Oh Charles, there’s nothing to forgive.” Roxanne crossed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him, feeling him shudder with relief. “I only wish you would have allowed me to be by your side. We would have been even stronger together.”

His hands were on her face then, tilting it up to him. “I know that now. Having seen how you showed no fear toward her, I realize that I was wrong. But I couldn’t take the risk, not knowing what raising a witch of the mark would entail. I couldn’t risk your life. I loved you too much. I still do.”

“I tried to stop loving you,” Roxanne murmured, tears brimming at her eyes. “But I failed.”