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Before I lose my shit, my voice of reason—often absent— says,But it’s so far away. And he was only outside for a second. Finn didn’t even look at the car...
Could Kieran know? He’s got contacts. Did he find out somehow?
My teeth start to chatter. My racing thoughts are killing me.
I search his face. He seems normal in his grumpy gangster way. Clenched teeth. Tight muscles. Daggers for eyes.
In a rumble, he says, “Here comes Ariel. Looks like she’s got some help.”
Marcus is carrying a box toward the car. I sound panicked to my own ears when I say in a rush, “He’s safe. That’s Marcus, Nikki’s husband. I’ve known him for years.”
That does nothing to appease Kieran and he issues an order in a biting tone. “Don’t get out of the car.”
He opens the door and lets it snap closed behind him. Bristling with attitude, Kieran stalks around the back of the car and pops the trunk. In the side mirror, I see Marcus and him shake hands. My fiancé looks like he wants to throat-punch him instead.
Suddenly, the house door bursts open, and five kids run out all at once like a tiny wild stampede. Four blonde heads and one brown. Finn. They’re all screaming for me. “Cha-cha! Cha-cha! You came to see us!”
Freakout of all freakouts.
I leap from the car and run up the walk, barely intercepting them before they get to the curb. They swarm me, hugging me from all sides. I hug Finn to my belly so hard that he protests, laughing, he jokes, “Air! I need air!”
It’s mayhem. All the kids are talking at once. The scruffy oversized dog that Finn loves dearly is circling all of us, barking and wagging.
All of them are loud talking—Cha-cha this, Cha-cha that. The happy voices nearly drown out the panic in my heart.
When I steal a glance, Kieran and Marcus are talking. Ariel’s saying something with big gestures of her hands. Everyone seems oblivious to the fact that I’ve just had a thousand heart attacks.
I flutter my hands over all the kid’s heads, mussing their hair. “Okay, you guys, back in the house. I have to go now. But I’ll see you soon.”
Nikki appears in the doorway. In a ringing voice, she calls off the pack of wild animals, “Ice cream! Move it if you want some!”
In one second flat, I’m forgotten. The stampede goes the other way, tripping over each other as all five kids try to squeeze through the door at once.
I’m barely able to hold myself together. Without looking at Kieran, I run back into the car, commanding my heart not to quit.
Kieran’s face is red, his throat muscles are corded, and when he starts the car, he guns the engine. The rest of the security team has trouble keeping up as we tear out of the neighborhood.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
Son of a bitch, that was him. The guy iaman the picture. Carra’s baby daddy. And he is married?
Not just married. He’s Ariel’s brother-in-law! How could they do this? I saw those kids, some are older than seven, so it was an affair. Had to be.
Is one of those boys Carra’s?
The dark-haired one? His hair was the same shade as hers, wasn’t it? Or maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see.
She said they adopted one, but what if they adopted his own illicit child? And his wife has to look at the proof of his infidelity every day?
I’m fuming. I’m spiraling. My hands are gripping the steering wheel and I have no idea where I’m going or what I’m doing.
And what if that boy is mine? What if they are hiding it in plain sight?
Do they know? Did the guy just have the nerve to shake my hand knowing he took my son from me? Mywomanfrom me?
Does he love her? Does she love him?
I’m so fucked up right now. I need answers. I was having trouble controlling myself before, when it was impossible to know more. When I couldn’t confront her because I had to focus on the big picture.
