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He came around the kitchen island carrying a tray and set it on the table, then unloaded its contents onto the place setting in front of Ruby.
There was a small plate with grilled cheese, a bowl of what looked like tomato soup, another dish filled with cut mango, strawberry, banana, and blueberries.
“I thought you should start slow,” he said. “It looks like you haven’t been fed properly. I don’t want you to get sick.”
Her stomach tightened at the smell of the food, her mouth watering as Roman took the tray back to the kitchen.
“You said we’d talk about Olivia,” Ruby said.
“We will.” He turned off the lights in the kitchen and returned to the table.
She was relieved when he took the seat at the other end of the long table, directly across from her. Her mind was spinning, her heart a chaotic clutter — relief at being rescued, desperation to see her daughter, anger and fear and longing for the man at the center of the hurricane that had become her life.
It was better to keep her distance.
“Where is she?” Ruby asked.
“You eat and I’ll talk,” Roman said. “When I’m done, you can ask questions. Deal?”
She hesitated before nodding. She really was famished.
She picked up the grilled cheese and bit into it, closing her eyes as the crispy buttery bread and melted cheese hit her tongue. “Oh my god…”
There was nothing fancy about it, but after the cold takeout she’d been fed at the grain terminal, it was the best thing she’d ever tasted.
When she opened her eyes he was staring at her from across the table, his eyes obsidian in the moody lighting of the room.
Desire moved through her body, unfamiliar and strange after all the weeks in the grain terminal, when her only thought had been of survival.
And she wasn’t alone. She saw her desire reflected in the black mirror of his eyes.
He cleared his throat as she took another bite.
“Olivia is with Adam,” Roman said. “She has been since you went missing.”
Olivia stopped chewing, her heart sinking.
“He’s been on day shifts mostly. He takes Olivia to school and picks her up, then takes her back to his apartment.”
“Is she okay?” Ruby asked.
“She looks healthy,” Roman said.
There was something he wasn’t saying.
She put down the grilled cheese and met his gaze. “This isn’t going to work if you’re not honest with me. I deserve that.”
He nodded and she saw the shame in his eyes.
“She does look healthy,” he said. “She looked taken care of, but she’s been… more temperamental lately.”
She shook her head. “How do you know?”
“I’ve had someone tailing your ex-husband since you went missing.”
She couldn’t hide her surprise. “Why?”
“To keep an eye on Olivia.” He hesitated, and she had the feeling that her life was hanging in the balance. That the next words out of his mouth would be a seismic shift in everything she trusted. “And because I suspected Adam worked with my father to have you kidnapped.”
