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“Right, well. Reggie and I are gonna go.”
She stood, hands clasped behind her back so she didn’t give in to the urge to reach for Israel. “O-okay.” She still had so much to say. “Th-thank you for coming.” Emotion swelled in her chest as she stared into his eyes. He was so close. Close enough to touch, to hug. She wanted to tell him she loved him. But he knew that, didn’t he?
He watched her in silence for a few beats, then linked fingers with Reggie and walked out of the room after giving her a short nod. She turned and strode after them, ignoring Toro, ignoring everyone. Out in the hallway, she stopped in her tracks, a hand pressed to her stomach as Israel and Reggie disappeared out the front door, then she raced to the nearby window, peering out.
They got into a white Range Rover with black trim and pulled out of the driveway. Seraphina stayed at the window until they were gone. Until all she had were the memories in her mind now. Did Israel forgive her? Did he accept her?
She still didn’t know.
She put her forehead to the windowpane, realizing only then that she was shaking.
“Ma’am,” one of the guards said.
“Leave,” she muttered brokenly.
“Ma’am?”
She spun around. “Everybody out,” she yelled. “Now!” She pointed a shaking finger at Toro, who stood a few feet away. “Except him. He stays.”
24
Once they were alone,Seraphina just stared at Toro, taking him in. His squared shoulders, lifted chin, expression carefully blank as he met her gaze. He had to know how she felt. He had to see the rage that had her frame shaking as she stood there.
He’d known where Israel was. He’d known. And instead of bringing it to her, he’d used that information himself. Why? For what?
“Sera.” He moved forward and she took a step back, refusing to acknowledge the clench of his jaw and the slight narrowing of his eyes.
“How long?”
He frowned.
“How long have you known my son’s location?” she asked softly. It took a lot to not rage at him, to hold herself in check. But she managed somehow.
“I only got his address this morning,” Toro answered, voice low. “While you were sleeping.”
While she’d been laid up in that bed all wrung out from giving him her body, from allowing him into her body, he’d been betraying her. “How? How did you find out? Who told you?”
Toro shook his head. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Hmm.” She gathered herself before speaking. “Can you tell me why you didn’t share the information with me?” If she allowed herself to feel something other than the anger, it was hurt that Toro hadn’t immediately turned to her and given her the one thing she’d been in search of for so long. It hurt thatthatwasn’t his immediate thought.
He said he loved her.
But when the time came to show it, he didn’t.
Right now, standing in front of her, eyes flashing, he didn’t answer her question.
“I want to know why your first instinct was to hide it from me. Why it wasn’t to share what you’d learned.” Her voice climbed higher and higher the more the words fell from her lips and she paused, inhaling deeply. She blew out a breath in an attempt to calm herself. Her heart was thumping, pulse racing, and the hot wave of anger inside her flowed outward, scorching her skin. She fisted her hands at her sides and cocked her head. “You said you loved me—”
He scowled. “Don’t do that shit. You know how I feel.”
“You know how I feel about betrayal,” she shot back. “And Toro, what were your actions if not a betrayal?”
His expression darkened. “I gave you what you wanted so desperately. I gave you your son!”
“On your terms!” She jabbed a shaking finger at him. “On your terms. Don’t act as if you did me any favors. This was for you, to prove… what?” She shook her head. “I don’t even know.”
He closed the distance between them and grabbed her wrist. “To show you that anything you want or need—big or small—I can make it happen,” he said fiercely. “To show you that you’re not in this alone. You don’t have to be.”
