Page 103 of Sebastian

“Hey guys.” Hank walked back in to his office a few minutes later. “Listen, it’s going to be a bit to see how everything shakes out with Addie and where the best place for her to be is. If you want, you can sit with me and listen to the detective questioning Natalie.”

Emma’s stomach flipped. “Yes.”

“I don’t know,” Sebastian said at the same time. “Are you going to be okay listening to her spin a tale. You know that’s what she’ll be doing.”

“Even if I just get one piece of truth that I didn’t know before, it will be worth it. Please come with me. I need you there.”

“Let’s go.”

They walked across the station, towards a hallway with two doors. One must lead to the room where Natalie was being held, because the one Hank opened led to a dark room with a few chairs, and a clear view of Natalie being questioned through a one-way mirror.

“This feels so surreal. Like we’re watching a movie.”

“I know. If it gets to be too much, Em, just let me know and we can leave. At any point, okay?” Hank gestured for them to sit. Natalie’s voice filtered into the room.

“Gio and I were high school sweethearts. We never thought that I wouldn’t be able to have kids. I just wanted a baby, and when he told me what he’d done, he placed this beautiful baby girl into my arms and I didn’t care. She was mine. I’ve raised her since the day she was born.”

Emma shuttered and Sebastian wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. “You don’t have to be in here for this,” he said as he swept away a tear from Emma’s face.

“No, I do. That bitch lied to my face, pretended to be my friend, all while helping Marco stalk and torture me over the past few weeks. She didn’t care he’d stolen my baby from me? She didn’t care because she wanted a baby of her own? I don’t understand how someone could be so self-centered. How could someone do something so cruel?”

“Did you know Adeline was Emma Sullivan’s biological daughter?” The investigator asked.

“Not until a few months ago.”

“And how did you find out?”

“Gio came home from work one day and told me Addie’s biological mom was causing trouble for him. That we had to come to Bell Ridge so that we could stop her from trying to get Addie back. I just wanted to keep my daughter safe. I wanted to make sure she could never be taken from me. I’m her mother. I did nothing wrong. I’ve loved my daughter since the day she was born!”

“She’s not her daughter, she’s mine!” Emma jumped up from her chair, wanting to throw it through the glass and give Natalie exactly what she had coming to her, but before she could, Sebastian pulled her into his chest.

“I want her to pay, too, Emma, but we have to think about Addie,” he whispered into her ear. “Hank, Natalie just admitted to knowing Adeline is Emma’s daughter. That has to hold some weight with the social worker and their decision, doesn’t it?”

“It’s certainly something I’ll discuss with them. I know this is really difficult. Why don’t we head back to my office?”

“No. I want to finish hearing what she has to say and then I want to take Addie home.”

* * *

“I can’t believe she’s asleep in the other room. She’s home, Seb. I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you.”

Both the psychologist and the social worker had agreed that Addie would be less traumatized staying with Sebastian and Emma after everything that had happened. They were told not to discuss anything with her until the test results came back, and both Emma and Sebastian wholeheartedly agreed. Three days was nothing when they already knew what the results were going to say.

After they’d gotten Addie to sleep, which was heartbreaking as her little cries filled the whole apartment until she’d finally tired herself out, Emma discussed with him her plans to set up therapy for both herself and Addie. It would be a long haul until things felt normal, and maybe they never fully would, but he already knew she’d do her best to make the most of the second chance she was given. And he would do the same.

“There is nothing to repay, Sprinkles. I have everything I’ve ever wanted right here under my roof. A wife and daughter. My family.”

“A wife and daughter?”

“I know it’s her first night home, and we are only at the very beginning of her journey towards us being her family, but I hope that one day, Addie will see me as a father-figure. Just like how one day soon, I hope you’ll be my wife.” Her eyes grew wide as he slid off the bed, reaching into the pocket of his pants.

The morning he’d left Dec in the gym, he’d made two stops. The first, a tattoo parlor where he’d gotten his first, and probably only, tattoo of two stars over his heart. The second, a high-end jeweler who he custom designed an engagement ring with. The velvet box felt heavy in his hands, the weight of that moment and the question he was about to ask not lost on him.

“I was saving this for a special moment, and I cannot think of moment more special than this. Emma Sullivan, I never want to spend another day apart from you. You are the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. Strong in every single way imaginable. I am so completely and madly in love with you. Will you marry me?”

A tear trailed down her face as she spoke. “It’s so fast, Seb.”

His heart sank. “You don’t feel the same way?”

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