Page 113 of Heart of a Villain

She’d made a mistake.

In her frustration over thinking he was trying to control her, she’d told him that they shouldn’t go any further in their relationship. What she hadn’t expected was for him to agree, so easily, although he’d declared his love for her right before.

“Who are you, by the way?” Adrían asked, flicking his gaze at Erik in such a way that there was no way Erik didn’t take offense.

To her surprise, Erik puffed up his chest. “I’m Seda’s prospective employer.”

“Unco Adrían, does ‘puspectin’ employner’ mean boyfriend?” Theo asked.

Erik’s brow lifted. “You call your father ‘uncle’?”

“It’s trauma,” Josiah jumped in. “We’re working on it in therapy.”

Adrían cleared his throat.

Sayeda shoved down a laugh.

“Raincheck on that fika?” she asked.

Erik replied, but she barely heard it and definitely didn’t see it. Adrían grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the conversation, out of the restaurant, onto the moderately busy sidewalk.

“That...was...awesome,” Josiah said, his voice cracking. “We used to do that with Joel all the time. I missed it. Theo, you did great, bro.”

“You too, bro,” Theo said.

They slapped palms.

Sayeda looked among the three of them, arms folded. “You’re proud of yourselves?”

“Yep,” Theo said.

“Hey, hey.” She reached up and playfully squeezed his cheek. “You’re the worst offender of them all, Mr. ‘Yep.’ What if me having a family meant I couldn’t work here?”

“Why would you want to work at someplace like that, Auntie Seda?”

The kid had a point.

Too good of a point.

They might not have been Joel’s biological sons, but they’d definitely picked up several of Joel’s mannerisms.

“Hungry?” Adrían asked as if he hadn’t just, more than likely, cost her the first shot at employment she’d received. “We passed this place on the way here that the boys said they wanted to try. It’s a bakery.”

“Only on the condition that this one,” she removed Theo from Adrían’s arms and set him on his feet, “walks with me while I hold his hand captive.”

Theo gladly obliged her.

She held out her other hand. “You too, Josiah.”

Without the slightest groan, Josiah took her hand and held it firmly and unabashedly, which surprised her, given his nearing teenage years.

“You guys go on ahead,” Adrían said. “I’ll be there in a second. I saw a store I want to pop into.”

Theo’s eyes lit up. “A toy store?”

“I wouldn’t go without you.”

“A bookstore?” Josiah asked, his voice just as hopeful.

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