Page 51 of Under His Embrace

Tessa nodded. “You get used to it.”

I huffed. “The idea of them killing people? I think I might be too much of a pacifist for this.”

“Nonsense,” Nina said as she entered the room.

“How is it nonsense?” I asked.

“Because they kill to keep us safe,” she replied. “Like the time Dante killed the men who kidnapped me and almost gang raped me. No cops would’ve delivered justice like that.”

Tessa chimed in as well. “Romeo killed the men whodidrape me.” She sucked in a deep breath as though it was hard for her to say that out loud.

“And Liam killed countless enemies overseas when he was in the military,” Eva said.

“We will help you,” Tessa said. “We all stick together, even us women as the men keep us safe.”

I smiled at her, appreciating her kindness. “Thanks. I… I needed that.”

“Anytime you want to talk, we’re here,” Nina said.

Dante and Romeo entered the room, glancing at us and pausing in whatever they were speaking about.

“Is… everything okay?” Dante asked, looking at Nina first. His brows were raised.

“Yeah. Everything’s okay.” Eva nodded. “Or it will be.”

Romeo looked at me and opened then closed his mouth. As though he had something to suggest otherwise. He swallowedwhatever he had to say, though, because the front door burst open.

And my son ran inside.

“Caleb?” I blinked quickly, unable to believe my eyes. “Caleb!”

It’d only been several days since I dropped him off at Ethan’s apartment. But it was the longest we’d ever been apart.

My baby!

I dropped to my knees and held my arms out as he launched at me. Nothing else mattered. All the other details of the room faded into a meaningless blur as I focused on my sweet little boy running into my arms.

“I missed you, Mommy.”

He crashed into me, and I didn’t hesitate to hold him to me. His small arms squeezed me tight, and I closed my eyes at the firm hug he gave me. I tightened my embrace and buried my face against his neck. The first deep scent of him somehow calmed my heart. My soul was full, and I knew that everything truly would be all right now.

Caleb was my miracle. My savior. My reason to live. He was proof that love always prevailed despite the wicked hardships that were thrown at me, at us.

I went to the extremes to keep him alive and with me, and I would never,everregret a decision that I made in the name of love for my son.

He was the reason I would never tell Franco that I regretted leaving him the way I had. Caleb was the proof that I had to run from his father in order to keep us both alive and well.

“I missed you, too,” I told him.

I felt the rise of his cheek against mine, that little roundness pushing up with his smile at my words. I was everything he had, and he was all I thought that I had. For his whole life, that was it. We had each other, and I fought every time to keep that true.

I clung to him, letting him hold me tight. After so many days away from him, it felt too damn good and right to have him in my arms again. Separation anxiety was a wicked beast, but when I was also suffering from other fears and threats, it had me worried that I’d never see him again.

When I feared the shooters at the deli, and then when they chased me all the way to the motel, I worried that Caleb would be orphaned, that he’d lose me.

When I came here and fell deeper under the spell of loving Franco again, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to explain without blowing up both of our worlds.

I had to now. Letting myself calm down with the reassurance of my happy, healthy son in my arms, I slowly returned to the moment that everyone else was locked in here.

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