Page 42 of Rescuing Tobias

“You knew.” Maybe he shouldn’t use a tone with blatant accusation in it when speaking to his boss, but he was angry and upset that he hadn't been told.

“She didn't want you to know, told Connor specifically to pass along that you weren't to be told,” Raven said apologetically.

That hit him like a punch to the gut, knocking all the air from his lungs.

It made sense. Isabella had been the one to reach out, and he’d been the one to ignore her. Despite that, she’d come as soon as she found out she was pregnant to tell him he was going to be a father, and he was the one to tell her to leave.

Why would she want him informed?

Since he’d told her he didn't want to be involved in the baby’s life, to her it would make sense that he wanted nothing to do with her as well. He could absolutely see why she would have asked her friends to keep the information from him.

It didn’t mean it hurt any less.

“You know I know a few things about letting personal issues get in the way of your happiness,” Raven told him as she sat back down in her chair.

“I think our issues are pretty different.” After all, Raven had been brutally assaulted as a teenager, then had her daughter snatched away from her. That was way worse than watching your mom wither away and your dad confide to others that he wished he was childless.

“Maybe. But in the end, issues are issues. They get in the way of you living the life you want.”

“And what if the life you want isn’t one you’ll ever get?” he asked as he took one of the chairs in front of her desk.

“How can you know you’ll never get it if you never try?”

“Because I know what my future holds, and it isn’t conducive to being in a relationship.”

“Why?”

“You know why. You run detailed background checks on all of us, so you know my mom was diagnosed with early-onset dementia when I was young, that my dad cared for her until she passed away.”

“Why does that meanyoucan't be in a relationship?”

“Because you also know why I took this job. I was kicked out of Delta Force because of my back injury.”

“And?”

“And you have access to my medical records, so you know it’s not going to get any better. In fact, the opposite it’s likely to get worse.”

“And?”

“And after watching my dad take care of my mom, I would never put a partner in that position.”

“Isn't that kind of presumptuous of you to decide what someone else wants?”

“Not when the someone else is a woman who has been through the hell Isabella has.” There was no use pretending they weren't talking about Isabella, they both knew that they were.

“Yet she’s come out the other side, ready to tackle being a single mom.”

“You know she’s pregnant?”

“Connor told me when he called to let us know what happened.”

“She’s okay?”

“A few scrapes and bruises, but yes. Shaken up more than anything.”

“The baby?”

“There was a little scare, but they’re monitoring her closely and the baby seems healthy.”

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