Page 95

He stops, his head drops, and he speaks quietly. “They wanted to…”

Alana slides off her desk and kneels in front of Ian. “Hurt her?”

Ian nods.

“Only Shae?”

He swallows. “It was one guy. He said he liked her.” Ian’s chin quivers as he rubs his unharmed eye with the back of his hand.

Alana puts her hand on his knee. “Okay, you don’t need to say any more about that. What did you do?”

My son takes a few deep breaths. “I told them they fucked up.” He glances up at me. “Did I use that word right?”

“Yes, but that’s not a school word, okay?”

He nods. “I’m not in trouble?”

“For saying a bad word when you’ve been kidnapped? Nah, you’re good.” I pat him on the shoulder.

He smiles but winces, and my heart shatters. My son is hurt. My blood boils and my organs feel fried from the inside as I process everything I’m seeing and hearing. And it gets worse as he continues to speak.

“The men came and stood in front of me. And one of them was wearing a Cyclops T-shirt.”

“Cyclops? Like the X-Men?” Alana interrupts, and Ian nods. “He’s the shittiest of all the X-Men.”

“I know, right?” Ian throws his arms in the air.

“I hate everything about this guy,” Alana frowns. “Continue.”

“Well, he says, ‘Why? Do you think your dad is going to show up?’ I shrugged and said, ‘He might. But that’s not who you have to worry about. Alana will come. See those two girls over there,’ and I moved my head toward Maria and Olivia, ‘those are her goddaughters. And that kid, his mom is dating Alana’s partner. And the girl? Her sister is Alana’s best friend.’ I looked them in the eye and said, ‘You are fucked.’ And he started hitting me.” Ian’s eyes drop to the floor as he mumbles, “But at least he wasn’t hurting Shae.”

My vision is a haze of red, my arms shake, and if I don’t break something soon, I will explode and take this whole building with me.

But Alana’s voice slices through my rage. She sounds quiet and almost broken. She pushes his hair off his forehead and runs her finger down his cheek. It’s the single most tender action I’ve ever seen from her. “Ian, why didn’t you think I would come for you?”

He shrugs, and my heart shatters again. “I’m not as special.”

She meets his gaze and speaks quietly. “You are incredibly special, and I will always come for you. Dimitri will have a seat for me at your graduation—all of them. I will be front row at your wedding and the first one to send a baby gift when you become a father. You are mine for life. Do you understand?”

He blinks and nods.

“One day, a long time from now, I will even tell you why you are the most special out of all of my kids.” She squints, thinking it over. “It will probably be on the day you get your trauma pony.” She presses her lips to his forehead. “And the whole ‘do what makes you happy’ speech? Yeah, I was talking about you asking Dimitri if you can get new skates for hockey.”

“Oh,” he whispers. “I think that’s why Shae and Maria came up with this whole ‘let’s see if we can meet Amanda Chase’ thing.”

Alana pinches her lips, holding back a frown. “Yeah, I should’ve been more clear on that one.”

He smiles as much as his face will allow it. “Who’s your favorite X-Men?”

She stands. “Wolverine.”

He huffs. “Kind of a basic answer.”

She cocks her eyebrow. “You’re a Russian kid with a tragic backstory who plays hockey. You’re as basic as it gets.”

There’s a knock at the door.

“Ms. King?”