Page 128 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two

“Did she not want me, either?” Tempest yells, but before anyone can respond, she sprints out of the playroom.

Shae, Raiden, and I sit in silence for three seconds before I stand to go after her.

“Don’t,” Shae says. “She’ll need some space, but I’ll go talk to her.”

I shake my head. God, this is turning into a clusterfuck of all clusterfucks.

“She needs to know I didn’t leave her, I didn’t?—”

She needs to know…what? That I understand she’s angry and hurt, but I want to be her dad and love her more than anything? That I’d do anything for her? That she’s precious and wanted?

Fuck.

I grab my chest, and Shae stands, putting a hand on my forearm.

“Baby steps,” she says, and the gesture and the whispered words do more for my soul than I’d ever thought possible. Thelook on her face is tender and patient, bringing me back to the central reason why we’re here in the first place: to take the first step in becoming a family.

Shae gives me a gentle smile, and I give her one in return.

And all the tension falls away.

“Tempest runs away when she’s scared,” Raiden says, breaking the moment between his mother and me. “But I have one more question.”

I crouch down, getting to his eye level.

“Tell me,” I say.

Raiden takes a deep breath and says, “Why did you go away in the first place?”

Of course he’d ask that question. Raiden is quiet, but he’s incredibly intelligent and introspective. Where his sister is like a volcano, he’s like the rain.

So that’s why I don’t look over my shoulder at Shae for approval. Instead, I tell my son the truth.

“I was a fool,” I rasp. Raiden continues to look at me, nearly unblinking as he absorbs my words. “Your mother is the best person I know, and I hurt her. A lot.”

Raiden’s eyebrows come together, and he withdraws from me.

“No, not physically. I never hit your mom, I swear that to you.” Raiden retains his skeptical expression, his wariness something he’s inherited from Shae.

“I hurt her heart. I broke her heart. And it’s the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life, but it’s my mission to make things right with her and with you and your sister.”

Raiden holds my gaze for a moment before looking past me to his mother.

“Mommy, can I go with you?” he whispers, pulling away from me emotionally, just as he pulls away from me physically.

“Of course, sweetie,” Shae says.

I don’t watch as both of them leave the room.

Shae said it’ll take baby steps, and I hope like hell she’s right.

TWENTY-SEVEN

STORM

“We know where he is. We move now to take him down.”

My words greet the tense silence brewing between me, Axel, and Riale. Axel sits at his computer desk, capping and uncapping his BIC pen. Riale leans on the surface two feet from Axel with his arms crossed.