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14

LARK

A lice suggested we fill the time while we waited for the results with yoga and meditation. I had no idea whether I’d be able to focus enough to do it, but it was worth a try. Anything to shake the feeling that I was about to crawl out of my skin.

Alessandro said he had some things to take care of but would be in the other room if I needed him. Part of me wanted to beg him not to leave, but I stopped myself when Alice took my hand and led me over to the two mats and zafu cushions.

“Sometimes, the only way through anxiety is to sit with it,” she said, lighting candles that filled the air with subtle hints of lavender and sage. “Let it wash over you instead of fighting it.”

While I settled myself in the lotus position, Alice placed different crystals in front of us—rose quartz for healing, black tourmaline for protection, clear quartz for clarity. The familiar ritual helped ground me, even as my thoughts threatened to spiral with each passing minute.

“Close your eyes,” she instructed softly. “Feel your breath moving in and out. Notice where you’re holding tension, and let it go.”

I followed her guidance, focusing on the steady rhythm of inhale and exhale. My shoulders gradually relaxed, and the knot in my stomach began to loosen. Each time my thoughts drifted to the DNA test, to Alessandro, to all the questions still unanswered, I acknowledged them and recentered myself.

The gentle splash of waves against the dock drifted through the crack in the window. A loon called somewhere in the distance. Little by little, the meditation began to work its magic. The crushing anxiety eased into something more manageable.

“That’s it,” Alice murmured. “Just be present in this moment.”

Time became fluid, marked only by my breath and heartbeat. I found myself thinking of the coffee shop, of early mornings watching steam rise from freshly brewed tea, of the simple pleasure of creating something perfect. Of Alessandro’s visits, though I hadn’t known then who he was—just another customer in a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses so I couldn’t see his eyes.

The memory of those mornings felt distant now, like something from another life. Had it really only been days since everything changed? Since Alessandro walked into Pershing and Alice’s wedding, shattering my carefully constructed world with his presence?

A knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts.

“I’ll get it,” Alice whispered, rising with her usual grace.

“Onyx has the results,” Pershing said in a low voice.

My earlier calm evaporated. The candles’ flames seemed to flicker in time with my racing heart as I opened my eyes and rolled my shoulders, trying to work out the returning tension. I had no idea whether ninety minutes had passed, but the candles had burned considerably lower.

Alice squeezed my hand when I approached. “Alessandro is on his way in.”

She led me to a chair I didn’t remember seeing before, its rich leather cool against my skin. The crystals still sat on the floor, near our yoga mats, their presence oddly reassuring. I shut my eyes, desperately trying to recapture some of the peace I’d found during meditation. Instead, my mind raced with possibilities—each one more terrifying than the last.

When I opened my eyes again, Alessandro was walking into the bedroom. One look at his expression made my breath catch in my throat. Relief warred with something darker, more troubled in his features, but I instantly knew that I wasn’t Vincent’s daughter. The weight that lifted from my chest was staggering.

He crossed the room in long strides, dropping to one knee before me and taking both my hands in his. His touch anchored me, warm and solid, as he confirmed what his face had already told me. “You and I do not share any DNA nor do you and Vincent,” he said in a low voice.

Those were the words I’d been praying to hear. But there was a hesitancy in his tone that made my stomach clench. “But?”

“My results revealed unexpected information.”

“Is it something you want to talk about?”

He nodded, then glanced over his shoulder to Alice and Admiral, who stood near the door. “Privately,” he said when his gaze returned to mine.

His troubled expression made it impossible to fully enjoy my relief about the DNA results. Every part of his body spoke of tension, of discoveries that weighed on him. I’d learned to read his expressions over these past few days—how his jaw tightened when he was worried, how his shoulders set when he was preparing for conflict.

“Can we go down to the dock?” I suggested, needing air and space. The bedroom suddenly felt too small, too confined, despite its generous size. Even the lingering scent of sage and lavender had become cloying.

He helped me up, his hand warm and steady around mine. We made our way downstairs and through the great room, where Gram was reading. She looked up as we passed but didn’t speak, though I felt her eyes follow us to the door.

As with other days, the afternoon sun painted everything in rich golds and ambers, making the lake shimmer like molten metal. Today, it looked different, as though it was tinged with danger. Security teams watched from discrete positions around the property—a reminder that even this moment of peace wasn’t truly private. The recent rain had left everything fresh and clean, and the distinctive, earthy odor the moisture brought mixed pleasantly with pine in the cooling air.

Alessandro’s hand tightened on mine when I slipped slightly on the wet grass, steadying me without a comment. The simple gesture spoke volumes about how natural it felt to rely on each other now, despite everything. The dock creaked under our feet as we made our way to the end, where the gentle waves lapped at the posts.

“Vincent isn’t my full brother,” he finally said. “My results were a match to someone in the criminal database.”

My heart skipped. “Who?”

“We don’t know yet. The files are sealed.” His jaw was tight as he looked out over the water.

A branch cracked in the woods behind us, making us both turn. Tank emerged from the tree line, speaking quietly into his radio. Just another security check, but it was a stark reminder of the danger that still lurked around us.

I looked up at Alessandro, seeing a mix of the same relief I felt, combined with his own uncertainty. We weren’t related by blood. That door was closed. But others were opening, leading to places that might be just as complicated, just as dangerous.

Still, standing there, with his hand in mine, watching the sun sink toward the horizon, I couldn’t help feeling that whatever we discovered, whatever secrets still lay buried in our families’ past, facing them with him was better than facing them alone.

“We’ll do this together,” I said softly, and felt his fingers tighten around mine. A loon called again, its cry haunting and beautiful across the water. Like my mother’s disappearance, like Alessandro’s DNA results and his own mother’s whereabouts, like all the mysteries still waiting to be uncovered, some things were both beautiful and painful at once.

The breeze carried the scent of another storm approaching. But for now, in this moment between revelations, I let myself feel the simple comfort of Alessandro’s presence.

“Lark?” His voice was different somehow—lower, rougher around the edges. When I raised my face to look at him, the intensity in his dark eyes made my breath catch. He leaned closer, one hand coming up to cradle my cheek, and when his lips touched mine, it was tentative at first—a question, an offering. But then I sighed against his mouth, and something inside him broke loose.

The kiss deepened, became hungry, desperate. His tongue swept against mine in a dance that made heat pool between my legs. Before I could process what was happening, he lifted me in his arms, and I went willingly, wrapping my arms around his neck. He carried me over to a bench on the dock, and we sat with me on his lap. My fingers threading through his hair drew a low sound from his throat that made me shiver.

“Do you know how much I’ve wanted this?” he asked when we finally broke apart, both breathing hard. His forehead rested against mine, and I could feel his heart racing where my palm lay against his chest.

I traced his lower lip with my tongue, delighting in seeing his pupils dilate. “As much as I have?”

“It’s been much longer for me,” he confessed, his hands spanning my waist, thumbs drawing maddening circles against my ribs. “Since that first morning you handed me a perfectly made cappuccino and smiled like you could see right through my disguise.”

“I knew there was something special about you, even then. I just wasn’t ready to acknowledge it.”

His smile was tender, almost reverent, as he brushed a strand of hair from my face. “And now?”

“Now, I know exactly how special you are.” I leaned in to kiss him again, slower this time, savoring the taste of him, how his beard felt soft against my palms as I cupped his face.

“I hate that I have to return to the city next week,” he murmured against my lips.

I pulled back just enough to look into his eyes. “I do too, but knowing that, when you return, I can be in your arms, kiss you, without fear of what our connection might be makes it seem more bearable.”

He grinned, the expression transforming his face. “Does it?”

“No,” I admitted with a laugh that he swallowed with another kiss. “You’re right. It’s different, though, isn’t it?”

“Everything’s different now.” His arms tightened around me as thunder rumbled in the distance. “No more hiding, no more uncertainty—at least not about this.”

The first drops of rain began to fall, cool against my heated skin. Alessandro stood in one fluid motion, keeping me steady in his arms. “We should head inside before we get drenched.”

But I wasn’t ready to let go of this moment, not yet. “Just a little longer,” I whispered, pressing closer to him as the rain began to fall in earnest. Water droplets clung to his eyelashes, and I couldn’t resist kissing them away.

His laugh was low and rich. “You’re impossible,” he said, but there was such affection in his voice that it made my heart ache. When he shifted me slightly in his arms, one hand came up to tangle in my rain-dampened hair as he claimed my mouth again.

The storm broke overhead, but we barely noticed. There on the dock, with the rain falling around us and the thunder rolling across the lake, we were lost in each other. Every kiss felt like a promise, every touch an assurance that whatever mysteries still lay ahead, we would face them together.

Finally, when we were both thoroughly soaked and shivering—though not entirely from the cold—Alessandro broke away. “I need to get you inside,” he said, though he made no move to set me down.

I nodded but stole one more kiss before letting him carry me back toward the camp. As we walked, I rested my head against his shoulder, breathing in the scent of his cologne. The security team was probably having fits about us staying out in the open for so long, but at that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Some things were worth the risk.