Page 157 of Phobia

“It’s good to see you,” I said the moment they stepped away from each other, extending my arm toward him for a shake. But Gabriel wasn’t shaking any hands today, apparently. Within seconds, he had his arms wrapped around Casimir and me, releasing us faster than he had Danika.

“I would say it’s good to see you too, but given the circumstances…” he trailed off. “I don’t think it’s a happy reunion.”

No, it wasn’t happy. Nowhere near close to happy, but we would manage.

I had Danika. We had plans, and Casimir had to be safe for those plans to be fulfilled.

Gabriel looked down at Cas, his eyes misting from the emotion passing through his body. “He’s perfect.” An invisible force squeezed its fingers around my throat, making it hard to swallow the emotions I thought I had a good grip on. “I’m sorry you have to do this.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Danika said, rubbing his arm. “I brought this on myself.”

“No.” Gabriel shook his head. “Judah has an obsession.” He looked at Dani. “And he won’t stop. Trust me, no matter what we tell him, he simply won’t stop. Since his father stepped down, it’s been…” A shuddering breath tore out of him. “It’s been hell. Trust me, you don’t wanna go back there.”

Danika looked at me, her eyes revealing more than words ever could, but Gabriel didn’t need to know what the plan was. He shouldn’t be involved in what came next.

“Gabe,” Danika spoke first, turning him toward her. “I want you to promise me…” she hiccuped. “Promise me he will be taken care of. Promise me he will be happy.”

“Dani—”

“Please,” she cried. “I want him to be the happiest baby who ever existed. He is the most important person in my life, and I want him to be happy. I want him to have the best life possible until it’s time for us to come back.”

My own vision blurred, her words hitting a spot inside of my heart I never even knew existed until I held Casimir for the first time. Until everything I ever was disappeared, creating a completely new person that would do anything for this tiny little human.

“Here.” Danika shoved the backpack we’d arranged with all of Casimir’s things, breaking my heart all over again. “Do not contact us until we contact you. Okay?”

“Okay.” Gabriel simply nodded. He tried talking us out of this. He tried so hard to show us that it would be better for Casimir to be with us, but he didn’t know about the plan. He didn’t know about the things that were about to come in the next couple of months.

He couldn’t understand that the only way for our family to ever be together was to destroy the Blackwoods.

Danika walked toward me, hugging both Cas and I, while her entire body shook.

“Mama loves you, my darling boy,” she murmured, pressing her lips to Cas’s chubby cheek. “I love you so so much.”

God, I couldn’t do this.

“I’m not leaving you because I want to leave you,” she continued, breaking my heart over and over again with every new word. “But because I have to. For now,” she added. “And Dada loves you.”

Was this what heartbreak felt like? The lack of oxygen, the need to simply fall to the ground and weep for days on end, because it felt like my life was ending. My heart was breaking for our family.

Our little unit.

“I love you so much, son.” My voice broke, my lips pressed to his head. “I’ll always love you.”

But we had to do this. As much as I hated it, I knew we had to do it. There was no other way.

Like a band-aid, right?

Danika moved from me just as I started moving toward Gabriel, handing Casimir over. Our little boy grabbed the collar of Gabriel’s shirt, staring at him in wonder before he smiled brightly. That was Casimir’s thing—he loved strangers.

Hell, he loved everyone. In the moment when Gabriel smiled back at him, I knew our son was going to be okay. For now.

But we would go back for him. That was a promise I intended to keep.

“Take care of my son, Gabriel,” I said, taking a step back and then two, until I stood next to Danika who was barely holding herself upright. “We will come back for him.”

“I know.” Gabriel nodded. “And we will be waiting.”

I wrapped my arm around Danika’s middle as Gabriel started walking away from us, his eyes holding a thousand promises I hoped he would keep—the most important one being the well-being of our son.