Page 100 of Tethered

“I don’t want to leave,” he finally sniffles.

My heart breaks. “Baby, I know. Trust me, I know. But we have lives to get back to; we can’t stay on this ship. TheMidasis your father’s, and he uses it for business purposes. It wouldn’t always be like this if we stayed, anyway.”

“It’s not fair.”

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t want to go to Suryavana. Dad doesn’t even like me. Can’t we just stay on the ship and go back with the crew?”

That hits me like ice water, and I jerk back. Vee hasneversaid anything like this before. A lot of the time, I wonder what he sees in Dominik. I genuinely thought he was excited about the Mars trip. I’ve always tried so hard to foster a healthy relationship between him and his father—this whole time...?

It’s my fault he thinks Dominik’s disinterested; Vee doesn’t know that his father and I have fought for custody. I should have told him.

“Why do you think your dad doesn’t like you?”

Vee shakes his head, then blurts, “He’s never there, and when he is, he treats me like an annoying kid. He says weird stuff about you, and his girlfriend is dumb. He makes Opal babysit me. He just gives me stuff to keep me quiet.”

I stare at the side of his head, wide-eyed and stunned. There was a lot of bitterness behind his words. He’s a kid; he shouldn’t have to be bitter aboutanything.

Has Vee been pretending to enjoy his weeks with Dominik this whole time? I flounder for something to say. Wanting to soothe him without invalidating his feelings, I’m honestly coming up empty—I’m just so surprised. It’s like having a whole house of cards come toppling down around you.Ibuilt the house, always spoke about how sturdy it was, and it turns out I did a shit job of it.

“Baby,” I murmur, pulling him towards me. He lets me, falls against my chest, and then pushes me away. It’s gentle, like he just needs some space, so I step away. Blinking at me through reddened eyes, Vee swipes at his damp cheeks.

“I’m not a baby. Tanisira’s been teaching me to captain the ship. If she won’t, then I could do it. We could just take it and go somewhere Dad can’t find us.”

Every word carves a piece out of me. Vee deserves everything he wants, but we can’t have this. Deep down, I think he knows that, too.

“I believe you could.” I nod. “But if we hijacked this ship, we’d have to stay away forever. Eventually, the crew would miss their family and their friends. And vice versa. Imagine never seeing Nana and Gramps again. Or James? Could you be happy never talking to Ash again? You couldn’t contact her; she’s your best friend and the police would be expecting it.”

His teeth work at his lip as he thinks. In concentration, Vee looks so much like Dominik. Forget everything else: it’s killing me that my boy thinks his father doesn’t even like him. There’s a fire kindling to life in me, an anger that I thought I’d moved on from. I may have disliked Dominik, but I didn’t hate him; I didn’t care enough about him to hate him. Hearing those words from Vee’s mouth might have just changed that.

Abruptly, Vee slumps in the chair. This time, he doesn’t push me away when I embrace him. His little body shakes against me.

“What areyougonna do?” he asks.

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“You and Cap—Tanisira. What are you gonna do when you can’t see her anymore?”

“What are you on about?”

“Like I said, I’m not a baby. I can captain aship, Mum.”

And that makes me laugh, despite myself—slightly hysterical chuckles that come from the depths of my stomach and dislodge his head. He pulls away and blinks up at me.

“You really like Tanisira, huh?” I ask, hoping to distract him. Not because I don’t think he’s old enough for the truth, but because I don’t know the answer myself.

“She’s so much cooler than Dad’s girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, Vee.”

The cheeky little bastard just grins as if he thinks I’m both lying and that I’m bad at it. “Won’t you miss her?”

“Vee—”

He sighs. Sighs! “She makes you happy, Mum. You think I don’t pay attention, but I do. I’m ten; I’m not stupid.”

I look back at him, at a loss for words. The lump in my throat is back.