Page 12

Chapter 12

Constantine

Once we were at the security office in Chelsea, Izzy wasted no time cornering me in my office upstairs while Hudson babysat Colin.

“You have a son?” she whisper-cried, eyes wide as she closed the door to my office.

I went over to my desk, planted my palms on it, and hung my head.

“Sonnn.” Shock stretched out the word.

At the feel of her hand on my back, I twisted my head to glance at her coming up alongside me.

“It’s a long story, but he’s the kid who stole my wallet on Wednesday. I didn’t know about him.”

“Wait, his mom never told you?”

My shoulders collapsed at the accusation in her words. The last thing I wanted was her to be mad at Juliette.

Pushing away from my desk and turning toward her, I gave her the highlights reel, failing to clue her in on what a lasting impact Colin’s mother had made on my life since we met.

At the end of my recap, Izzy covered her mouth, tears in her eyes. “Are you okay? I’m just . . . I’m so sorry.” She threw her arms over my shoulders and buried her face against my neck.

I held her, and something inside me broke. Wide fucking open.

“When I was tortured that time . . . I asked him to kill me.” I’d never spoken those words out loud, not out of agony, but out of shame. Not a soul knew, not even Hudson. “What happened to me then,” I went on, “pales in comparison to how I’m feeling now.”

Her chest shuddered against mine as she kept hold of me.

I pulled away from her but couldn’t meet her eyes. “It hurts. It hurts so fucking much,” was all I could get out before dropping to my knees, surrendering the way I had after that man broke me years ago and had me wishing for death.

“Oh, Constantine.” She fell with me, wrapping me up in her arms again.

“And when I saw a gun pointed at him tonight, I just . . .”

“I got you, it’s okay.” She cried the tears for me that I refused to let go. “I’m here for you.”

I kept quiet, trying like hell to pull it together. The reality of what happened at the warehouse had finally caught up with me. My son was mixed up with a gang, and he nearly died at the hands of the mafia.

“I’m a father.” Shock wrapped my words up, barely sending them from my mouth. “This has to be my punishment for everything I’ve done. They were kept away from me as a form of retribution.”

“What? No. Absolutely not.”

I sat back on my heels, and she scooched forward, erasing the distance I’d placed, taking hold of my face between her palms.

I wasn’t used to being weak or vulnerable, and now, two days in a row, I found myself on the floor in that exact way.

“You know the things I’ve done in my life,” I reminded her.

“You never hurt anyone innocent. That’s different.”

“Bianca would say judgment wasn’t mine to take.” Those would be her exact words. She’d hate what my brothers and I did to get justice for her.

“Maybe,” she breathed out. “She’d also forgive you.” She leaned in and rested her forehead against mine. “But you are not being punished. I refuse to believe that. And don’t you dare argue with me, you know how stubborn I am.”

I disagreed, but I didn’t have the energy to verbalize it.

“The wallet. Juliette drawn to Bianca’s church yesterday.” I gave her the brief details about that, then went on, “The men we were hunting tonight being connected to Colin, so we’d be there . . .” I let her interpret and make sense of my fragments, curious if she’d draw the same conclusions I had.

Fate. The universe. God? Bianca even. I wasn’t sure how, what, or why it happened this way, but it had. And my son was alive and in my life because of it.

“I don’t know why he wasn’t meant to be in your life before, but God clearly brought your son back to you. He made sure you were exactly where you needed to be to save him. Something told you to change the mission plans tonight so we’d be there for Colin.”

Izzy sat back, releasing her hold of my face, searching my gaze as she put me through the emotional wringer.

She was being there for me the way I’d done my best to be there for her, but I wasn’t used to relying on anyone for help. This was as foreign as it was confusing.

“And you know Bianca’s watching out for us, too. She wants you to have a happily-ever-after.”

I shook my head. “This doesn’t mean his mother and I . . .” I didn’t want to finish that thought. I didn’t want to speak it into existence.

Just because she was my son’s mother, just because I was still attracted to her, just because I wanted to kiss her, just because I drank that bourbon all these years, and Juliette was the one to?—

“Constantine, look at me.”

Her simple words effectively cut off the onslaught of just becauses trying to be a goalie, playing defense for my heart not to get my hopes up about a future with Juliette.

“Everything’s going to be okay. You hear me? I promise it will be. And Colin’s going to love you.”

Love me? I’d settle for not hating me. Remembering he was downstairs, I shoved the pain and confusing thoughts to the back corner of my mind. I stood, helping Izzy up, too.

“He looks just like you.” She gave me a lopsided smile, blinking back more tears. “Hudson said he has the same attitude, too.”

I frowned, even though part of me wanted to smile at the observations. “I have no clue how to handle a replica of myself.”

“Well, now you know how we feel dealing with you,” she said with a cry-laugh, managing to lighten the mood. “But, um, what was he doing with Jamie upstairs anyway?”

Back to worrying again, thanks . Maybe being a parent meant that never went away, even with the strongest of minds like I’d thought I had. “He’s dating Jamie’s sister. Maybe working for him, too?”

“Ohh.”

“I’ll figure it all out,” I said with as much resolve as possible. Fake it until I make it, I supposed. “The Irish may not heed my warnings to stay away from Colin the way the mafia will.”

“Can’t believe Daniel thought he could pull a fast one on you and Hudson. Sneaky bastard, though.”

Tell me about it. I unclipped the bodycam I’d been discreetly wearing and handed it to her. “I can’t rewatch what happened in that room. Will you? See if there’s anything useful on there. And check Daniel’s bodycam footage before it went offline, too.”

“Yeah, of course. We’ll track down where Daniel and Jamie are now, don’t worry. We’ll find them. And figure out who they both report to,” she reassured me.

I’d nearly forgotten we’d lost sight of them, our focus had shifted the moment the mission became about saving my son.

“I’ll also figure out what the hell the Irish were doing with the mafia.” She patted my shoulder twice. “Just go be with your family, will ya? We’ll deal with this later.”

Go be with my family?

I blinked. Tried to process. Still couldn’t make sense of it all.

“Yeah, okay. And, uh, you can tell Hudson everything I shared with you, but I want to be the one to tell Alessandro and Enzo. Mom and Dad.” I angled my head toward the door. “We shouldn’t leave Colin with Hudson too long. He might lift his wallet.”

“I didn’t think just anyone would be able to get the drop on you like that. Now it makes sense how he stole your wallet in the first place. He’s your blood.”

I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse. I waited for her to leave, then stripped and wiped away any evidence of blood before changing.

I packed my laptop in my leather messenger bag since I’d need it for what I had planned to do next. Then I went downstairs and found Colin. He was in the kitchen under Hudson’s watchful eye, scarfing down pizza.

I swapped a look with Hudson, setting my bag on the counter.

“Bella’s leftovers. She won’t mind,” Hudson said with a shrug.

“You didn’t take his wallet while I was upstairs, did you?” The fact that I didn’t trust Colin not to pickpocket from Hudson had me wanting to shoot tequila. I had to remind myself I needed to be a good influence around the kid, and that’d probably set a bad example of how a man should handle his problems.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that.”

Me, too. “Thanks for keeping an eye on him.” I tossed my thumb in the general direction of the hallway, letting Hudson know I had things covered. “I’m sure Izzy’s eager to talk to you.”

A worried expression crossed his face, then he hesitantly tossed the keys to my Maserati and took off.

“Your eyes are red,” Colin said while standing, using his jeans to clean his hands. “You been crying or something?”

“I don’t cry,” I grunted, mildly offended. “Does your mom have a car?”

“No. She sold it when we moved here.”

“You know what floor she works on? What entrance does she use at work?”

Why was he looking at me as if I’d spoken in a foreign language?

“Well?”

“Maybe.” He closed one eye. “Whyyyy?”

No point in keeping the truth from him now. He saw what I could do when threatened, and he was about to learn another side of me. “Because you’ve endangered your mother, which leaves me two choices—go into the hospital and escort her out now,” I began while pointing to my messenger bag, “or hack the security cameras and watch her while we sit parked outside the entrance to ensure no one bothers her while she’s at work.”

His tan skin, which he more than likely inherited from me, lost some of its color. “No, um, don’t go in there. But can you really hack the cameras to keep watch over her?” At my nod, his eyes tightened with curiosity. “Why do you care so much about us?”

I picked up the bag, slinging the strap over my shoulder. “No more questions for now, and in exchange, I’ll leave you alone for the next few hours.”

He rolled his eyes, but at least he agreed. “Deal.”