Page 200 of Inferno

Heat shoots through me. My cheeks betray me and go warm.

“Is there a way I can log into my personal emails?” I ask, wiping my hands. “There’s something I want to download.”

“Yeah. Secure server. Go ahead.” He nods, pushing the laptop back in front of me.

As I log in, my pulse spikes. The second the inbox loads, I go straight for the email I sent myself, backup files. Insurance. Proof that she’s real, safe, loved.

I click on the photo.

There she is. My girl.

Isabella.

Tears race down my cheeks before I can stop them. My thumb hovers over her face on the screen.

“Is that?—?”

Declan sucks in a slow, shaking breath.

I nod.

He moves in behind me, hands gripping my waist, eyes locked on the screen like it holds salvation.

“My little girl.” His voice is gravel. “She’s beautiful. Just like her momma.”

I reach up and touch his jaw, soft and slow.

“Did you ever want kids?” I whisper, flicking to the next picture. Isabella is surrounded by her army of teddies, beaming so big it makes my chest ache.

“I hadn’t thought about it,” he says, voice rough. “In this life, you don’t plan. You just survive.”

I know that truth better than anyone.

“Sometimes, I’d just sit at night and watch her sleep,” I admit, the words catching in my throat. “And I’d wonder where you were. If you’d moved on. If you had your own kids. If you were happy.”

He closes his eyes.

“One of my biggest regrets in life will always be the fact I never came for you.”

“We can live ourwhat if,” I say quietly. “Just... delayed.”

The next photo loads. A selfie of me kissing her cheek, her little face scrunched in a perfect pout. I remember Drago letting me take all of these in her nursery on his phone.

“She pulls the same faces as you,” I say, smiling through the tears.

Declan sniffles and tightens his arms around me.

“She looks happy. Healthy. You’ve done an incredible job, heartbreaker.”

He pulls me into his lap, and I curl into him like it’s the only place I still make sense.

Ping.

The laptop lights up with a new email.

My breath lodges in my throat.

I hesitate. Just one word. That’s all I sent him.

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