Page 27 of Salvation

“I care,” he said quietly. “Believe it or not, Rachel, it brings me no joy having people be cruel to you.”

“I don’t believe it,” I scoffed.

“That’s your choice. But I have never allowed anyone to disrespect you. That includes Greg. I have always done my best to defend you if you couldn’t defend yourself. You paint me as a monster, and in a lot of ways, I am. But not for this. I’d rather the next six months went by with as few hiccups as possible. This was one way to ensure that happened.”

I didn’t really have anything to say in response. I could be bratty and press my point about not believing him. I could bepetty and bring up all times he hadn’t defended me—like with his mother. But that was causing arguments for the sake of arguing. He was right. I was able to defend myself in those instances, and I didn’t need him rescuing me.

Looks like you’ve done some growing up over the last year or so, Rachel!

I guess I had.

“Come on,” he said when I didn’t reply. “I’ll show you the room I’ve had done up for Axel.”

I paused once more and frowned at him. “You already have a room done up for him? How long have you known about us, Dante?”

“A while,” he responded after a beat. “I know a lot of things about your life in Scotland.”

Oh, yeah. He definitely knows about my boss.

“I’ll see the bedroom soon. Axel is probably hungry, and whatever is up there can wait. Axel has already seen it, I’m assuming?”

“He slept there some of last night, yeah,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Great.” I resisted the urge to purse my lips and roll my eyes. I hope Axel gave him hell all fucking night. “So let’s get him some breakfast. What do you say, Axel?” I said, turning to him and gently tickling his stomach. “Do you want some yummy breakfast?”

“Peas,” he grinned back—his version of “please”.

“Shall I get Bee?” I asked Dante.

“Bee?” He said, a look of confusion on his face.

“Yes… Bee? Your daughter… Black hair, blue eyes, about yay high,” I gestured to just above my hip.

“She’s actually yay high.” he gently held my wrist and lifted my hand to my waist, his fingers brushing against meand lingering for a moment. My eyes locked with his, and I swallowed heavily, seeing him mimic my actions.

He broke the spell first, clearing his throat before telling me, “Bee is at school.” He started walking towards the kitchen.

“School?” I spluttered, utterly stunned. “Since when did she go to school?”

“A lot has changed around here, Rachel.”

He placed Axel in a highchair, strapping him in before giving him a plastic plate and spoon to bang about as he began preparing his breakfast.

I looked at all the toddler equipment in the room—the plastic cutlery, the plastic cups, the high chair, a mini electric motorbike in the corner, and my lips tightened. I decided to keep my mouth shut for the time being, but I would definitely confront Dante about this in the near future. He must have been spying on me for weeks before striking.

“I thought your mother homeschooled her.”

“Yeah… that wasn’t working out. Bee has a nanny now. Heather. She takes her to school. And she’ll pick her up as well.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in nannies? The night you kidnapped me, you told me that children should be raised by family. It was the whole point in taking me in the first place, so that Bee didn’t need to be raised by strangers—you told me I would be her new mother.”

“Things have changed,” he muttered.

“But why?” I persisted, sitting down at the small table.

“Homeschooling wasn’t working out. Kitty was no longer capable of taking care of her. And her therapist—”

“Whose therapist?” I interrupted, my head spinning with all the new information.

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