Page 26 of The Light Within

Julien gave her a vicious shake of his head. “Stopbeing naïve, Darce.”

It was clear Julien was reaching his limit. “Didn’t you say in the car you had two things to share, Julien?” Cinn asked.

For some reason, Cinn’s attempt at saving Julien only caused deeper crevices across his forehead.

“Oui. On to other matters.” He slid another bunch of papers out of his shoulder bag. Then Julien’s gaze seared into Cinn, whose skin immediately prickled. Behind him, Elliot wore a slightly guilty look, glancing down at the floor.Odd. “Or should I say, other files.”

An unpleasant rush of heat surged through Cinn. He removed his beanie, fanning his face with it.

Julien placed the documents on the coffee table.

Cinn made no attempt to stop his jaw from dropping as he openly gaped at Julien. “What… what’s that?” he heard himself say distantly, though he knew full well what Julien was holding—his own mug shot was glaring at him from across the room. He sucked in a deep breath, forcing his voice steady. “Why do you have that?”

Darcy leaned over the papers, wearing a confused frown.

Though she certainly wasn’t as confused as Cinn was.

That morning they’d spent a lazy hour together—Cinn cooking spectacular mushroom omelettes for breakfast, Julien whining about his instant coffee—and all the while Julien had some sort of top secret file onhimwaiting in his pocket? Why the fuck had he waited until now? Because of the misguided notion that Cinn wouldn’t explode at him in front of the others?

If so, he was in for a shock.

Cinn glared at Julien. “How did you say you got these files again?”

Come to think of it, Julien hadn’t actually answered Darcy’s same question earlier.

Before Julien could reply—taking his sweet time deciding what to say, sipping from a mug Cinn wasn’t convinced still had tea in it—Cinn added, “Andwhydo you have it?”

Julien set his cup down. His gaze turned tender, contemplative.

“After you mentioned your mother, I thought it might be a good place to start. Just to see what Eleanor had, if anything. And it does have information!” He fanned out the papers across the table. “A bit. There’s an address, and a work address—she’s employed at a hospital.” The words tumbled out of Julien as if the faster he got them out, the sooner Cinn would move past his annoyance. “Good to know,oui?”

For fuck’s sake.

Cinn tilted his head back as every drop of energy drained out of him like water through a sieve. How could he explain to Julien that he had no desire to reconnect with his mother? Especially as he was sure Julien would do anything to spend one more day with his. But it was better to hold on to the few positive memories he had of his mum without risking the pain of opening old wounds that he’d just finished stitching up.

“Look Julien, I’m sure you had… good intentions or whatever, but I think you misunderstood me the other day.”

“But that’s not all.”

Cinn pressed two fingers to his temple. “Julien.”

“There’s information about—”

“I don’t want to know!”

“—your father.”

six

Cinn

Silence plummeted in a suffocating wave around Cinn, sucking all the oxygen out of the air.

Cinn stared at Julien. His face was about to burst into laughter, any second now. Because Julien was surely joking, though this was hardly funny.

But Julien gave away nothing more, his expression remaining one of controlled neutrality as he patiently waited for Cinn to react.

This wasn’t a joke.

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