Page 32 of Kade

“What do you mean youknow?” Angel did sit up this time, ignoring the slight dizziness.

“You need to stay calm and lie down.” He tried to get her to do just that, but she was having none of it. He was going to explain himself.

“No, what I need for you to do is tell me what you meant. Are you really saying youknewour son was alive andyou didn’t tell me?”

“Sweetheart…”

“Don’t sweetheart me, Kincaid. Tell me the truth. We’ve had enough lies in this marriage to last three lifetimes. Don’t add our son to that list.”

Kade took a deep breath. Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck. He should have told her last night. He knew he should have. He’d been too worried about her.

“I don’t know for certain.” He scooted the chair closer to the bed. “I sent Dylan to look into it, hoping if we could show you who his parents were, it would help you. Instead of what he thought he’d find, he found Juan Ramirez, a hitman forLos Muertos.”

Angel sucked in a breath and interrupted him. “That’s what Emilio told me. Matthew is being raised to become a murderer for the cartel.”

Kade searched his memory again, but for the life of him, he couldn’t place anyone named Emilio. Not that he hadn’t met the man, he just didn’t remember him. It irked him that Angel did. Not only his gorgeous face, but his name. He must have made quite an impression on his wife.

“Dylan knows the guy who runs the concierge desk. He let him in the vacated room before housekeeping got to it. Dylan was able to collect some DNA samples. We sent it off to the lab last night with a few strands of my hair and a cheek swab. We should know soon if the boy is ours.”

“Heisours.” All the anger and fear she’d barely been holding at bay poured out. “The bastards have our son, have had our son from the day he was born. We have to go get him.”

“We’ll get him. I’ve already got the boys working on it. Dylan flew down last night, and Max should already be in the air. Viktor swears there’s not a person on earth who can hide from Max. Says he’s the best tracker he’s ever met.”

“No, we have to go. Tonight.”

Kade saw the glint of steel flash like wildfire through her eyes and knew she meant what she said.

“Angel, you are in the hospital suffering from a serious concussion on top of shock. You aren’t leaving until the doctor clears you.”

“I can’t just sit here while they have my baby.” A single tear leaked out of the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek.

Kade reached up and wiped it away. “Hush,moye serdste. We will get our son back, I swear it, but we can’t right this minute. You need to stay put, not just for you, but for our new little nugget. We can’t risk him.”

He saw the fight drain out of her at the mention of the baby. He’d been half afraid she’d ignore the danger to their unborn baby and rush headfirst into danger for the son who was flesh and blood, but he should have known better. Angel might be a hothead, but she’d never risk her child.

“I will wait until the doctor clears me, and then we are getting on the first flight out. That’s all the time I’m willing to give you.”

It was better than nothing, he supposed. He couldn’t fault her. All he wanted to do himself was jump a plane and find his boy, but that wasn’t going to happen tonight. He might as well take his own advice and try to calm down. Conner would be here soon, and they could devise a plan. He just had to get through the next few hours.

“Nik got you some food, but he might have eaten most of it.” Kade looked over to where the bag sat on the little hospital rolling cart thing the nurses put food trays on. He had no clue what it was actually called. “Do you think you can eat?”

She nodded, rubbing her stomach absently. He remembered when she used to do that with Matthew. He stood and collected the food. They’d added plastic utensils. His girl would eat what was left of Nik’s food if her stomach cooperated.

“You’re not nauseated, are you?” He set the bag down beside her. “If you are and you eat, I’m not sure we can make it to the bathroom.”

“I’m a little dizzy, but my stomach is behaving. His name’s Mateo. I don’t know if we should change it or not when we get him back.”

Mateo? It sounded close to Matthew. “I don’t know, honey. We’ll have to consult a child psychologist. God only knows what he’s been through.” And that was putting it mildly. If Juan Ramirez raised him, the kid had to have seen countless murders, with the possibility of torture. Hell, the psycho may have even had Matthew participate in them. What kind of damage had been done, and could it be corrected?

“I’m afraid, Kade.” Angel opened her large container of lasagna. “What if he’s so broken we can’t fix him? You didn’t see the look on his face. It was so empty. No empathy. What if they turned our baby into a monster?”

“He’s six years old, Angel. Kids are resilient. We will give him all the love and support he needs. He’s going to be okay. I swear it.”

If only he believed it himself. But he was going to do everything in his power to show Matthew how much he was loved and that all the bad things were in the past.

“You’re right. I’m borrowing trouble. Even if he is a little monster, he’s ours, and we will fix him.”

Kade’s smile was a little forced, and he hoped his wife couldn’t tell. He sat with her while she ate and told him everything she remembered about Matthew from yesterday. She drifted off to sleep talking about their son, her hand still pressed to her stomach.

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