Page 8 of Kade

“No, Kade, you don’t understand.” Her words were barely above a whisper, but he heard them. “He was a mirror image of you. My eyes. It’s what our son would have looked like.”

“Honey, it’s because we’ve been talking about having another baby…”

“No.” Angel pushed his arms away and stood. “He looked like Matthew. He was even around the same age as our child would have been. If you could have seen him…” She cleared her throat and dashed the tears away. “Everything in me said he was mine, Kade. Walking away was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. This isn’t grief, it’s my body telling me that child is mine, even though I know he isn’t. My son died.”

Kade’s heart broke seeing the anguish on his wife’s face. “Angel, he’s not Matthew.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” she railed. “My brain tells me it’s not him, but my heart says he is. Illogical, but my body is telling me it’s not illogical, that I need to go back and snatch him and never let him go. It makes no sense, but that’s how I feel. I had a panic attack when I left him with that bastard.”

Kade took a deep breath and let it out. How was he going to argue with a mother’s instincts, wrong as they might be?

“I know how insane I sound.” Her shoulders slumped. “If you had seen him, you’d understand. Everything in me says he’s mine, Kade. How do I ignore that?”

“Baby.” He stood and wrapped her in his arms. “I am so sorry you’re hurting, but he’s not ours.”

“I know.” She shook with more sobs, and all he could do was hold her, helpless to do anything to take her pain away.

“Why don’t you lie down and rest for a bit?” He led her over to her side of the bed and helped her with her shoes. Then he tucked a throw around her and sat with her until she cried herself to sleep. This was too much. He had to find a way to help her.

He found Lily sitting at the bar in the kitchen, sipping a cup of coffee, pale and concerned. “How is she?”

“I’ve never seen her this bad.” Granted, he hadn’t been there to see her in the days after Matthew and Peter died, but somehow he thought this was worse than that dark time. “Do you know where she was when she saw the kid?”

“Macy’s, I think. Birthday shopping for you.”

He winced. He’d told her not to bother, that he didn’t want any big fuss over his birthday, but she’d never listened to a word he said.

Lily’s phone buzzed, and she made a face before muting it. “Dodging work?”

“No, dodging your asinine brother. He ordered me to stay put, but he was mean about it.”

“So, you came over here?” When she nodded, he pulled his phone out and called Nik.

He picked up on the first ring, panicked. “I can’t find her, and she’s not answering…”

“Calm down. She’s here.”

“The fuck? Why the hell isn’t she answering her phone?”

“I told you there’d be consequences for how you spoke to her.” He listened then nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll keep her here until you can come get her.” He ignored Lily’s outraged gasp. “See you soon,brat.”

“Why…”

He held up a hand before she could light into him. “There’s a lot going on, Lily. He’s trying to protect you, even if he went about it wrong. When the Kincaid men worry, we can sound angry and gruff, even hostile. It’s because we’re scared. You need to cut him some slack.”

“Protect me from what?” Her blue eyes deepened with worry. Lily reminded him of Snow White with her blue eyes, alabaster skin, and black hair. Even her voice had this musical quality to it. He remembered how Nik had made fun of Snow White for being stupid enough to eat a poison apple from someone who obviously wasn’t trustworthy when he was a kid. Now he was engaged to a Snow White lookalike. Kade chuckled at the comparison.

“What’s so funny?” Lily’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Sorry, I was just thinking of something.” He poured himself a cup of coffee. “You and Angel will both be getting a protective detail until the threat is handled.”

“Threat?”

“A drug cartel I investigated when I worked in Miami.” He turned and leaned against the sink, sipping the coffee. “They could use you to get to me.”

“I don’t understand.”

Kade explained his past with the cartel and the present danger they were all in. He watched it sink in and grew alarmed when her already pale face went completely white.

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