Even with the chaos of the last year, I know I will never love someone as much as I love him. There are too many things left unsaid between us—too many variables that keep us apart.
Yet he remains steady, vulnerable, and mine.
Without a second thought, I step into him. His other hand automatically comes around to wrap me in his embrace, his thumb caressing the small of my back in soothing circles.
We continue to stare at each other for a good while.
My chin resting on his chest. My hand still in his.
For a moment, we lose ourselves in the peace we find only in each other.
I know in the back of my mind our lives will be punctured once again with whatever Ben has found out, so I allow myself this moment to simply look at Noah.
I try to convey what my heart desperately wants to tell him, despite my brain urging me to fight against it. The small smile he gives me tells me he knows. He gets it.
He understands my needs even if they’re completely opposite of his.
“Noah.”
Noah’s head swivels at Ben’s urgent tone, but his gaze holds mine for a fraction of a second before he squeezes me and lets me go to stride across the room to his colleagues.
Needing a breather before hearing bad news, I turn around to check on my son.
Iease my hold on Ria, reluctantly letting her go.
I can tell by the urgency in Ben’s tone that whatever information he dug up can’t be good.
Gabe moves to stand by the wall adjacent to Ben’s desk, grabbing all the new evidence spewing out of our printers. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mina crossing the room to join us.
The printers beep, signaling the end of the printing cycle and when I make to check the papers, Ben freezes, hastily pointing at something on his screen that makes my skin crawl.
My heart drops to my feet. Tearing my gaze away, I look over at Gabe. He looks away from the monitors, his eyes wide as he shakes his head at me, resignation written all over his face.
“Ria.” My voice comes out hoarse and I clear my throat.
My wife stiffens as she covers a now sleeping Adrian with a tiny blanket. Clutching the side of the playpen, her eyes meet mine slowly and what she sees has her trembling.
I tip my head at Gabe, motioning for him to clear the metal desk so we can huddle there.
I nod my head at Mina, pointing to the surveillance wall and she immediately grabs the tablet.
I grab two of our burner phones, tossing one to Ben and the other to Gabe. They know what to do. Without waiting for confirmation, I cross the room to Ria. I gently tug her down to sit on the chair next to Adrian’s playpen. Once again, I kneel in front of her and quietly search her eyes.
“Noah?” She utters my name in a shaky whisper.
“CJ has been spotted in Des Moines, Iowa. In a private airfield.”
I pull Ria’s hands tight against my chest.
“And he’s not alone.”
* * *
Gabechucks the burners into the bin marked ‘used’. For obvious reasons, we don’t use the phones more than once before we discard them. Ben gets up from his desk to grab the tablet from Mina, who is reentering the basement from the clearing outside after informing our backup of the situation. They all huddle and go over all the new evidence we have.
I know I need to be there with them but I have my hands full at the moment.
I’m cradling my wife on my lap. I barely got the words out about CJ before Ria collapsed and started hyperventilating. Thankfully, Adrian stayed asleep throughout all this.