I pause. Telling them this means Cara’s disappearance the night of Callahan’s death is no longer a secret. I glance briefly at Owen and rise, unable to contain the bubbling anger that rises when I think of thosebastards.
“The night Callahan died, Cara wasn’t at the club. Blair had tried to contact me to get me to meet her but I was with you two. Cara intercepted and went instead. She confronted Blair and she… eventually admitted that the reason she was trying to talk to me…the reason she had fled to Italy after she cheated was that she had a child. My child.”
Silence falls as I pace around the chair, every limb itching to exert more aggression than a walk.
“Yourchild?” Dante is on his feet immediately and I can hear the question in his voice. Blair had cheated with him, after all.
“My son,” I confirm and it’s all the confirmation Dante needs to soothe the worry that he had potentially fathered a child with Blair.
“If they tracked her down,” Sienna says, piecing the puzzle together in her mind. “Threatening her son would definitely get her to do anything they wanted. Children are a weak spot for parents.” There’s a note of sympathy in her tone and it pulls at my heart.
Had Blair been under threat all this time?
“I repeatedly turned her away at first,” I admit, “but I did have her over to the house once, a few weeks ago, and she showed me pictures. His name is Samuel. He’s… cute.”
“Cute?” Dante mimics and I roll my eyes.
“Yes.”
“Adorable,” he smirks faintly.
“You invited her to the house?” Sienna asks.
I nod.
Sienna finishes her read-through and shoves all the papers back into the folder, then she clasps her hands together on top.
“Have you met him?” she asks her eyes on me.
“No. Blair is being… difficult. She said he was shy. But… if the Russians have threatened him, maybe she’s too scared?” I finally stop my pacing, dropping back into my chair as the chills along my skin flare up tenfold.
“Was she ever alone in the house?”
There’s a hidden question in Sienna’s tone, one I catch immediately and when I glance up at her, the question bleeds into her eyes.
“I… suppose she was, yes,” I admit. Cara had come to greet me in the hall, leaving Blair alone.
“I never accuse without proof,” Sienna begins, breathing in so deeply that her shoulders visibly rise, as if a satisfying conclusion has just clicked in her mind. “But I’ve been unable to determine how someone got close enough to poison you. Maybe Blair did it?”
There’s a surprising urge to defend her, one that takes me by surprise and closes my throat to any words. Iunderstandwhy she would do such a thing if Samuel’s life was being threatened. Sienna’s right, she is the only culprit so far that has been close enough.
“I don’t know, but I’ll ask her,” I state, “I’ll arrange for us to meet and get all this out into the open.”
“Killian,” Sienna begins and she shoots a glance at Dante that I nearly miss. “You need to convince Blair to meet with you immediately and bringthe baby with her, especially if you plan on confronting her. We’ll send as many men with you as you desire but it is urgent that we get your son into our care and our safety as soon as possible.”
Something about her tone makes my heart skip a beat but I can’t exactly place my finger on what it is. It’s as if there’s a part of the conversation I missed, a silent part between her and Dante in that look.
“I will,” I agree, clasping my hands together until my knuckles bleed white.
“And be careful,” Dante adds as he retakes his seat. “We may be at peace with the Russians but Blair must be held accountable for the role she played.”
Oh, she will be.
And yet despite the swell of sympathy in my heart for Blair and my son, there’s a different spike of anger. This one is sharper, hotter than the rest that sends heat pulsing through my gut the moment my thoughts linger on Blair being the one who poisoned me.
She was in myhome. Alone, with mywife.
I can’t believe I brazenly let her near the love of my life. Was it planning or sheer fucking luck that Cara avoided being exposed?