He inhales sharply. “Cormac…that’s not sustainable.”
“One thing at a time,” I mutter. “After the semester, and when things are quiet, I’ll tell her.”
Darragh nods slowly. The savior twin mask is coming down.
“Okay,” he finally says. “I appreciate you being a hero for her. But this isn’t the arrangement I imagined if you were going to be an active father to my son.”
“Myson,” I correct quietly before I can stop myself.
“Fine,” he mutters. “Our son.”
We stare, our fragile truce on thin ice.
“You could have told Brad to wait so I could be there for your wedding,” Darragh scoffs.
I fold my arms. “You didn’t wait for me when you married Ana.”
“Alexei Koslov doesn’t like waiting.” Darragh lowers his glasses, reminding me that he and Lachlan had to talk Ana’s father out of killing me.
Darragh stone-faced lied and told the Bratva pakhan thathegot Ana pregnant. But Koslov already knew the child was mine.
I wasn’t too upset to be locked up in Dunbar that day.
Chapter 35
Scarlett
The SUV winds through the paved lane on the Hamilton grounds until we reach my father’s residence.
“Dr. O’Rourke said to wait and bring you right back to his apartment,” the driver reminds me gently from the front seat when the car stops.
“Okay,” I say, not surprised.
“Do you want me to escort you to the door?” he says, looking over his shoulder. He speaks with one of those accents.
“I’m fine.” I glance down and see my fingers are still curled tight in the fabric of my sweater.
He gets out anyway and opens my door. I catch him glancing at the quad across the road. “You have my number, if you need me.”
I nod and step onto the walkway to Dad’s faculty housing, the one I’ve walked a hundred times without thinking. That’s all I’m doing now. Thinking. Mostly, how different everything feels. Like I’m being watched. Like, I’m not just a student anymore.
I’m a wife. A professor’s wife. But I can’t tell anyone until this semester ends and I’m no longer Cormac’s student.
The old carriage has faded gray siding, navy shutters, and lots of windows, very Northeast. My sneakers crunch against red and gold leaves that are scattered everywhere. My pulse picks up the closer I get to the front door.
I told Cormac I needed to do this alone, but I wish he was with me.
A few lights are on inside the house. The front door is locked, and I pause. It’s because he moved in a fewstudents this semester.
I knock and watch a shadow approach through the etched glass. Everything from yesterday rushes back in, sharp and unavoidable.
My father just stares at me like he doesn’t know me. In a sweater and slacks, sleeves pushed up like he’s been trying to keep busy, he just stares at me, and for a second, I just stand there, too.
With my mom gone, he’s all the family I have. That and a new husband who has dozens of family members I’ll eventually meet.
Then a small smile builds on his mouth, and he unlocks the door.
With it open, I step inside. “Hi, Dad.”