44. Tessa

44

Tessa

" Y ou're hurting me," Harry protests as he tries to wriggle out of my arms, but I refuse to let him go. I thought I'd lost him. My baby boy. He's my everything. He and Chloe. My childhood died the day my father sent me away to live with strangers, so I'm determined to make sure theirs is full of love and light. I never want my children to feel the loneliness and rejection I did.

"He's OK. It will be OK, sweetness. You can let him go now." Cin squeezes my arm and persuades me to let Harry escape. He runs off into the living room with Buttons in hot pursuit. The two of them dive onto the sofa and in seconds, the room is full of Harry's giggles as Buttons licks away the last of his tears.

Chloe is quiet. Cin has hold of her and she gazes up at him with adoration in her eyes. It's another reminder of how enmeshed these men have become in our lives. I'm not sure how the kids will cope once we leave, but what choice do I have?

I can't stay here forever.

"What happened, Cin?" I keep my voice low, but Harry's not listening.

"A guy was trying to pull him into a truck. Harry called him Daddy, so I assume it was your ex, Enzo." From the murderous expression on Cin's face, I'm surprised Enzo is still in one piece. "Harry didn't want to leave. He bit Enzo on the wrist as I got there and Enzo let him go. Thank fuck he did, or I might not have been able to get to him in time."

My brave boy.

"Then what happened?"

"The cowardly fuck saw me, dived into his truck, and high-tailed it away."

I'm aghast that Enzo came out here and tried to take Harry. To what end? Was he hoping that kidnapping our son would lure me out? If he had taken Harry, then it probably would have worked.

He knows I would have given myself up to save Harry. Enzo might be Harry's father, but I don't trust him to take care of our son. He has no fatherly instincts at all.

A few more tears leak from my eyes, but I brush them away with my sleeve. The time for tears is over. I'm more angry than upset now. Fucking angry. How dare Enzo try and take Harry away from me! After all the shit he's pulled, he doesn't deserve to have a child.

The sound of Madden's truck pulling up outside the house triggers a volley of barks from Buttons. She dives off Harry and skids across the hardwood floors, trying to get to the door first.

"Mommy?" The fear in Harry's voice threatens to derail me once again. "Is Daddy back to take me away?"

"No, baby. Daddy won't be back again. You're safe here. It's Madden's truck."

"Can I have a cookie?"

"Yes, baby. You can have two." He whoops with joy and gallops into the kitchen with Buttons hot on his heels. The damned dog has already learned the word 'cookie'. She appears the minute anyone mentions cookies, drool dripping all over the floor in anticipation of an illicit snack.

"One for me and one for you, Buttons," Harry coos. Cin smirks before turning his attention to Madden.

"Something happened while you were out."

Madden drops the grocery bag on the floor and looks up. "What happened? Did that fucking dog chew another hole in my couch?"

"No, your precious couch is safe. E-N-Z-O showed up and tried to take..." Cin glances toward the kitchen, where Harry is trying to teach the pup to sit and beg. It's not working. The minute Harry lowers his hand, Buttons snatches a cookie and gobbles it down so fast she probably doesn't even taste the damned thing.

"Naughty dog!" he chastises. Buttons wags her tail and gives him a big doggy smile.

Woof!

Madden isn't watching the dog. He's too busy raging about Harry's attempted kidnapping.

"How the fuck did he know where we were?" he growls, pulling Cin aside so Harry can't hear us. "The only person who knows about this place is Kade."

"You destroyed your SIM, right?"

"Yes, Kade told me to the night we drove here."

"And you've not spoken to him since then?"

"No, I..." My voice trails off when I remember the phone call I made. It wasn't a long call. A few minutes at most. And I used Kade's burner phone.

Enzo isn't technologically minded. There's no way he could have traced that call.

"Tessa, is there something you need to tell me?" Madden's voice is firm. When I look up, they're both watching me without judgment. The only person judging me is me.

God. I can't believe I messed up so badly. Kade warned me not to call Enzo, and I didn't listen. This is my fault. If Enzo had taken Harry, it would have been because of me.

"I called him on Kade's phone," I admit. "I needed to know why he did it."

Madden swears under his breath. "Fuck. Someone must have traced the phone's signal to the nearest cell tower. There are very few properties in this area, so it was only a matter of time before he got lucky and found us."

Cin puts Chloe down and she crawls off into the living room in search of Buttons. My baby girl loves the puppy almost as much as Harry does.

"Sweetness, what's done is done. Even if you hadn't called Enzo, it's possible he still would have found us. We still don't know how he worked out who your father is, or why he's tangled up with the Russians."

Since I've come clean about talking to Enzo, they may as well hear what I know.

"Enzo told me he'd run up gambling debts. He said he didn't know who my father was until Kirov told him and said if he handed me over, Mashkov would clear his debts."

"Charming." Cin's voice drips with sarcasm, his usual lighthearted smirk replaced by an angry scowl.

"I better go call Kade and let him know what's happened," Madden says.

Cin nods. "I'll put the groceries away and then tighten up our security. I doubt he'll come back, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared."

Madden disappears, leaving me with Cin, who pulls me into his arms and holds me tight.

"We got you, sweetness. You're safe." I force myself to relax. He's right. Even if Enzo comes back - and he'd be an idiot if he tried - there's no way he'll get past these guys.

I won't be letting the kids out of my sight, though. If Harry wants to play outside with Buttons, one of us will be with him at all times. Until the Russians decide I'm no longer a useful target, nowhere beyond these four walls is safe.