Page 146 of Bound By Blood and Lies

“His name is Finn Robin Longstaff.”

Robyn gasps. “After me?”

Her voice wobbles slightly as she presses a kiss against his tiny forehead.

“After the two strongest women, no, people we know,” Fae says softly.

I smile as I look down at my son.

“Looks like we’ve got another Fi in the group now.”

CHAPTER 40

FAE

Afternoon light spills through the lounge windows whilst Atlas sits quietly in the armchair with Finn tucked carefully against his chest. The tiny blue baby-grow has little clouds stitched across the feet and Finn looks impossibly small against Atlas’ 6ft 2 frame. Every so often Atlas glances down at him with the same calm focus he usually reserves for security systems and surveillance footage.

It’s strangely sweet.

Honestly, the last two weeks have felt like living inside a fever dream.

One minute I was laughing at Roman in a delivery room and the next I was bringing an actual tiny human home with us. A tiny human who somehow eats every two hours, cries like he pays rent and already has every person in our lives wrapped around his little finger.

Including me.

Especially me.

I sink further into the sofa with a quiet groan as my body finally starts feeling human again. Nobody tells you how brutal recovery is after birth. Everybody talks about the baby and the contractions and the glowing motherhood bullshit, but nobodywarns you that afterwards it feels like your body has been set on fire. For the first week I genuinely thought I might never walk normally again.

Thankfully Roman decided postpartum recovery was now a group project. The man has barely let me lift a finger since Finn arrived. He practically forces me back into bed every time I stand and became personally offended when I tried to do a night feed alone three days ago.

“You carried him for nine months,”he’d snapped whilst taking Finn from my arms. “The least I can do is lose some fucking sleep.”

The memory makes me smile into the blanket curled around my legs. I glance back toward Atlas as Finn lets out a tiny sleepy noise against his chest.

“You know,” I murmur, “I never thought I’d see you voluntarily wearing a tracksuit.”

Atlas looks down at his black Nike joggers and matching dark hoodie like he’s genuinely confused by the question.

“I have to now, for Finn.”

I frown. “How does that make any sense?”

“Comfortable clothing improves reaction speed in emergencies,” he shrugs as best as he can.

“He’s two weeks old, Atlas. What emergencies could he possibly have?”

Atlas looks genuinely confused by the question. “Literally everything to do with him is an emergency.”

A laugh bursts from me just as the front door opens and Roman’s voice immediately carries through the house.

“No, I don’t care what Parson said,” he snaps down the phone whilst heavy footsteps move toward the lounge. “Push the meeting until Monday because I’m not?—”

He appears in the doorway and stops dead. His eyes land on me first automatically before softening and his dimples pop out when he smiles. Then they flick toward Atlas.

Toward Finn.

And the softness in them immediately disappears.