Page 73 of Captive Promise

Then she holds up a block like an offering.

That’s all it takes.

Ten minutes later I am sitting cross-legged on the mat with a picture book in my lap, reading the same four pages over and over because Seraphina keeps grabbing the corner and flipping back to her favorite one, a duck in rain boots, shrieking with laughter every single time.

I can’t help but smile at her baby giggle and I hug her tightly, so so relieved she’s here.

“Again,” she demands, when I finish it for the fifth time. “Read again.”

“Again,” I agree, and start over. I can’t deny this child anything.

Eventually she declares herself, with great authority, “Done with book!” and hauls me by two fingers toward a plastic tea set laid out on a corner of the mat.

She thrusts a tiny cup into my hand and looks at me expectantly.

I can’t help but smile as I remember the Instagram photo Emma had posted of Seraphina and Leo together. Tea party must be a favorite game.

“Tea?” I ask.

She grunts and pushes my hands toward my mouth. “You dwink!” she orders, staring me down.

Ah, I see what she wants me to do but goddamn is she bossy. I can’t stop my smile. What a tiny overlord. “I drink,” I agree and tip the cup back, pretending to savor the imaginary liquid. “So yummy!”

Seraphina flashes me a wide, beaming smile and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

We have a tea party and by a tea party, I mean, she demands I pour her infinite glasses of pretend tea then demands I drink all those cups of tea.

If this were a real tea party, I probably would have peed my pants by now from all the liquid I’ve consumed.

This goes on for a while, and somewhere in the middle of pouring imaginary tea for the thirty millionth time I realize I am…happy.

The last time I felt this way was before Nikolai called me and turned my world upside down. God, that feels like a lifetime ago.

I’m so engrossed in making sure Seraphina stays happy, I don’t hear him come in.

I only know because Seraphina’s whole face changes. She spots something over my shoulder, drops her teacup, and throws both arms straight up in the air like a tiny queen greeting a subject.

“Nico!” she shouts, already scrambling to her feet and hurtling across the mats toward the doorway, arms still up, demanding to be picked up before she’s even gotten there.

I mouth the name back at no one, confused. Nico? How does she even know that name? How does she know him? What is going on?

The woman leans in close to me while Seraphina makes her run for it, clearly seeing the confusion on my face. “He came by most mornings,” she says quietly just for me. “He would play with her and give her attention while also making sure she had everything she needed.” She glances at me sideways. “I take it you didn’t know that?”

I stare at her. Nobody told me that.

He—he would visit her. He checked in on a child he swore meant nothing to him beyond what she could get him.

Not only that, but he took the time to play with her too.

And it clearly made an impression because Seraphina looks delighted to see him. I…I don’t know what to do with that information.

My body grows warm, as if all those imaginary cups of tea were suddenly real.

I turn toward the door, still stunned, and find him. He’s in the doorway, one shoulder against the frame.

The dark circles under his eyes are even more pronounced and his jaw is tight. His mouth is doing nothing I’ve seen before.

There’s no-almost smile, no smirk, nothing I’ve come to expect from him. Instead, his full lips are pressed in a flat line and they’re a little pale.