Chapter 116
Claire’s POV
“Miss Warrior!” Leo shouted as he saw Nova and I coming down the hallway. He immediately dropped whatever it was that he was doing to rush towards us. “Nova! You are back!”
Nova met him halfway and they tightly hugged. After breaking the hug, Leo smiled at us both. “Where have you been? What have you been doing?”
“Mommy had to go to a party,” Nova said before I could reply at all. The slip had been innocent. I hadn’t told Nova that she couldn’t tell people about the banquet. Maybe I should have, but I didn’t want to teach my six–year–old to keep secrets like I had to.
Leo looked up at me. “Did you go to the King’s party? Like Daddy?”
“It was the King’s party!” Nova confirmed.
I swallowed thickly.
“Did you see Daddy there?” Leo asked
“He didn’t see me,” I said at once, lying before I even really thought about it, my defensive instincts kicking in.
“Oh…” Leo said, deflating, disappointed. In a flash, however, he rallied, and started asking me questions. “Daddy said that the food there was really good.”
“I didn’t get to try the food,” I said. “But it looked delicious.”
Leo pressed his lips hard together like he was thinking hard. “Daddy said he danced with someone.”
I froze, trepidation pumping through my veins.
“Did
you see her?” Leo asked.
“Uh…”
“Do you know her?”
“I…”
“Do you think she could be my future Mommy?”
I blinked, shock making me entirely speechless. I remembered Leo talking to his father in the car about possibly finding him a future mother. At the time, Leo had been angry with me. He wasn’t angry now, but still seemed to hold onto the same wish.
It cut deeply, though I knew it shouldn’t. Leo had no idea who I was, and I had no intention of revealing it. Without that knowledge, why would he look to me to be his mother? And why would I expect him to see me as such?
Still, it wounded something deep down inside of me. I should be the one to have the mother–son relationship with Leo, but I had been denied that right since his birth. And now, he was pushing his own mother away without realizing it, and I had no way of getting him to feel otherwise. Not without risking everything.
If I told him, and Gideon found out, I could lose everything. I could lose the right to see Leo, and Gideon could take Nova. For now, I had to be quiet, and I had to be strong. Surviving this was the only way I could maintain a relationship with Leo, even if it was only bodyguard and client.
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Chapter 116.
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But then, as sense returned to me. I realized the person he was asking about, the woman who danced with his father, was
- me.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t know what she means to him.”
Leo nodded, seemingly accepting that answer well enough.
“Why don’t you two go play?” I asked them. “I will keep watch”
“Okay?” Nova said, and grabbing Leo by the wrist, tugged him further up the hallway. I set our suitcases aside and followed the, always keeping them in my sights.
Gideon’s POV
From my office window, I could see the kids playing in the backyard, while Raven watched nearby.
Raven’s sudden return had taken me by surprise. I had thought after my discovery of Claire, that Raven would stay hidden for a while until the worst of my suspicions might blow over. Instead, she returned nearly right away.
What did it mean?
I pushed a hand through my hair, my frustration rising.
Claire was back. She could be Raven. But Raven wasn’t answering any of my questions. I was utterly lost on how to proceed. I needed answers, but didn’t know where to find them.
Raven was going to tell me, and Ivan wasn’t either. I had asked Xavier to send some of our people to investigate, but with how tight and secret Ivan’s pack was, I doubted they would find anything definitive. No one would talk.
Would I ever learn the truth?
As I watched the children play, stray thoughts began to form in my mind. The pair had some similarities. Similar heights, and laughs. The features of their face in places were vaguely alike.
Was it possible…?
Could they be halfsiblings?
If Raven was Claire, then they would have to be.
Perhaps this was the answer. Perhaps through Nova, I I could find the truth about Raven.
I only needed a way to prove it…
I felt a pair of eyes on me and looked up at Raven in the window. She was watching me now, looking at me straight through the glass. I held her gaze, unwilling to look away and admit guilt
She was the one in the wrong here. If she had told me the truth, if she had been honest, then I wouldn’t have to sneak around to try to learn her secrets.
Leo deserved to have his mother, and I wanted the truth of what really happened to Claire.
If Raven was really Claire, then she deserved things too. More than she was want to be Leo’s mother, instead of just his bodyguard?
Claire’s POV
currently taking for herself. Why wouldn’t she
Gideon was staring at me a lot since my return, and even eyeing Nova along with
me with new suspicion.
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I had thought, returning, that my identity was still hidden behing my Raven mask, but now I was concerned that he had made more connections than I had hoped. How much did he really know? Or guess?
And how far would he go to find proof of his suspicions?
A bit of fear sparking within me, I texted Peter and asked him to meet me to discuss my worries. While the kids were still playing in the yard, Peter made his way to me, standing beside me on the edge of the grass, watching the kids.
Glancing at him, I noticed at once the general, unusual messiness to him. His hair was sticking in all directions, and his shirt was wrinkled. There were love bites down the side of his neck.
He cleared his throat, and I pretended not to notice. Though I did wonder which of the staff he was secretly meeting, I decided it was none of my
business.
Besides, there were more important things at stake here than Peter’s love life.
“My loyalties remain with Ivan’s pack,” he said firmly.
I had no doubt of that. “It’s fine,” I dismissed his worries. In fact, was slightly relieved that he, a loner as long as I had known him, had sought out some companionship. “But I might need your help.”
“With the kids? What is it?”
“Things happened, and I think Gideon suspects things… Correctly suspects them. I’m worried he might try to prove it somehow. I don’t know how. I might be ambushed to take off my mask or…” I looked at Nova.
Peter did too.
We were both quiet for a moment.
“I understand,” Peter said. “I have connections here now, and can keep my ear to the ground. If I hear anything of his plans, I will alert you immediately.”
“Thank you, Peter,” I said.
I hoped it would be enough.
