She drew her lips into a thin line. Her eyes narrowing. Ready to fight.
‘Over my dead body.’
When had that part of her developed? It wasn’t a characteristic of Tia’s he’d easily recognised. Yet even through his fury he knew it was appealing to a side of him that had never stopped hankering after what might have been between them.
She made to move away. To walk out of his house. Out of his life.
He couldn’t let that happen.
Dimly, Zeke was aware that he hadn’t fully engaged his brain before his mouth was firing away.
‘I don’t think that’s going to be necessary.’ He forced his voice to sound even. ‘You’re welcome to come with us.’
‘I’m not going anywhere.’ She snorted. ‘And there’s no way you’re taking my son.’
‘Our son.’
‘Fine. But Seth still isn’t going with you.’
‘Ever heard of Z-Black, Tia?’
She stopped, her brow furrowing, and he had to fight the urge to reach out and smooth it flat. Ridiculous. But she was like a narcotic. An addiction he couldn’t seem to kick no matter how hard he tried.
‘Who hasn’t? At least, in the military world.’ She lifted her shoulders. ‘What does that have to do with anything, though?’
‘What do you know about them?’ he pressed.
‘Why?’
‘Answer me, Tia.’
She glared, then sighed.
‘Fine. I know they’re renowned for prepping civilians for going into war zones, from foreign correspondents to aid agencies, even corporate individuals for restructure. Z-Black is known as one of the best for training them, showing them how to spot for mines, how to look after themselves, how to work with their close protection teams so they don’t actually become a liability themselves.’
‘You know quite a bit, then.’
‘Yeah, they also train up their own close protection teams for both foreign and domestic scenarios. Rumour has it they’re into a heck of a lot more than that, but their guys are immensely loyal and no one on the inside has ever confirmed anything. You work for them?’
‘Not exactly.’ He could have simply told her, but he wanted to see if she would come to it on her own. If a part of her believed in him enough. ‘What do you think the Z and the Black stand for?’
‘Black is black ops.’ She pursed her lips, moments before her eyes widened. ‘The Z...is you?’
‘Me. And also the other two founding partners. Brothers, William and Frazer Zane.’
He wasn’t surprised when she didn’t laugh with him. He could well imagine what was going through her head.
‘You couldn’t.’ She paled. ‘You wouldn’t use Z-Black to take Seth from me.’
‘Then don’t make me, Tia. Don’t take my son from me.’
It was shocking, inexplicable, this...bond...he felt with a boy he’d seen for barely a few moments. He hardly knew what to make of it. He only knew it was potentially the best news he’d ever heard in his life.
‘This house...’ she managed, sweeping around as if taking it in all over again. ‘You and your partners must be millionaires? You’re going to use that against me if I fight you.’
‘Multimillionaires,’ he corrected. The three of them weren’t far off billionaire status, but Tia didn’t need to know that right now. ‘And I don’t want to use anything to fight you, Tia. Just don’t back me into a corner where I have no other choice. Seth is my son, too.’
She looked as though she wanted to argue. Perhaps wisely, she bit the words back.