Until I heard the sounds of heavy, measured footsteps approaching and stopping at the door. There was a beat of silence, a pause, then a knock—deviously light and quiet, yet somehow screaming loud in my head. I watched as the handle turned, and the door opened.
Julian entered the room, our eyes clashing across the small space. For a second, my breath stopped, the power of the moment overwhelming me. He was every bit as tall and handsome as I remembered. His shoulders were broad and set back, and his countenance intense. He was thinner than I recalled, the lines around his eyes more pronounced, and his anger was palpable. Fury drew down his eyebrows and pulled at his mouth. His gaze was focused, first on my face, then the small bundle I held tight in my arms.
All my planning, all my careful maneuvering, was for nothing. It was time to face what I had run away from.
I lifted my chin.
“Hello, Julian.”
JULIAN
She was beautiful. Even more so than my memory or the pictures I had of her let me think. She stood across from me, brave and defiant, the lie she perpetuated asleep in her arms.
My daughter.
I was hungry for a look. I wanted to hold her. I wanted to hold her mother. But anger colored my feelings, and I narrowed my eyes. “Taliyah.”
Silence stretched until I stepped forward. She moved back, holding out her hand as if to ward me off.
“How did you find me?”
“One of my men spotted you. He was waiting for the same flight.”
“Which one?”
“The older man seated across from you.”
She frowned. “He barely looked at us.”
I shrugged. “He let you think that. He was watching you closely. He called me.”
“My flight—”
“Has departed.”
She gaped at me. “What?”
“Your luggage was taken off. It’s waiting for you outside in the car.”
“How dare you,” she hissed, keeping her voice low.
I stepped closer, towering over her. “How dare I? How dare I? You disappear, hiding for over a year, keeping my child from me, and you ask me How. I. Dare?”
“She’s not yours,” she lied.
I laughed without humor. “You still can’t lie for shit, Tally. You expect me to believe you ran off, had an affair and another man’s child right away, given the passion we shared? The love we felt for each other?” I shook my head. “I’m not an idiot.”
“Maybe I had the affair while we were together.”
“I can’t believe you would even say that. You know as well as I do there was no one but each other for us.”
A flush saturated her cheeks, but she didn’t deny it.
“Let me see her.”
“No.”
I held out my arms. “Let me see my daughter, Tally. Now.” My tone brooked no argument.
Tears filled her eyes, and her body shook.
“I’m not going to hurt her.”
“But you’re going to take her away,” she whispered, fear tearing at her words.
I felt her pain as if it was my own. It had been like that since we had started. I softened my voice. “No, I’m not. I want to meet her.”
Tears ran unheeded down her pale cheeks as she placed our daughter into my arms. For a moment, the world stopped as I gazed into her tiny face. Took in the plump cheeks, downy red curls, and the pursed rosebud lips. Emotions I had never experienced until now thundered inside me. Joy, alive and bubbling, hit my chest. Love, so deep and unexpected, swelled for the tiny being in my arms. Rage that she had been hidden from me, that I might never have known her existence, bubbled and burned.
Then she opened her eyes, and I was shocked into awareness. I was holding my daughter. My flesh and blood. My eyes were reflected back at me, crystal clear evidence of her parentage, staring, curious and confused. I stroked along her cheek with my finger, a thrill running through me as she grasped the digit, holding on fast.
“Her name?” I managed to get out.
“Julianna Grace.”
I snapped my head up, meeting Tally’s eyes.
“I call her Jules,” she added.
“She is…amazing,” I said, unable to form the right words.
“Please don’t take her from me, Julian. Please.” A sob broke her voice. “I couldn’t bear it.”
I frowned as I looked at Tally. Our time apart had changed her, letting me know it hadn’t been easy on her either. She was too thin, too exhausted, and too far away. Even in my anger, I still loved her. That was an absolute fact that would never change.
It also didn’t explain why’d she left, why she came back, or why she’d hidden my daughter from me.
I wanted answers.
“I’m not going to take her away,” I assured her. “But neither are you.”
“We can arrange visitation. I won’t keep her from you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “There’ll be no need for visitation, Tally. We’ll be in the same home, so I can see her whenever I want.”