I almost choked on the lump that lifted in my throat. That was exactly what I felt like.
Dirty.
So much for the Fantastic Foursome. I really was a fool, looking for something I couldn’t have.
“I do. I know your name,” Salem said.
I wanted to melt. Disintegrate. Turn to vapor. Just disappear, whatever it took.
I looked around for an escape route.
Her head tilted to the side. “But you don’t know me?”
The way she said it had me stilling, and I looked at her closer but without recognition.
“I don’t…” I couldn’t process what she was getting at.
“Carlo Molan. He was my husband.”
Shock impaled me against the chair. The blood drained from my face, and a swell of lightheadedness set me off-kilter.
I knew his name although I’d never met him. Carlo Molan had been directly tied to my father. He’d disappeared years ago. I didn’t know the details, how they worked together or what they shared because my father had kept me as ignorant of faces and names and places as he could.
He’d always shielded me like some kind of precious relic before he’d sent me barefoot and defenseless into a colosseum to be torn apart by raving wolves.
And this woman had come from where I had. My mind spun with possibility. She had a daughter and a child on the way and an amazing husband.
I couldn’t process it.
“I didn’t tell you that to make you uncomfortable, Aster.” Salem leaned my direction. “I told you because I can see you sitting there feeling like you don’t belong. Like you’re not worth it. And when I came here, I was looking for a new beginning. A safe place when I was literally running for mine and my daughter’s lives. And it took courage for me to get here. It was terrifying, but I knew I had no other choice than to fight for it.”
She reached for me then, the same way as Eden had done to Tessa. She curled her hand over the top of mine.
Emotion shivered through my body.
Disquiet butting with the hope.
“And these people…these amazing people…” She glanced at Eden and Tessa before she turned back to me. “They came alongside me to help me do it. I was terrified of trusting them. Of letting them in. I’d believed there was no chance I could stay here. No chance I could make it our home. But I learned quickly it was where we belonged. I won’t pretend like the journey of escaping that life was easy. But I know that I came here for a reason—for a purpose—and I know you have a purpose, too.”
Her words infiltrated the cracks, sank inside to fill me up, and rose to thicken at the base of my throat.
Moisture filled my eyes. I fought it. Fought the tingling and the burn and the urge to reach for the three of them.
Eden touched my forearm, and her voice was soft when she spoke, “We know who you are, Aster, and it doesn’t matter. We’ve all been in horrible situations. We’ve had to fight for our families and for their safety. For the love that found us here. And we want you to know we’ll fight for yours, too.”
Tears leaked free, hot and fast as they streaked down my cheeks. Frantically, I swiped them away. “I don’t…”
Tessa leaned over so she could place her hand over Salem’s who held me tight. Eden set hers on top.
“You do know.”
It was a promise.
An oath.
I felt overcome. Overwhelmed. Held in this belonging.
“See…the Fantastic Foursome. Because you’re all pretty fantastic. Even when you won’t stop giving me crap about Karl.” Tessa’s words were light and soggy.