“Give me Étienne first!”
“DROP THE FUCKING GUN!”
Luc’s gun clatters loudly and he holds his hands up. “Let her take the baby!”
His grip slackens as I reach in his arms and take Étienne from him. He’s distracted, and then Luc bends his knees, ready to pounce.
Finally.
I wrap both arms around my son and step away from Frank’s side. “GET HIM!”
Luc charges as Frank’s bullets pepper the door. I duck down, cradling my baby as Luc slams Frank’s body into the railing.
It’s the most terrifying few seconds of my life as I watch them grapple on the bridge, knowing one of them is going to die.
Luc’s howl of rage carries easily over the wind. The blond man’s arm gets caught in the metal frame, and he accidentally lets go of his gun, and then his waist lifts over the railing as Luc grabs the back of his shirt and hurls him. Frank somehow grips the edge and his body slams into the bridge, his coat flapping around him as he dangles, centimeters from death.
“Claire!”
Luc kicks out with a merciless foot and Frank flies from the bridge. I shut my eyes as I hear his tortured scream, all the way down.
Oh my God.
It’s so horrible.
I sob into my baby, breathing in the scent of his head, and then a pair of strong arms wrap around me. Luc’s lips burn on my head, and I think I can feel his body shaking, too.
“How did you know which bridge?”
Luc’s arms are still wrapped around me. “I didn’t. I guessed.”
LUC
It’s way too easy to break into this place.
My eyes scan the walls of the house I grew up in. Pictures of my parents hang on the wall. Their wedding photos. Their trip to France. I’m nowhere in this place. Dad purged the house of my photos a long time ago. There’s no evidence I ever existed.
I stand at the top of the stairs, shrouded in darkness as the lock turns in the front door and it shoves open. Dad’s heavy steps crash through the foyer, and then he pauses at the foot of the stairs as if he can sense something. His head rises and looks straight at me.
Damn. He’s got a shiner on his left eye.
“How did you get in here?”
“Broke in.” I descend the creaking stairs. The house is still bathed in darkness. I wonder if my dad doesn’t want me to see his face. “Let me guess. A cop did that to you. Am I right?”
Dad wipes his beard. “Yeah.”
I hope he sees my smirk in the dark. “I guess not all cops are good, eh?”
“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about that cop.”
“Actually, I was more pissed about the fact that you actually gave my son to that psycho.”
“I didn’t let him go willingly.”
“I see that.”
I shove my hands deep in my pockets as I reach the landing floor, looking at my dad’s troubled eyes.
“I saw the news.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t play dumb. That cop jumped over Champlain Bridge.”
I make a sound in my throat. “Sounds like he had some personal issues.”
“Do you really expect me to believe that you had nothing to do with his death?”
“I don’t really care what you believe.”
I brush past him and head toward the door.
“Whatever trouble you’re in, I want no part of it. Stay the hell out of our lives. Do you understand me?” His voice wavers with anger.
It was a mistake to come here. I swallow down my bitter disappointment and flash him an empty grin.
“I just came here to say thanks for watching over my son. I know you did the best you could to protect him.”
I grasp the doorknob and turn around.
“And by the way, I don’t regret a goddamn thing.”
He stands there for a few seconds in silence.
“Get out, or I’ll call the cops.”
The door cuts off the last of his sentence as I slam it shut. I look up and smile into the starry night, grateful to feel the coolness against my raw skin.
If I could go back in time, I’d make the same choices just to get back to her.
I don’t care about them anymore.
My real family is waiting for me at home.
CLAIRE
I frown the moment Luc gives me a wicked grin across the table.
“No,” I mouth to him silently.
A smile staggers over his face. “Yes,” he mouths back. Then he gives me a wink that makes butterflies soar in my stomach.
Goddamn it.
A bead of sweat rolls down my neck, slipping down to my cleavage. Luc watches it roll between my breasts, a look of pure greed on his face.
“We’ve got a sitter for the whole night. I intend to take advantage of it.”
I lower my voice so that the table next to us can’t hear. “Not by fucking me in the restaurant!”