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They held a fa after Danny was in bed Mia didn’t want to attend She didn’t want to cry or breathe or eat ever again Most of all, she didn’t want to think She didn’t want to keep reliving those horrible moments when she’d found out the truth about Rafael, when she’d realized that everything he’d told her was a lie

No, she thought as she stood at the top of the stairs and listened to the low voices co from the family room His lies weren’t the worst of it The true pit of her life was that she’d believed hiain she’d trusted a man and he had betrayed her

If Rafael had come after her, she could have handled it If he’d wanted to hurt her or kidnap her or even kill her, she would have been able to cope But he’d coive him for that

She made herself walk downstairs When she entered the family room, she saw everyone was already there Katie and Zach, Francesca and Sam, Brenna and Nic, Joe and Darcy The Grands were there, too, pressing food on everyone Only her parents wereSince she hadn’t called to tell the Rafael, she saw no reason to upset their vacation by ad she’d almost lost her son

Katie saw her first "Oh, Mia" Katie held open her ar ranks They hugged her and whispered prory and uncomfortable

Mia absorbed their love and support She’d proain, and shedown

When everyone took a seat, Gra of tea into Mia’s hands She took the hot liquid but passed on food

"I’ry," she ad, but Tessa pulled her away

"Mia will eat torand You’ll see"

Mia didn’t feel very strong She felt as if her heart had been run over by an eighteen-wheeler and left for road-kill

"How’s Danny?" Darcy asked

"Confused Apparently he didn’t hear what I said to Rafael, but he knoe had a fight and his father has ht He wanted Rafael to tuck him in"

Katie looked at Joe "You should have shot him when you had the chance"

"It didn’t seem the time Besides, I can always do it later"

"We can arrest him," Grandma Tessa said to Joe "He broke the law, didn’t he?"

Joe stood by the fireplace He shifted unco"

"All lying and cheating aside," Mia said with a lightness she didn’t feel

"Joe, there has to be soet aith this"

"He won’t," Mia told her "Danny is staying right here, with us If I don’t take hiht, Joe?"

He nodded "I suppose he could petition the international courts, but that could take years Appealing to the president won’t help"

Darcy leaned toward Mia "I already called my dad Should the Calandrian ambassador try to see him, he won’t be available He also said to tell you that he would be happy to have Rafael thrown out of the country"

"I’ public," Mia said "Let’s just keep it between us for now We need a plan We need to keep Danny safe and keep Rafael away from him"

"I don’t kno this happened," Grah "He seemed like such a nice ht I was too old and too crabby to be fooled"

"It wasn’t exactly a fair fight," Katie told the for deception Plus there’s the whole prince angle He had our attention there"

Brenna patted Mia’s arm "See? You’re not the only one"

Mia appreciated the support, but it didn’t help She’d been the one who’d been willing to blindly commit her life to someone she barely knew That impulsive decision could have cost her Danny

"You’re all forgetting soht be an asshole, but he’s still the father, and Mia can’t keep him away forever"

"I don’t want to hear that," Mia said flatly She didn’t want to be reminded of any connection to Rafael

Francesca crossed to where Mia sat and crouched in front of her "I understand you’re beyond anger We all are Rafael came in here and treated us all like idiots He tried to steal away one of our babies I would like to spend a couple of days thinking up very special tortures for hi to be rational, aren’t you?"

Francesca nodded "You can’t keep Danny froainst the law"

"It should be"

"I agree, but it isn’t However much we all hate Rafael, Danny doesn’t He loves his father He loves every ether He doesn’t knohat happened and none of us are going to tell hi to be four and he has a new daddy"

Mia understood theto say in her calet to throw a tantrum That whatever had happened between her and Prince Jerk, there was still Danny to consider, and her little boy deserved to have a father

"I don’t trust him for a minute," Mia said

"You shouldn’t," Francesca told her "Rafael has proved he can’t be trusted Whatever you decide about custody or visitation or whatever, I’m here to remind you that you don’t want to break Danny’s heart"

Mia hated all of it "You’re saying I have to let him co out and trust hi you can’t refuse to let Rafael see his son You can do things to keep Danny safe You can make it difficult for Rafael and easy for us, but you can’t stand in the way of father and son being together As for his birthday, that’s your call"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>