Page 56 of The Mercenary's Hidden Heir
The silence drags so long it feels like a living thing, coiling around my throat.
Aria lets out a soft, broken sound.
A hiccup first.
Then a choked little sob.
I whip around just in time to see her crumble—face crumpling, tiny fists rubbing at her eyes.
It guts me.
But before I can move, Traz is already there.
Fast for a man so battered.
He scoops her up gentle as you please, cradling her against his chest like she’s made of something precious and fragile.
Aria buries her face in his neck, sobs wracking her tiny body.
Traz just holds her.
No words.
No false promises.
Just solid, steady strength.
Joren edges closer too, clinging to Traz’s arm like he’s afraid if he lets go, the whole world will fall apart.
Traz shifts, pulling them both into his lap, wrapping those big arms around them tight.
Protective.
Fierce.
Unyielding.
I press a hand over my mouth, swallowing back the sob burning in my chest.
Watching them—this big, broken man who once walked away from us now holding our babies like they’re the only things keeping him breathing?—
It shatters something inside me.
Something hard and bitter I didn’t even know I was still clinging to.
I sink down onto the crate across from them, hands shaking, heart twisting in my chest.
I don’t say a word.
I don’t have to.
CHAPTER 17
KELLI
The next morning creeps in slow and ugly, dragging pale light through the cracked windows.
I don't sleep.
