Chapter 3: Memories

Rafe crossed his arms over his chest. Her husky voice stroked over his nerves like it used to before she'd smashed his world to pieces with her lies. Didn't she notice him, or did she deliberately not look at him? He couldn't help but wonder if she manipulated the twins to ask him for money? The thought left a sour taste in his mouth.

"I rather think they came to see me," he drawled and saw her stiffen, close her eyes for a long moment, and slowly turned to look at him.

She faced him. Time slowed. Her face drained of color until those angry blue eyes contrasted sharply with her paper-white face. The same blue eyes the twins sported. Except for their darker skin tone, they were carbon copies of their mother. The silence lengthened, and every cell in his body felt the tension, and then she flinched and shuddered as her breath hitched. Her hands on the twins' shoulders trembled. Through all of this, she didn't look away from him as if she was a mouse confronted by a hungry snake. "Rafe," she said, barely above a whisper.

"The name," he said deliberately, "is Rafaello." She'd lost the right to call him that when she'd betrayed him.

Her flinch was barely noticeable, but even after all these years, he was so attuned to her, he noticed it. She took a step back, dragging the twins back with her.

There was something valiant in the way she stopped the retreat, lifted her chin, and held his gaze. Those distinctive eyes stared at him, and he saw shadows in them. Did she remember the times they spent together? The hours lazily making love, and sometimes, after a grueling match with such impetuous heat, he'd find her and make love with her until they both lost consciousness. Afterward, she'd lie on his chest, lazily stroking and petting him, while she told him it was a miracle the sheets didn't catch fire when they entered the bedroom. She'd make plans for their future, while he'd been content to be in the moment.

Did she now lavish that sensual abandon on the twin's father or some other lucky bastard? Because there would be another man - she was too beautiful and seductive to be single. Even with two children in tow. Her lips twisted, and she looked at him with unbridled contempt. This time Rafe didn't try to hide the way his hands clenched. She had no right to look at him that way.

He walked around the desk, enjoyed the way the twins' eyes widened when they had to look up and up the closer he got. Their mother wasn't as easily intimidated. She raked him with the kind of contempt only a woman could manage to convey.

"Did you send them in here? Why are they 'sewing' me?" If this was an attempt to get money from him, she'd soon learn her mistake. She wouldn't be the first woman to try that on him. He had to give it to her, it had to be the most original attempt he'd ever experienced, but also the most contemptible. Still, she'd known him as well as anyone had five years ago. She should know that blackmail didn't work on him. And using children to soften him up would definitely not work.

She frowned and touched her disheveled blond hair. "Sewing you?"

The twins exchanged one of those silent glances and inched toward the door.

Rafe stepped closer to the woman who'd almost driven him to his knees five years ago, again using his height to his advantage. She was too stubborn to step back but leaned her torso slightly back.

"Apparently, I have to pay for numerous bills, a car, and for making you cry." They'd also mentioned hospital bills. Who'd been sick? Lindi or the children? Even suspecting she might be trying to fleece him, he didn't like the idea of her being sick. An image of the twins in hospital, their spirits dimmed, flashed through his mind.

They locked gazes and spoke in the silent way they used to, as if it was yesterday they communicated like this instead of five years ago. You lied to me, his eyes said. Why didn't you love me enough to trust me? hers asked.

Lindi closed her eyes, breaking their intimate bond, and stood unmoving, then she released a shuddering sigh and turned her back on him, the motion one of such pure disdain, he gnashed his teeth. There was a finality to it that shouldn't bother him, but it did. "Let's go, Rafael, Donatello; we'll talk about this at home." The twins looked as if they wanted to make a run for it.

Now when it was too late, Abbey rushed in. "Sorry, Rafe, the phone rang off - "

He held up a hand, and she went quiet, her eyes widening when she saw Lindi and the twins. The two boys looked as if they wanted to stay and threaten him some more but didn't dare defy Lindi. It was disorienting seeing the sexy woman he remembered act as the loving but tough mother.

"Boys, we're leaving," this new Lindi said in a no-nonsense mommy voice, and she managed to make even that sound sexy. She adjusted the long strap of her handbag over her head and across her body, and with her bag secured, she took each child by the hand and walked out, her shoulders square and proud. Rafe didn't know why, he just knew it had to be the most tragic thing he'd ever seen in his life. The silent twin looked back over his shoulder, and his look promised retribution. Sewing you, he mouthed.

Rafe suppressed a laugh. Arrogant little shit. The kid reminded him of himself. He clasped the back of his neck and rubbed the tense muscles under his hand. No, he wasn't going down that alley. They were not his children, and he had the paternity test results to prove it.