Relentless (Vampire Awakenings #11) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,107
what? Here the whole time? Traveling the world? What had she been doing since he last saw her?
“What happened?” Dante finally asked. “Why did you disappear?”
Maya picked at her pleated, white pants as she finally lifted her gaze to his. A small smile curved her mouth, and her eyes twinkled, but her foot tapped faster. She’d sent the kids off to their rooms, but before she could speak, Dante spotted their heads poking around the doorway from the hall. They looked to be about seven and eight with the boy slightly older. They reminded him a lot of the two of them at that age.
When their parents didn’t want them around, they’d often go upstairs only to creep down and listen to, or watch, whatever they weren’t supposed to hear and see. Maya should have known better, but he suspected his sister realized her children were there.
Her children, that meant they were his niece and nephew. He was an uncle, and he didn’t even know their names. He’d always pictured spoiling his nieces and nephews. He’d imagined bringing them toys, taking them to the zoo, and stuffing them so full of candy they would bounce off the walls when he dropped them at home. Maya would yell at him for bringing home a bunch of sugar fiends while he skipped out the door laughing.
And then those imaginations became part of his alternate reality, and he’d known they would never come true. But here they were, coming true in a spectacularly fucked-up fashion.
Chapter Fifty
“It’s a long story,” Maya said.
“I’ve spent my entire adult life looking for your body; I think I have time,” Dante said.
Maya winced at the harsh tone of his voice and bowed her head. Cassidy rested her hand on his knee.
“Let her talk,” she whispered into his mind.
Dante inhaled a deep breath as he worked to subdue his resentment. He’d been frantically searching for her, had giving up dreams and his mortality in the hopes of finding her, and here she was. She wasn’t dead; he had his sister back, or at least he might have her back. She’d stayed out of his life for twenty years, which meant she was fine with not being a part of it now.
A bolt of anguish tore through his anger and struck deep into his heart. His last twenty years centered around her, and he wasn’t a blip on her radar. If he didn’t want answers so badly, he would walk out, but he’d waited decades for the truth.
His fingers entwined with Cassidy’s on his knee, and he squeezed her hand. Feeling abandoned by one of the people he loved most, he needed Cassidy’s love and support more than ever.
“What happened?” he asked more gently.
Maya turned toward the doorway; when she spoke, she confirmed Dante’s suspicions she knew her children were there.
“Kids, go upstairs,” Maya commanded.
“Aw, Mom,” they both protested.
“Go!”
They grumbled something more, but their heads vanished, and the stairs creaked beneath their weight as they retreated. Maya’s head remained tilted toward the kids as a door closed above.
“What are their names?” Dante asked when Maya turned back toward him.
A small smile played at the corners of Maya’s mouth. “Mateo and Jade.”
Dante felt as if she’d socked him in the chest. “You named them after Mom and Dad?”
“I did.”
“They’re dead, you know.”
Tears shimmered in Maya’s eyes before she ducked her head again. “I know.”
Fresh fury burned through him as he stared at her bowed head. “You know?”
Maya looked at him again and gulped. “I saw their obituaries. I kept track of them until they died, and I tracked you the best I could, but you vanished about ten years ago.”
A breeze could have blown him over. She’d kept track of them? “Well, you vanished twenty years ago.”
“Dante—”
“Mom and Dad were broken shells of the man and woman they were before they lost you. They died never knowing what became of you, and once they were gone, I believed I’d lost everyone I loved. I was so angry and lost, but you knew about their deaths and never came back.”
“Dante—”
“What happened, Maya?” he bit out from between his clenched teeth.
The idea of hearing any excuses or apologies from her caused acid to burn up his throat. He was sitting in the middle of her perfect little home, in the middle of her perfect little life, and he’d never been so fucking angry.
Cassidy’s hand tightened on his as Maya glanced at her. Sorrow radiated from the woman’s eyes, but Cassidy was too worried