The Revenge (The Insiders Trilogy #3)(25)

Seraphina darted inside, dressed in her robe and pajamas, her hair long and hanging free. I grinned at the slippers she was wearing, the flamingo pair that Bailey had given her. And it was one of those moments where I was thankful to be staying at the Chesapeake for the time being. If we weren’t here, I wouldn’t see that Seraphina wore Bailey’s gift this evening, and that they were a permanent fixture on her feet every night when she dressed for bed.

“What’s going on?”

Peter scooted his chair and Seraphina went around his desk, draping herself half on his arm. Her head lowered to his shoulder. She hadn’t noticed I was in the room. I was thankful for that, too. Seraphina tensed around me, I’d noticed. I knew there’d been a moment when she had a crush on me, but I thought that was gone. I can’t say I was a fan of her stiffening whenever I was around, either.

Peter glanced at me over her head and I shook mine, just slightly.

He blinked, the slightest nod to me, and he leaned back, lifting his arm. He rolled his seat and shifted his daughter so her back was to me. “What’s going on?” he repeated his question.

It was warm in the study. A fire was lit in the fireplace. Peter’s walls were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, except for a loft set up in the top corner of the room. Another couch up there pulled out into a bed. He had a bar set in a corner of the room, and patio doors that led outside.

Seraphina was leaning heavily on one of his legs. Her mouth was close to his shirt, but I caught enough to hear “Bailey will be okay?”

His hand flexed before smoothing up and down over her back. “Are you worried about Bailey?”

Her head moved up and down into his shirt and shoulder.

“She’s going to be just fine.”

Her head lifted up. She looked at him. I could see her biting down on her lip from the side. “But what’s wrong with her? She was doing better, and now she’s not again. She’s got the vacant look in her eyes.”

I sucked in my breath, my hand jerking as I laid down the paper I’d been holding.

Of course they would notice. If Seraphina was coming to Peter, I knew she and Cyclone had talked about it.

I hadn’t let myself really think about them in the midst of everything, but hearing the words come out of Seraphina’s mouth hit me hard.

I had neglected them. Her and Cyclone both.

I kept a good relationship with them, until Bailey had come to the estate this summer. Then it had become all about Bailey, about Calhoun, and minimal policing of Matt’s activities .

Was this why she froze around me?

“Emotions can be up and down. You can get happy, then you’ll get sad, and it is a bit more dramatic with Bailey because she’s experiencing such intense emotions right now. It’s her grief, sweetheart. She’ll be okay. She’s already getting better,” Peter said gently.

His hand kept rubbing up and down her back. He was smiling softly at her.

She laid her head against his shoulder, heaving a deep sigh before mumbling, “Yeah. Okay. If you say so.”

“I know so.” He jostled her playfully. “You doing okay otherwise?”

There was a pause before she replied.

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

He frowned down at her, his eyebrows pulling in together. “What’s that about?”

“Nothing.”

“Hey.” He tapped her softly under the chin. “What’s going on? Let your dad in, let him know what you’re thinking.” He grinned at her. “I’m feeling cold out here. Let me in so I’m nice and warm.”

She snorted. “God, Dad. You’re such a dork.”

His grin only deepened.

“Give your pops a bone. What’s going on behind that beautiful face of yours?”

Another snort, but she was smiling. She jerked up a shoulder. “I’m just worried about Bailey, and…” The pause was pregnant.

A sniffle.

Peter’s eyes lifted to mine.

I sat up straighter.

“What’s going on with Mom? I mean…” She ducked her head again. “CanweseehersometimeyouthinkCyclonemissesher.” She finished in a rush, and damn.

Panic flared over Peter’s face .

Peter looked cautious before he moved farther back, leaning down so he could look Seraphina in the face. “Heya, cupcake.”

Seraphina’s response: “Heya back, pound cake.”

“You’re missing your mom?”

She didn’t reply at first, then her head bobbed up and down. I heard a sniffle. “Yeah.”

“You and Cy talk about your mom?”

Another pause. “Yeah.” A third sniffle.

“Well, she’s in a criminal trial. You know what that’s all about?”

Seraphina didn’t reply, not right away.

“That’s ’cause of what she tried to do to Bailey, right?”

“Yeah.” Peter was speaking so quietly now. He visibly swallowed. “Your mom wasn’t thinking right, and she decided to do something to hurt your sister—”

“But that’s why Bailey came to us, right? Because of what Mom tried to do.”

“Yeah.” His voice grew rough. Hoarse. “And because she tried to hurt Bailey again.”

Seraphina pressed even closer to Peter, whispering, “But she wouldn’t hurt us, would she?”