MATED TO SERIES COLLECTION

52. LARA: DANGER

My hand clenched on the suitcase as another announcement was made over the loudspeaker. It wasn't the announcement I've been waiting for. The flight I was supposed to be on was delayed and there wasn't another one available until tomorrow. By then it would already be too late to leave.

I glanced around at the people hurrying about. Most of them were in a rush but others were waiting for their flight like me. Pain flashed through my chest when I thought of Silas. Usually when he went to the office, he didn't come home until late at night. Hopefully by the time he found the letter, I was already on the plane and far, far away from here.

My eyes lingered on a coffee stand a few feet away. With one last glance up at the announcement board, I headed towards it. I had just enough money in my purse for a black coffee. After paying for it, I took a seat at one of the tables and pushed my luggage underneath the table. I added some sugar and stared at the black liquid as I stirred.

Why hadn't Silas told me the truth yet? I've brought it up on numerous occasions but he always changed the subject. Why?

My body jerked in fright when the chair across from me scraped loudly against the tiled floor. I glanced up and then froze when I realized who it was. Silas's lips tilted up slightly in a half smile as he took a seat across from me. I stared at him silently as I tried to comprehend how he knew where I was.

"Running away is never an option," he said softly after a few minutes of silence.

"You ran away from home."

His smile dropped. "That was different. I didn't belong and I still don't."

Swallowing, I licked my lips and glanced down at the cup again. "How did you find me?"

"I asked the man at the front desk to call me if you leave the building."

"And you bribed him into telling you exactly where I am?"

He chuckled and leaned his elbows on the table. Entwining his fingers together, he watched me silently for a few seconds. "He volunteered the rest of the information, actually. He told me that he had asked if you needed a cab and you told him that you wanted to go to the airport."

I sighed, so much for my escape plan. Pushing the coffee aside, I sat up a little straighter and stared at him. Silas reached inside his suite jacket and removed the letter I had written for him. So he got it.

"You lied to me," I accused him softly.

Silas glanced away from me. "I know. I'm sorry." He reached across the table and gripped my hand. "You were already suffering and the last thing I wanted to do was add more worries."

My eyes dropped to our hands. "D-do you hate me, Silas?"

"Hate you? Why would I hate you?"

There were a lot of reasons I could think of but I brought up the one we both knew he hated. "I can't give you children without Ethan."

When he stayed silent, I glanced up at him. Silas was staring down at the table. I watched him battle whatever thoughts he had racing through his mind. What was he going to say? Was he going to lie again just to make me feel better? Silas moved his hand and grabbed mine. I watched as he traced a finger over the ring on my finger.

"If it was any other man, I'd be planning on ways how to kill him," he smiled but it quickly faded, "but Ethan can't change things just like neither of us can. You were made for both of us, Lara. The three of us were destined to be together and because of a mistake I made when we were younger, I ruined our chances of ever finding happiness."

I frowned at him. "A mistake?"

"I killed a boy because he was torturing an animal. When I saw him and heard the pain he was causing, I saw red. I killed him and Ethan helped me burry the body. We never told anybody about it and now my actions has come back to haunt us." He gave my hand a squeeze and leaned closer. "Everything that's been happening to us, to you, is because of me."