Page 100 of Modern Romance May 2026 Books 5-8
“Merci, Arthur.”
I take the tray over to the table on the terrace before I pop the cork on the champagne and pour.
I hand her a flute. “If I’m going to have dance lessons, champagne sounds like a good idea. Ready?”
She eyes the golden amber liquid in her glass. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
We both raise our glasses. The flavor washes over my tongue, layers of apricot and orange followed by tastes of hazelnut and caramel.
“Wow.” Seraphina holds up her glass. “That’s…wow.”
“Agreed.”
I hold up my glass. The lights on the railing make the champagne glow. Seraphina has done nothing but give since this arrangement started. All that I asked and more. I wasn’t going to push her about Brett Sinclair. That she told me of her volition, that she trusted me so completely, means a great deal. It also leaves me feeling cold and petty, a petulant child who refuses to share.
Seraphina
“We met John when Cassian tried to pick his pocket.”
I pause with my glass halfway to my lips. Aiden has always been private. I don’t begrudge him that, and he certainly doesn’t owe me anything just because I shared with him.
But the thought that he might be sharing with me because he wants to warms and scares me at the same time. Warmth that he would actually confide in me. Fear that if he lets me in, just a little, it’ll make it that much harder to walk away when the time comes.
“Where were you?”
“Times Square. John whirled around and grabbed him by his collar. Cassian was only thirteen, so Dominic and I came running.”
“Thirteen?” When he nods, I swallow hard. “Wow.”
At thirteen I was riding bikes, taking dance lessons and going on summer road trips with my parents. I once thought Aiden’s current lifestyle and mine were eons apart. But I realize now I had my own type of privilege, my own luxuries I took for granted.
“We came running up. Dominic was big even then. He got in front of John and tried to distract him while I pulled Cassian away. But John wouldn’t let go of Cassian. He told us we had a choice. Either come with him and get a hot meal, or he’d call the police. I didn’t want to go, but it was January. Tourists were scarce, which meant wallets were, too. So we went.”
“Where did he take you?”
“The Empire Steak House on 49th.”
My jaw drops. “Isn’t that the place with a gold-crusted steak?”
“It is, although I ordered a double rack of lamb, lobster bisque and baked clams.” When I laugh, Aiden smiles slightly. “I ate every bite, but I was testing him. I didn’t know if he was a creep or just someone trying to rack up his good deed for the day.
“We spent nearly three hours there that first time. Cassian did most of the talking. But John coaxed Dominic and me into talking, too. For nearly three months we met John for dinner. Every Tuesday night. He’d let us order whatever we wanted. But I still didn’t trust him. Why would a man like him be interested in three screwed-up teenagers the world had forgotten?”
“So why did you?” I ask softly.
“Cassian trusted him. Dominic had even started to thaw. And the food was good. But around March, Cassian got sick. Really sick. Dominic and I scrounged up enough money for a taxi and managed to get the three of us to the address on the business card John had given us. A town house in the West Village. We stumbled out of the taxi and up the stairs with Cassian’s arms draped over our shoulders. John answered the door himself and called an ambulance. Dominic and I protested, but John just said ‘You three are moving in here. That’s not negotiable.’”
It sounds like a kid’s version of Cinderella. “Did you ever ask him why?”
Emotion flickers in his eyes, but it vanishes just as quickly before I can discern what it was.
“No. He told us that he’d been down on his luck in his youth and someone gave him a chance. He wanted to do the same.”
“And then he adopted you. All three of you.”
I’ve met Dominic and Cassian when they’ve dropped by the office, sometimes for business, sometimes to take Aiden out for dinner. Dominic is an icier version of Aiden while Cassian is pure charm. I can’t help but smile at the thought of them running around a luxurious town house after surviving such a hard life on the streets.
“Yes, two years after we moved in. John paid for our college degrees. When we graduated, he gave us each a lease on an apartment for a year and one hundred thousand dollars and said the rest was up to us. We wouldn’t get any more help from him.” Pride fills his voice. “We made it. All three of us. Cassian runs his shipping company. Dominic heads up his own private security firm.”
