Page 33 of Heart of a Villain

Ayesha flopped onto her stomach, clearing her throat. “Okay, so I don’t know the exact moment. If I’m being honest, there was probably more than one. See, there was a period of time in the middle of our ‘will they, won’t they’ that we took a step back and decided to be platonic friends on steroids. But that was what we said on the outside. Whatever chance he could get, Joel would come stay with me and the boys in Maui. Sometimes, I went to D.C., and me and the boys stayed with him in?—”

“Wait, Maui? You lived in Hawaii?”

“For a while, yeah. It’s where I grew up with my father and my aunt. Why?”

“Nothing, nothing.”

At least, it was nothing yet.

Hawaii was where she was located when it was discovered that the man she believed was her father, Aron Price, had kidnapped her. Her mother had attempted to hide her from Aron, going so far as to conceal where and when she gave birth. From what she’d learned through snooping through her mother’s files and from her late cousin, her father had been part of a unit similar to Alpha and Omega.

Naturally, he found her.

When he found her, he took her.

Then, her mother used the force of the clandestine elements of the United States military to find her. What she never could understand, however, was why her mother hadn’t gone further. Aron Price never served any time in prison, whether publicly or buried inside some Top-Secret record. Aron Price had been left alone, free to remain with the yoga instructor he fell for and impregnated while still married to her mother.

“Go on, go on,” Sayeda urged.

She was still touching Ayesha, and it probably would have sounded crazy to any set of ears other than her own, but it felt like she was touching her sister. Maybe even more than just a sister. They looked so much alike that it was hard not to wonder whether there was a reason for it.

“So, I noticed that whenever Joel left, I missed him,” Ayesha continued, a soft smile pulling at her mouth. “I would tell myself that I missed him helping me with the boys, but I ached, Seda. I mean, Sayeda. Sorry, that’s how Theo ‘perfers’ to say your name.”

“No, I like Seda. Seda and Eesh.”

“Seda and Eesh,” Ayesha echoed. “I can hear my father’s voice, actually: ‘Seda? Eesh? Which one of you ate this last little piece of my teriyaki chicken from Hana’s? Both of you, come here. Man can’t even have his own food in his own hou—Seda? Eesh? Front and center!’”

Ayesha bubbled with a laugh.

She watched with veiled envy.

These people didn’t know her, not truly. Everything they were doing was because of how much they loved Julien. They loved Julien so much, she was beginning to convince herself that they might one day love her too.

“But then, when I saw Joel in that tux…sis, I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

“He looked good, didn’t he?” she teased.

Ayesha’s eyes opened wide. “Good? Girl, hold on. Let me grab my phone. This story’s better with pictures.”

CHAPTER

NINE

Adrían woke up to a small face, covered in oatmeal, peering down into his. After he arrived at Joel and Ayesha’s the night before, he’d crashed on the couch. Even if Joel would have been fine with him sleeping under the same roof as Ayesha, without him, he wouldn’t have gone back. Ayesha’s presence had been more beneficial for Sayeda, and he would stay away for weeks if that was what she needed to adjust to this new part of her life—especially since he planned to carry her through the next phase.

“Good morning, Adrían!” Theo yelled.

He waited for the ringing in his ears to subside. “Good morning, Theo. Where’s your father?”

“Looking for me.”

“Are you playing hide and seek?”

“No.”

“Then why is he looking for you?”

Theo shrugged and made a sound he took to mean, “I don’t know.”

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