Page 44 of Taken By Him

He holds my hands, and for a moment I can feel the strength seeping from him into me.

“You heard everything?” His voice dips, like he’s afraid I’ll run if he talks too loudly.

I swallow. “I heard my sister scream and my mom yell. I heard the crunch...” I blink a few times and suck in air. “I heard my mom...”

“What did she say?” he asks, brushing my hair from my face. “Kasia, what did you hear her say?”

“She said she was sorry.” I finally turn my gaze to him. “What would she be sorry for?”

“Did you tell your dad this?”

“No,” I shook my head. “Not that part. He was...upset about everything. He’d told me to pick her up. It should have been me, and then it wouldn’t have happened. I would have been on time; we wouldn’t have been there at that time.” The same guilt runs on a loop, tearing apart my insides.

“Your dad didn’t want to look into it, so you went and hired this DeGrazio guy.” He fills in the rest for me.

“You looked through my phone and my computer, didn’t you?” I ask, straightening my spine. “Of course, you did. You know, you don’t like my father, but you two aren’t that different.”

He raises his brows. “We can talk about that later if you want, but right now, I want an answer to something else.”

He’s a man on a mission and won’t be derailed.

“What?” I’m tired of all the inquiries.

“How are you paying him?”

“When my grandmother died, she left a fund for me and Diana. When I was eighteen it rolled into my control and my dad couldn’t touch it. I’ve been using that.” And it’s almost gone now. “You didn’t tell him to stop looking, did you?”

“He doesn’t need to be involved. I have men much better than that washed-up piece of shit.”

I pull back from him to take in his expression. He’s serious. He’s not playing with me.

“You’d have your men look into this for me?”

He cups the side of my face. “You’re my wife, Kasia. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me. But I don’t want you to ever go behind my back, do you understand? Never on your own, you don’t have to do that anymore.”

I doubt he understands the weight of his words. How easily he can crush me with a few syllables.

“You talked to him.”

“I did.” He surprises me with the truth. It shouldn’t. As far as I know, he’s never lied to me.

“He found something but hasn’t told me, is that it?” I’ve suspected DeGrazio wasn’t giving me information he had, but all I could do was keep pushing. Seeing the truth on Dominik’s face, I realize what a pathetic fool I’ve been.

“I know everything he knows, and now my men will take it from here. But Kasia, you have to swear to me no more playing detective. No paying anyone else to do it, and no talking with your father until we figure this all out.”

“You can’t think he had anything to do with it.”

He pauses a moment. “I don’t know.”

“So, I just sit here while you go off every day.” As much as I love reading in this gorgeous yard, there’s more for me out there.

“If that’s what you want, then yes. Or you can start looking for a teaching job.”

I blink. I couldn’t have heard him right. Dad never let Mom even think of working. He’d only let me get my degree to dangle the carrot of some sense of freedom. I don’t think he ever intended to let me have a life free of him. The more control he has the more he can punish me for ruining everything for him.

“How would that work? You won’t even let me go shopping without two of your men trailing around me.”

He nods. “That’s true. But we’ll figure something out.”

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