Page 61 of Taken By Him

She lifts her eyes, her sad, tear-filled eyes to me.

“I don’t believe you.” The words are soft, but they hit me like a fucking freight train. “My father ordered that accident. He meant it to be me. I was supposed to get hit. And I was supposed to be taken.” She picks up a crumbled piece of paper and shoves it at me.

Before I open it to read it, she tells me everything she knows.

“I was supposed to be taken to one of those trains. He was going to sell me, Dominik. He hired thugs to kidnap me and sell me.” She sucks in a shaky breath and hugs herself around her middle.

That’s not what the Kominski brothers told me. I pore over the document, hand scribbled notes from DeGrazio’s meetings. I can’t read most of it, names are coded, but what she’s telling me is right. The deal was to have her taken to the trains on the south side. She was supposed to be sold.

“I knew he didn’t love me. He blamed me because mom couldn’t have any more kids after me.”

“You’re a twin, Kasia,” I say stupidly. She’s had more time to process all of this, I’m trying to catch up with her.

“I was the last out.” She points to me. “There was a complication with my birth. Diana was already born. Easy peasy, but me...no. Something went wrong and although they saved my life, there was damage. Dad never got to have the son he wanted.” She wipes the back of her hands across her face. “But sell me? Why? I was leaving for college in a year. I could have been gone from his life, why would...” she trails off, as though her brain just can’t process the thought anymore.

“Where did you get all this?” I ask, gathering up everything from the bed. She’s not paying me any attention anymore, so she doesn’t get in my way.

“Degrazio.”

“You promised me no more digging on your own.” I stack the papers.

“Promised?” She laughs. “Fuck promises. Fuck everything. Nothing I did made that man like me. You know his favorite punishment was to keep Diana away from me? He didn’t just take away my toys or ground me, he kept my sister away from me. He would take her out on vacations, day trips, dinners, whatever, while I was stuck at home. Alone.”

I stare down at her. She’s losing steam. The brandy is making her tired. She’s run out of energy.

“When she died. It was my fault, I knew it, and he did too. He never let me forget it. But he didn’t let me go. Why wouldn’t he just let me leave if he hated me so much?” She lies down on the bed. “He should have just killed me.”

It’s at that my chest breaks open.

“No.” I lean over her, brushing my fingertips over her jaw. “No, Kasia. He shouldn’t have. He should have been a good father. He should have been a good man.” He will pay for the evil he’s done.

She shoves away my hand and rolls away from me. “Leave me alone, Dominik. Just leave me be.”

I stare at her back. Her breathing is calm.

“Kasia.” I touch her shoulder.

“I wish I had been in that car instead of Diana. I wish I had been the one who died.”

My jaw tightens, my heart aches. A world without Kasia? I can’t imagine it. I won’t imagine it.

“Sleep, Kasia.” I back away from the bed, taking everything DeGrazio gave her and grab her phone from the nightstand. I should move her to our room. She shouldn’t be in this room anymore, but she’s asleep now.

I turn off all the lights and step outside, closing the door behind me. Tommy and James stare at me.

“That fucker that went to the bathroom. He didn’t go to the men’s room.” I point a finger at Tommy who has the smarts to avert his gaze. It’s not his fault. Not really. There was no real danger in letting her go to the bathroom on her own. But my wife, my fucking world, is lying in that bed hurt because he didn’t stop that fucker from giving her information she didn’t need.

“Is she okay?” Tommy asks, guilt dripping from his tone.

“No.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “It’s not...he didn’t hurt her. He’s the private investigator I told never to contact her again. But he did. The Kominski brothers fucking lied to me.” I close my eyes for a brief moment.

I’d finally gotten good news from my father’s attorney today. I was about to call him and arrange for him to return home, but that’s not at the forefront of my mind now.

“I want a sit down with Kominski. Not his fucking sons. Him!” I bark. I point at James. “You stay here. If she tries to leave, you call me. She can go to our bedroom or she stays in there. She goes nowhere else.”

“You got it, boss,” he says with a nod and stands right in front of the door.

Tommy hurries ahead of me, already on the phone to get the old man ready for my visit. I’m not waiting until morning. I want that fucker to tell me to my face what the fuck the deal actually was.

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