Page 156 of Safe and Sound

“About what?”

“We’re not your biological parents.”

Slowly, I shook my head back and forth. “How can you possibly say that? You know I look just like you.”

Mom nodded. “That’s right you do. But not because I’m your mother. I’m yourgrandmother.”

Shockwaves reverberated through me at her statement. For a few seconds, I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t draw air into my lungs. It was like I was paralyzed by the mere words that had come out of her mouth.

“No. It can’t be. I’m your late-in-life baby,” I protested.

“I’m so sorry, my love,” Mom replied.

As I stared at the portrait on the mantle, there was no question who my mother was. “Thea wasn’t my aunt, was she?”

“No. She was your mother.”

This couldn’t be happening. My dead sister was my mother. The mother who raised me was my grandmother. Snatching my hand away from Mom’s, I demanded, “Did she really die in a car accident, or did you lie about that, too?”

“We never wanted to lie to you, Ava,” Mom protested.

Dad grimaced. “But it was the only choice to keep you safe.”

“From the man who killed Nick and wanted the necklace?” I choked out in a whisper.

“Yes,” Dad replied.

Rubbing my forehead, I replied, “I’m so confused.”

“I suppose it’s best we start at the beginning. Or at least at our life back in Greece,” Dad said.

As Dad paced in front of us, Mom drew in a deep breath. “Back in Athens, I was employed as a cook in the Trakos family.”

At Dare’s sharp intake of breath, my gaze flickered from Mom to him. “How do you know that name?”

“They’re one of the leading mafia families in Greece.”

I gasped. “You worked for the Greek mafia?”

As Mom nodded, Dad said, “She wasn’t the only one.”

My eyes widened. “You too?”

Dad nodded. “I was a bodyguard to Aristotle Trakos.”

“But you always said after you left the army, you went to work at the wharf.”

“It was a part of our cover story. I’d grown up working the ships before I joined the army.”

As my gaze took in my mild-mannered father, I couldn’t imagine him acting violent and tough like one of Dare’s bodyguards. “Did you…” I swallowed hard. “Did you ever kill people?”

Dad’s face flushed. “No, I certainly did not. The Trakos’ had enforcers to do that,” he blustered.

“Just because we worked for the family, we weren’t a part of their world like you’re thinking.”

“Well, one of us was,” Dad said softly.

Mom’s expression turned to one of anguish. “And we all paid the price.”

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