Page 347 of Tempted By her Daddies

Salem crouched in front of her. “Let him go. The others will find him.”

“No. It has to be me.”

Roman moved closer, his face pale. “You need looking after right now, darling girl.”

“You don’t understand. I know where he’s going. We have to get to him. He could hurt them otherwise.”

Realization filled Salem and Roman’s faces, but it was Alexei who picked her up.

“Tell me where to go.”

They took off at a fast pace with Alexei carrying her the entire way.

When they reached the spot where she knew he’d be, they found him frantically pulling the branches and camouflage off the helicopter.

She tapped Alexei’s shoulder as he gazed back at them. She’d never seen him look anything but calm and in control.

“Put me down,” she commanded.

“No,” he said stubbornly.

“Put me down. I need to do this.”

The three of them shared a look.

“Fine. But you don’t go near him, and you don’t do anything stupid or Alexei will pick you up and take you back to the others,” Salem told her.

“This isn’t over,” her father told her as he turned to her. It was then that she realized he was injured. There was blood dripping down his face and he held his arm against his chest. Was it broken?

He gasped, his face red.

“I won’t be taken down. I am a God!”

“No,” she said quietly. “You’re just a man. You might be a monster, but monsters can die. They can have their power stripped from them. They can become nothing.”

“I will never be nothing!” he cried, stepping toward her. “This is all your mother’s fault.”

She gave him a shocked look. What was he talking about? He never spoke of her mother.

Tamsyn became aware of others joining them, hidden in the shrubbery, but they stayed back.

“How is this my mother’s fault?”

“I told her to get rid of you,” he snarled. “I told her that you would be nothing but trouble. And that’s all you’ve been. A headache for me to deal with. But she insisted on keeping you. She loved you.”

“And you let her?”

He gave a sharp bark of laughter. “My father always said that all women were good for were fucking and having children. My mother couldn’t handle him . . . she threw herself from a balcony. I saw it happen. Found the body. It was good riddance.”

That was awful. Horrific.

“My father sent me away to school. It wasn’t a good place. I was only six. Then when I was ten, he met Mary. Riordan’s mother. And I was brought back to live at home.”

“So he’s my uncle,” she said.

“No. He’s a fucking waste of space. Should have killed him years ago. His mother snuck away with Riordan when he was five, but did she take me? No! She left me with my father.”

God.

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