Page 136 of Hidden Memories

Help?

The word tastes bitter. He didn’t help when I became a teenage girl without a mom to guide me. Help wasn’t what he offered me at eighteen when he tore Santi away from me with nothing but a cold decree. Help wasn’t what he gave when I was suffocating in that marriage, bruised and desperate for an out.

Help wasn’t what he gave me when I needed him most.

“He wants to help?” The disbelief is sharp, edged with exhaustion.

Gabriel nods, his expression unreadable. “It’s your call. But if you talk to him, we all do.”

Santi doesn’t say anything, but his dark eyes consider me carefully. He won’t make this choice for me, but I feel the tension rolling off him in waves.

Then my mind flickers upstairs to where my little boy is sleeping.

And Nic’s final words—this isn’t over.

There could still be a mole. There could still be someone watching, waiting for an opening.

I force myself to find one more moment of courage. “Luis, would you stay here in case Theo wakes up?”

He nods without hesitation.

But I’m still uneasy.

As if reading my mind, Anton steps forward. “I’ll stay, too.”

Relief unfurls in my chest—small but steady. Anton’s instincts are too sharp to ignore. If there’s even an ounce of danger left behind, he’ll catch it.

Santi watches me, his fingers flexing at his sides. “Are you sure about this?”

I shake my head. “No.”

But then I set my shoulders. Let the old anger settle in my bones like armor. If my father knows something that can help us end this, we need to hear him out.

When we get to the gate, the familiar shapes of the ranch are unchanged, but my father is a foreigner standing at the side of his car.

As we approach, his gaze flickers across the faces surrounding me, wary and uncertain. What he sees isn’t just a family—it’s a fortress. A small-town army of men who don’t hesitate to draw a line in the sand and say–here.This is where you stop. And for the first time, I realize—I don’t just belong here. I am protected here.

While my dad doesn’t know their full strength, I do. It’s a reminder that this place, these people, are more than my haven—they’re my shield. And tonight, my father is an outsider, stepping into a world he can’t control.

My dad’s expensive suit is wrinkled and his tie hangs loose around his neck. His face is pale, down-turned, with something that looks suspiciously like regret. For a moment, he hesitates, his mouth opening as if to speak, but no words come out. He appears older than I remember, the lines on his face deeper, the weight of his choices etched into every crease.

And yet, it’s not just the years that have worn him down—it’s everything that’s come to light. His ambition, his pride, the deals he made, and the ones he didn’t. Those choices shaped my life as much as they did his, pushing me into a marriage that was never about love but obligation. A partnership forged in his vision of security and alliances, as if I were another piece on his chessboard, one I still, in my little-girl heart, want to believe he thought was for my own good. Did he know how much it all hurt me?

Now, seeing him like this—worn, humbled, almost fragile—it’s hard not to wonder if he regrets it.

As much as I want to lash out, to make him feel the anger and hurt I carried for years, I know it won’t change the past. It won’t take away the pain of what I endured or undo the choices he made. It won’t give me back the time I lost trying to fit into a life he said was best forme.

All that matters now is that he knows I’m no longer his daughter to mold but a woman who broke free to find herself.

Santi steps closer, his presence protective and commanding. “What do you want, Paul?”

My dad flinches but holds his ground. His words are unpolished. “I came to help.”

“Help?” Santi’s tone is sharp and unforgiving. “Where was that help when Kat needed it? When Theo was taken?”

My father’s gaze shifts, his shoulders sagging. “I’ve made mistakes,” he falters. “I know that. But I’ve handed over information—real information—that can bring Nic and the Mafia down.”

I sense shame in his words, but I ignore it, along with any sympathy that rises in my chest seeing him defeated like this. At one point, probably the last time he was here, he held information back to cover his tracks instead of ensuring Theo and I were safe. He lied. Hedidknow something.

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