Page 20 of Daddy's Oath
She looked at him. “I took acting classes back in my teens and early twenties. Had thoughts about being on Broadway or in movies.” She shrugged. “I learned to conceal it and speak with sort of a regional neutral dialect. Sort of like how the studio makes that town square on the back lot look like it could be anysmall town in the United States. I’ve worked hard to blend in like that. Fit anywhere.”
“Which means,” Ace said, “that you must be on the run from something. Or rather, someone.”
Lana nodded. It didn’t matter if she was shaking or not. She needed a drink of tea. She took one and then continued her story. “My family… they’re not… nice people.” Her words caught, and that’s when she noticed for the first time that she was on the verge of tears.
“When you say not nice, what do you mean exactly?” Isaiah prompted.
“I mean that my father was high up in a Latin American crime family. When he died—shot on the street, by the way, in a hit—my mom married another guy who was even higher up. And even worse.”
A cold chill traced her spine. She had a drink of tea for the warmth.
“My mom’s husband rose beyond the rank my dad had. I, uh, don’t know what they call themselves. Lieutenant or captains or whatever. But Miguel—that’s my mom’s husband—made his way to the top. Until I testified against him. But he still runs things from prison. Or so I’ve heard.”
Looking across the table at Ace, she saw a light of recognition flicker in his eyes. “You’re in Witness Protection.”
Lana smiled and nodded. “Or I was. Until tonight. Someone found me.”
“Why not call the U.S. Marshals? Surely you have a deputy assigned to you.” The question came from Isaiah. Lana looked at him, mesmerized momentarily by his hotness. He was handsome and sexy, sure, but he wasn’t calling to her Little soul the same way Ace was.
What was it about that man that was getting to her? And was now really the right time to even be thinking of such things?
She just couldn’t help it. There was something about Ace that put her at ease.
And sent her mind reeling as she considered all the possibilities…
But now wasn’t the right time. There probably wouldn’t be a right time, either. A Daddy as hot and sexy as Ace surely already had a Little. No way he was single.
She didn’t see a ring on his finger. That didn’t mean anything, though. He could still very well be taken.
Telling herself to stop thinking like that, she remembered Isaiah’s question.
“Yeah. I have a handler. Or case manager or whatever they call it. But I panicked. Someone found me tonight. Are the Marshals compromised or whatever? I just… The people who were breaking into my apartment used my real name, and it spooked me. I don’t know who to trust. But Harrison had mentioned a group that helped Littles. I didn’t know how to reach him, but I knew Auntie Athena would. So I came here.” She shuddered, the whole thing still feeling surreal and making her sick to her stomach.
Ace stood. The way he walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water without asking spoke of a familiarity with Auntie Athena’s Nursery. Was he a regular here because he had a Little who enjoyed playing? Or did he work security or something? Seems like she remembered off-duty cops backing Trevon up the night she’d attended the party there.
After taking a drink of water, Ace started pacing. “Walk me through what happened tonight.”
“Well, I guess it started earlier today, actually.” Lana leaned back a little and looked at Harrison. “Back at the studio.”
Harrison smiled. “With the runaway tram.”
“Yep.”
“Runaway tram?” Isaiah said. “I really want to hear this!”
Lana chuckled and it felt good to laugh.
“It’s a long story. But basically, someone accidentally mistook a movie prop tram for one of the tour ones. They stuck it in the fleet and the thing wasn’t ready yet. Anyway, it wouldn’t stop. There were tourists on it. I was eating my lunch when it went by and I was able to stop it.” She shrugged. “No big deal. But an entertainment show was there filming and they saw the whole thing. They tried to interview me. I didn’t give them much, but I think they put it on TV. Someone must have recognized me.”
Ace stopped pacing and said, “Perhaps. But that still leaves some holes we need to fill in.”
“Like how they knew where I lived?” she asked.
“Yep. And how they got to you so quickly. You say this crime family is in Boston?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Yet they got to you the night that footage aired on TV,” he continued. “It’s possible for a flight to make it from Boston to LA that quickly. But not plausible.”
