Page 44 of Wild Card (The Trident Trilogy 3)

“I’m not worried about it,” I say, standing up. “You shouldn’t be either. I know who my dad is.”

“Mills,” he says, reaching for my hand. I pull away from him. “C’mon. You know that’s the way I’m built. I like to know things for certain. Don’t be mad at me.”

I shake my head. “I’m not mad at you. I don’t want to do that to Dad. He told me a long time ago he had a paternity test done. I don’t want to question him—”

“He’s lied to you before—”

“Mason!” I spin around and glare at him. “Seriously, stop. I’m going to take a nap. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

He follows me into the sitting room. The sun’s coming through the open terrace doors and landing in a warm puddle on the couch. I collapse down into the middle of it and pull a few pillows under my head.

“Mills,” he says, gently stroking my hair.

“Mase, please. Let’s talk about it later. I’m so tired.” My eyes start to tear up. I’ve been wildly emotional since Dad got back. I’m hoping that’s going to go away soon.

“You’ve been tired a lot lately. Maybe you should go to the doctor when we get back.”

“I’m fine. This last month has just been more than my mind can take. Can I please take a nap?”

“Okay, baby.” He pulls a blanket over me and tucks it under my chin. “I’m going down to the courtyard to have a beer with the guys. Will you join us when you wake up?”

“Yeah,” I say as I close my eyes. A tear escapes from my eye and rolls down my cheek. Mason stops it with a kiss. When he starts to stand up, I grab his arm.

“I love you, Mase,” I say as I smile up at him.

“I love you, baby.” He leans over and kisses my forehead. “More than anything in the world.”

As I roll over and close my eyes again, I hear him closing the door softly as he heads downstairs. I’m about to drift off to sleep when I hear the door opening again.

“Mase, I’m fine.”

I roll over to see Amar Petrovic standing across the room with a gun in his hand.

“Amar,” I say slowly.

He takes a few steps toward me. His eyes are red and swollen. “We could have been so happy. I would have been such a good father to you.”

“Amar.” I push myself up as he raises the gun. “Put the gun down. Let’s talk about this.”

“I’m so tired of talking.” He turns around and starts walking to the other side of the room. I’m about ready to run for the door when he turns back around and raises the gun to his temple. “I’m so tired of everything.”

“Amar, no!” I jump up and put my arms out as I slowly walk toward him. “Don’t. Please don’t do this. My mom wouldn’t want you to do this.”

“Yes, she would—after what I did to her—”

“Amar.” As I take another step toward him, he looks down—his arm dropping slightly. I spring forward and tackle him to the ground. The gun fires as I land on top of him.

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