Page 50 of Three Dates (Paths to Love 2)

“You ever slept out under the stars?” I gazed up at the sky.

A soft smile teased her lips. “When I was a little girl, Mama would lay a huge blanket out in the grass behind our house. She’d sleep between me and my brother.”

“Is he older or younger?”

“Four years older.” A wistfulness tipped one corner of her mouth up.

“Do you know where he is?” As soon as I said it, I knew it was the wrong thing.

Her face fell. “I have no idea if he’s even alive.” She looked to the sky. “I pray every single day he escaped that life, but I’m scared he’d have to be up there with Mama for that to be true.” She tucked a leg up under her.

“Do you ever think of trying to contact him?”

She whipped her head toward me. “I don’t want to die.”

“Did he hurt you?” I grated out, near ready to bolt from my seat and find him.

“Whether he meant to or not, he sent me to my freedom.” She chewed on her lip. “I think he wanted to help me, but I don’t know. My father’s venom is poisonous. Once it’s inside you, it doesn’t go away.”

She’d never spoken much of her family, but the picture was getting clearer. She loved her mother, hated her father, and seemed somewhere in between when it came to her brother.

“Your mother—”

“Was an angel. When she died, she took a piece of all of us with her. What was left was ugly.”

It slayed me she’d lost someone so important. “What happened to her?”

“He killed her. That’s all that’s important.”

“Your father murdered her?” Damn. Had she seen it? How old was she? I knew Daniel found her when she was fourteen, so she must have been young.

“Not with his own hands.” Her voice was flat, as if she were detached from the situation even though she wasn’t.

“Did you—”

“See it?” she finished. “Only when they kidnapped her.”

“Who?”

“My father’s rivals.”

I pressed my fingers against my temple. Our family’s adversaries wanted our land, but I was damn sure they’d never hurt a woman. “What kind of business is he in?”

“He’s a king,” she spat.

“You’re royalty?” My head spun. IknewMuriella with every fiber of my being, but I was quickly discovering just how few facts I knew about her.

“Does a cartel princess count?” She flashed me a bitter smile. “Not exactly the kind of girl you want to take home to your mother.”

“You’re gonna meet mine.” Wouldn’t take her long to figure out I’d never be ashamed of her. I’d see to that.

She looked away. “I shouldn’t drag anyone else into my mess. If he finds out your family is associated with me, he’ll go after them to get to me.”

I tensed to the point my muscles hurt. It would be a cold day in hell before I let that happen.

“Is your father still looking for you?” The need to go after him, solve her problem permanently, sprouted and grew.

“He shouldn’t be. He believes I’m dead. But it only takes one slip-up.”

---