Page 36 of Blood Ties

“What?” My dad’s head whipped to stare at me with wide eyes before returning to the road.

“Yeah, I know. She told me to ‘ask my boyfriend why he was supposed to kill me.’ The whole time, he was the enemy. She hiredhimto kill me. Was this a sick joke to him?” My tears broke through the dam and flowed down my cheeks.

“Nivea. There’s no way she messaged you.”

“I have the message on my iPad,” I assured him.

“No, Niv. She couldn’t have messaged you—she’s dead.”

“How do you know that?” I shot a startled look at him.

“Because I killed her,” he grimly replied.

“What Would You Do?”—Seether

Iknew I fucked up, but I didn’t expect her to run. When I’d jumped up to get to her, Facet, Sabre, Voodoo, and Chains had seen the look Matt shot me and jumped up. They all stepped in front of me and two of them held me back. I fought them, but they held firm.

“Nivea!” I shouted, but she rushed out the door.

Matt paused at the door to shoot a glare at me. If looks alone could kill, I’d have dropped dead. Then he shook his head. “I told you so. You had a week to tell her and you didn’t.”

“Don’t take her from me!” I broke down and begged.

He coldly stared at me. Then he stormed out after his daughter. It wasn’t until I heard his truck start up and pull away that Facet and the boys let me go.

“Do you have a death wish?” Facet snarled in my face.

“She thinks I wanted to kill her!” I growled back.

“You were hired to kill her. Why didn’t you tell her if he made it clear you needed to?” Facet’s chin lifted as he waited for my reply.

“It wasn’t foremost in my mind. There is someone out there who is coming after her and likely me. I had other priorities!” I argued. My heart was slamming into my ribs and my hands shook. I clenched them into fists in an attempt to stop it.

She had left, and not on the best terms. I was convinced she was never going to speak to me again. It was crazy to acknowledge that I was head over heels for a chick over the period of less than a month, but there was no denying it. I’d known she was different right away, but I just hadn’t known to what extent.

In my line of work, relationships were a liability. One I wasn’t willing to risk. Because of that, I’d never allowed myself to get emotionally entangled with anyone. Except she had snuck past my defenses without me knowing and now it was too late.

“Give her some time. She’s with Matt, so you know she’s safe. While she has time to settle, we figure out who’s after the two of you. If we can stop them, then you should be in the clear. Matt already took out the stepmom, so she’s not going to hire anyone else,” he explained, and my shoulders drooped as my fury deflated.

“Wait. How the hell did she find out?” My spine straightened as I turned to stare Facet in the eye. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t have the faintest idea,” Facet murmured with his brows drawn together. He looked to Voodoo, who gave him a chin lift.

“Let me see what I can find out,” Voodoo murmured before he left.

“You think he can actually find that out?” I asked skeptically.

“If anyone can, it’s him,” Facet explained. “While he’s doing that, let’s see if we can track down the other hit man. Then we can make a plan for how you can get her to talk to your dumb ass.”

“Fine,” I grumbled.

“I’ll let you know the minute I find anything out. You’d be wise to stay here, but you’re a grown ass man and I’m not gonna tell you what to do.” Facet walked off and down the hall that led to his room where he kept his high-tech shit.

I pulled out my phone and called my brother.

“Where the fuck are you?” Vittorio ground out.

“With Facet,” I told him. “Why?”

---