Page 40 of Blood Ties

“Facet said he should be okay, but he almost didn’t make it.”

Relief rips a cry from me as I tremble.

“You really did fall for him, didn’t you?” His words are sad, and his thumb brushes away my tears that just keep flowing.

“I only knew him about a month. How did that happen? It doesn’t make sense. He was supposed to kill me,” I sobbed. “He’s a killer, Dad.”

I didn’t realize my mom had come back until she was kneeling on the other side of me with her arms wrapped around me. Her forehead rested against my temple.

“It doesn’t always make sense, baby. Did we ever tell you how we really met—your dad and I?” Mom asked.

“You met in the grocery store parking lot. Right?” I sniffled. “When you ran your cart into Dad’s car.”

Mom took a deep breath and let it out. “Not exactly.”

I blinked my tears away as I frowned in confusion. My head tilted and I gave her a questioning look.

“I had been kidnapped by several of my father’s former business associates. They had hired a man to abduct me, and they were holding me for ransom. Your grandfather gave up on law enforcement finding me. I had given up on making it home alive. Then my captor became my extractor.” Her golden gaze implored me to understand what she wasn’t saying.

“Wait… what?”

“I kidnapped her,” my father reluctantly admitted.

My astonished gaze darts to my dad as my butt drops to my heels. “YoustoleMom?”

Dad winced and lifted one shoulder. Then his gaze hardened. “Nivea, it was a job. But once I got to know your mom… I couldn’t follow through with the job I’d been hired to do.”

What the actual fuck? “Are you telling me they were never going to actually give her back? That you were supposed to kill her? But grandpa loved you,” I sputtered.

“He never knew the truth,” my dad admitted. I was shell-shocked.

“Theonlyreason I’m telling you this is because, from what your dad told me, Alessio saved you and did his best to keep you safe. He has called for you every day,” Mom murmured.

My attention flew to my father as I gaped at him and my mom in disbelief. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because he was an asshole for not telling you the truth when I told him he needed to,” my father grumbled.

“I told you she should know,” Mom snapped.

“Am I the only one who is remembering that he was going to kill our daughter?” Dad practically shouted.

“But he ended up saving her instead,” my mom quietly replied as she laid her palm gently to my dad’s cheek.

My dad’s jaw clenched. Then resignation filled his gaze.

“He was able to stop the other hitman Jade hired,” he finally admitted.

My brain was scrambled. My reality was skewed. I had a hard time processing everything. History had essentially been repeating itself. What a mindfuck. It left me feeling… numb.

“So I can go home?”

“If you want. Though I wish you’d stay here,” Dad replied.

“I want.”

Dad sighed. “I’ll call to have the plane prepared.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

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