Page 90 of Surrender

I shrug. “She’s not a typical girl. She likes me, she just has issues. Like I said, no need to worry about it. I’ll handle it.”

“When you say you’ll handle something like a kidnapping, I have some questions,” Dad says. “You’ve never handled a kidnapping before.”

“It’s light kidnapping.”

“You’re perceiving a lot of different degrees of kidnapping where the law doesn’t,” he advises.

“The law will never be involved,” I assure him.

“Yes, I know.” His gaze meets mine meaningfully. “I won’t have you putting the family at risk over a fling, Silvan.”

“She’s not a fling.” The words are out before I think them through, but they’re the truth. “I’m in love with her. It’s taking her a little longer to return the feeling, but she’ll get there.”

Mom with her soft heart and lack of anchor in the real-world smiles over at Dad. “Aw, Richard, he’s in love.”

“With a girl he kidnapped.”

“A little bit,” Mom adds, like that makes it okay. “Even the girl said only a little bit.”

“Melanie, you cannot slightly kidnap someone.”

Mom’s cheeks pinken at his admonishing tone and use of her name. Usually, it’s her own foolishness that brings out his sharper side, but since it’s mine this time, she decides to leave me to it and butt out.

Her gaze drops to Dad’s desk for some distraction to let him know she’s letting him handle things. She finds the morning newspaper and grabs it, but as soon as she does, Dad stops her, planting a hand on the paper to keep her from taking it.

I try to imagine what Sophie would say if I did a thing like that.

Mom just smiles and looks at Dad with a glint of love in her eyes, then teases, “Guess I’m not reading the paper today.”

“No, I guess you’re not.” Perhaps to soften his admonishment, he dips his head and steals a neck kiss, then he kisses her jaw. She smiles softly as their lips meet, but we’re in the middle of something so he doesn’t linger.

Mom’s attention flits back to me once she doesn’t feel shut out of the conversation anymore. “How did you two meet?”

I hesitate to tell the truth since it hasn’t been long, but there’s little use complicating things with lies.

“I met her at my Halloween party.”

Most people might find the timeline alarming, but the men in my family have a tendency to move fast once their gaze locks onto the prize they want, so Dad doesn’t bat an eye.

“And you’re sure you’re in love with her? It’s not just lust?”

I nod. “She’s all I can think about. I want to make her smile even when I’m not around to see it. I’m completely gone for her, Dad. It’s not lust. I’ve felt that plenty of times. This is different.”

He and my mom exchange a look.

I keep going. “I’m not going to hurt her. I just need to keep her in close quarters for a while so I can batter at her resistance. The foundation is there. She likes me; she just… doesn’t want to. She’ll give in eventually. I won’t give her a choice.”

“Is there anyone who will notice her missing?”

“Yes and no. She lives in a dorm room so her mom will just think she’s staying there. Her roommates like me. I could tell them she’s with me, and they’d think it’s romantic. I’ve laid all the groundwork for this to go smoothly,” I assure him.

“She goes to school with you? What about classes?”

“She doesn’t have any until Monday, and I’ll figure it out before then. I have some shit I can blackmail her with if need be. I don’t see it being a problem.”

“Is she close to her mom?” Mom asks. “She might consider it strange if she doesn’t hear from her daughter all weekend.”

“I’ll let her text her mom and roommates so I can control what she says.”

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