“A gift?” I shudder.
“A nicely wrapped package that contained the clothes you were wearing when my brothers found you.”
My eyes bug out. “Why?”
“To fuck with him and draw him out.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Eliminate him, Little love,” Navin says softly.
My heart races, and I lurch forward to throw my arms around Daddy’s neck. “I’m scared, Daddy.”
He rubs my back. “I know, Little love, but I won’t be gone long, and when I’m back, you’ll be free.”
Tears come to my eyes. What if something happens to Navin?
“There’s no reason to be afraid, Brea. Mitchel is alone. He’s also conveniently high. He did two lines of cocaine before he left the house. He’s a scrawny man, Little love. I’m twice his size, and so are all of my brothers.”
“What if he brings a gun? I know he has one. I’ve seen it. He likes to wave it around like a lunatic.” I flinch as I have another thought. “Can you heal from a gunshot wound?”
“I’m not immortal, Little love. I can be killed. If one of us is ever shot in a vital organ, we can die. But that’s not going to happen. I promise. You have to trust Daddy to take care of this. If I don’t, we’ll always be looking over our shoulders. Plus, you don’t want Mitchel to traffic any other women, right?”
I sigh and nod. “I’m not looking forward to being dragged into the police station to tell my story, Daddy.”
“You won’t be, Brea. Two of my brothers are at Mitchel’s house now. They will clean up any evidence he ever knew you. You’re being erased from his world as we speak. The cops will never know you were kidnapped and held in his basement. I promise.”
“How did you and I meet then?”
He smiles. “We’ll come up with a story. I must have gone to your town for some reason, and we fell in love.” He shrugs. “Easy peasy.”
I stare at him. Everything he’s saying makes sense, but it’s so much information and so fast. Plus, I’m worried about him going after Mitchel. “Do you have a bulletproof vest or something?”
“I’m not going to get shot, Little love.” He lifts my fingers to his mouth and kisses my knuckles.
I bite my bottom lip, and then I nearly jump out of my skin when there’s a knock at the door.
“It’s just Orion and Pryce.” Daddy stands and heads for the door to let them in.
I sit taller, my spine stiff. Hell, all of me is stiff. I’m nervous. I’ve never been so worried about someone else. I’ve never felt this attached to another person before, not enough to really care if they lived or died.
The death of my brothers will probably make me sad for a few days, but they deserved what they got. I won’t mourn them very hard. Losing my mom was difficult, but she wasn’t exactly a model parent. I was better off not having to worry about myself and her at the same time.
In just a few short days, I’ve become so attached to Navin that it will devastate me if anything happens to him.
“Hey, Brea,” Orion says as he takes a seat in one of the armchairs.
Pryce smiles at me. “You look much healthier. I’m glad to see you well.” He sits in the other armchair, sets his elbows on his knees, and rubs his hands together.
They both seem uncomfortable. I suspect they’d rather do anything than babysit me.
I jerk my gaze to Daddy. “Who’s going with you?”
“There will be several of us, Little love. Don’t you fret. Sylas is following Mitchel. We’ll hold all the cards. We know exactly where he is, and we will every step of the way.”
I chew on my bottom lip and tuck my hands under my thighs to keep from fidgeting.
Daddy turns toward Orion and Pryce. “There’s pasta in the oven. There are bottles made up in the fridge if she gets hungry and doesn’t want to eat anything solid. There’s also juice in sippy cups.”
