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“Porter, I know. I know that it was Storm, Winter, Zin, York, and Weston who rescued me.”
“You do? When did you know? Did they tell you?”
She shook her head and wound her fingers together on her lap. “I still have nightmares, Porter. I sleep with the lights on every night.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me? We could have spoken to the doctors and gotten you something to help.”
“No, Porter, I didn’t want to depend upon sleeping aids or something I could become addicted to. Every night I would remember a little more. But when I came here, when I was back in Salvation, things changed for me.”
“Changed how so?”
“I feel like this is home. I don’t know. I mean I never really felt right at the place we had in Chicago. Every time you brought me here after the abduction and every time I visited and even worked temporary jobs around here, I felt like I belonged.”
“I get it. I feel that way around here, around Tranquility and even in Pearl where I visited. The towns aren’t that much different.”
“I don’t think I ever really felt like I belonged, Porter. I never knew our parents.”
“I never really knew them either, Aspen. Then when Mom died, there were people always around taking care of us, but there were so many different faces.”
“I remember that, too. I know it was part of the reason why you left and joined the service.”
“I made sure that you felt strong enough to handle things, and you seemed so strong.”
“I am strong. A lot stronger than you give me credit for.”
“I think you’re strong,” Porter told her.
“Then why didn’t you tell me that it was Andrei who was responsible for my abduction?”
“Because I knew you would do exactly what you did. Seek revenge. There’s always been this side of you, Aspen, so tough and ready to fight and take on the world. You never back down. No obstacle is too big. It’s why you succeeded in life and keep succeeding. You have a gift. Even Aunt Oxsanna saw that in you immediately. She always said how strong, how brave and determined you were, even as a baby.”
“I miss her. She was a wonderful woman. To lose her to that car accident was so upsetting. I think that’s when I really started to build a wall around my heart.”
“Then you were abducted.”
“I still don’t get why. I mean Andrei told me it wasn’t supposed to happen like that. I was to be his, not sold off as a sex slave.”
“When did he say that?” Porter asked, and th
e door to the front porch pushed open.
“Did I hear you correctly?” York asked.
Aspen sighed. “He was trying to get under my skin. He was being pompous when he told me that,” she said and thought about that moment and how angry she was. But then she remembered him saying how one of his guards, his men, made a mistake and that she wasn’t supposed to be sold. Did he really know that Iakov was the one to take her? Or was he trying to cover something up? Was it part of a plan? But why? She knew no one in the mafia. She was seventeen years old and working at a small business office in town when she was taken. It didn’t make any sense.
York stood next to her as Porter took her hand. “That fucker told you that?” Porter asked.
York caressed her hair from her cheek and she glanced up toward him. She could see the concern, the anger in his hazel eyes.
“It’s not a big deal. He expected to shock me or maybe test me.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” York asked her.
“He had a lot of things to say.”
“At the party that night on the balcony or the day you ditched the guards we placed on you and you disappeared for two hours?”
“Aspen, were you with Andrei that night? The night they were looking for you and the guards lost you?” Porter asked.
