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“What kind of questions?”
“Typical personal questions about my life. Don’t worry. I was guarded in everything I told him. Is that important?”
“Everything could be.” At this point, I wouldn’t rule anything out. There was a reason Lazor had asked for a meeting with her. I was more certain of that than ever.
“When I saw the news report, I checked my files. That’s when I realized someone had hacked my computer at my house, which is where I’d kept my notes and the tape recording I’d done, which was left. The perpetrator was smart, the copy almost undetectable, but I’d learned from my father how to notice discrepancies, the time stamps and other indications easy to read if you pay attention, which I always have. By that point, it didn’t matter.”
“Did you tell anyone about the theft?”
“What would it matter?” she asked, almost exasperated.
“That’s when you started receiving threats.”
Her sigh was strangled and as she nodded, she avoided eye contact. “Less than two days after the first arrests. At first, it seemed like the few others I’d received. Then I could tell I was being followed.”
“There was another reason you agreed to attend the graduation. Wasn’t there?”
There was something about the way she brushed her fingers across her lips that indicated her reasoning had nothing to do with a family gathering. “Okay, fine. I planned on talking to my father, asking his advice, but I just…”
“Because you’d met me.”
“Maybe. I don’t know, Valentin. My father went on and on about crucifying you and I didn’t have the stomach to pull him into my world in Chicago. He would have demanded I come home, which I didn’t want. Maybe I thought I was overreacting, but you’re right. I knew I needed help. Hell, I was at the point of getting out of Chicago altogether. It’s just not as easy as you think.”
I studied her, noticing the twitch in the corner of her mouth.
“What are you hiding, my angel?”
“I’m not hiding anything.”
Her insistence was far too quick, another indication she had more to tell me.
“When was the last threat?” I asked, inching close enough she seemed uncomfortable with my presence.
“I don’t know. Two weeks ago?”
“Yet they used their connections, family members who hunger to take a piece of my territory and easily found you outside my restaurant. How is that possible? Whatever the reason, that you’re lying to me will not be tolerated. I need to know if I can trust you.”
When she turned to face me, she lunged forward, pummeling her fists against my chest. “Trust? You’re demanding to be able to trust me when you dragged me away to another country? I’m not your enemy. You have dozens of those, hundreds. Millions for all I know.”
I quickly grasped her wrists, holding her in place as struggled, her eyes shooting the venom that I’d seen since the beginning.
“You’re right, Cassidy. I have dozens of people who would have no issue ending my life. Given that’s difficult if not impossible, they will do everything in their power to make me suffer. If that means destroying what little I care about, then that’s exactly what they’ll do.”
“Does that mean you care about me? How is that even possible? You have no capacity for love or anything else.”
I dragged her closer, taking several deep breaths. She had a way of getting under my skin, digging at the very scars that I’d hoped were sealed forever. “Yes, I loved someone before. Once. That’s all it took for me to realize that it can never happen again.” I said the words with far too much fervor, yet they needed to be said.
“So you want me but only for sex. Is that it? To soothe the beast inside of you? I’m not that person. Just let me go.”
I allowed her to jerk her arms free and when I did, she scampered away, moving to the very tree where I’d spanked and fucked her. When she looked up at the thick branches, she closed her eyes. “Maybe I do hate you, Valentin. Or maybe one day I will.”
For a few seconds, I remained where I was, incapable of providing any answers, any kindness that would matter. Did I trust her? The question was not one I found easy to answer. “Danielle was my world for a few months. I was lucky to have them. She had a son, an adorable little boy. I’d been shot, taken to the emergency room. She was the doctor that night. Against my better judgment, I asked her out for coffee. One thing led to another. You asked if I could love anyone. The answer is yes, I loved her deeply, but fate decided to intervene.”
Slowly, she turned her head in my direction. “What happened? Did some monster from your world kill her?”
I noticed her lower lip was quivering. “I never allowed my world to interfere with hers, and certainly not since she had a child. He was precocious and everything to her. We pretended, Cassidy. We lived a lie until cancer took her from me.”
“Oh, no.”
