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“Your mum was my older sister. I was only a child when she left our family. I have very few memories of her. But she was purchased for your father.”
“My dad? My dad has never had any money,” I explain, my brows pinched tightly.
“No, but your grandparents did.”
“Who were they?”
She shakes her head. “No one important that I can find. Your grandfather was a businessman with connections in all the right places and dreams of things far beyond his reach. He tried to rule over anyone he could, your father included.
“From what I’ve found, your father’s choices were… questionable. Your grandfather thought he was doing him a favour by buying him a wife. But it didn’t make any difference. He still defied the rules.
“I’ve spoken to your father.” My breath catches at her confession. “Deep, deep down, I don’t think he’s a bad person.” I shake my head, refusing to accept that.
“I’m not saying he’s good either, Evie. I’m just saying that he’s a product of his upbringing. His young life was hard, and he took every ounce of bitterness and hatred and allowed it to carve out the rest of his life. I think your mum might have been his only bit of light.”
My lips open and close as I try to figure out what to ask first.
“My grandparents?”
“Dead. With thanks to your father. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that your dad and Derek were involved with bad people.”
“But he sold me, was going to sell Blakely if she hadn’t lost her virginity so young. Why, why would he do that if—”
She sighs sadly. “I don’t know. He refused to talk about it. At best, maybe he was hoping you might find a better life. At worst, he didn’t have a choice. It could be a whole host of things. He’s… he’s not well, Evie. I don’t think he has been for a very long time.”
“He’s been a terrible father to all of us,” I state. “I don’t know why they’ve kept him alive.”
“He doesn’t have to be,” she says coldly. “Say the word, and I’ll take care of it.”
I stare at her, beyond overwhelmed by all of this. But as I look into her eyes, that comfort I found in her in the car, and even before that… How she relaxed me with just her presence in Damien’s office… It makes so much sense.
Mum had that aura about her too.
“I can see it now,” I whisper. “You have her eyes.”
She hangs her head, cutting off my inspection of her, but not before I catch the emotion etched onto her face.
“You did it, Luciana. You found them, and you took them to the ground.”
She glances at her watch. “By now, they should have done that literally as well.”
18
ALEX
Iwake with a start, and the second my surroundings clear, the confusion sets in.
I blink a couple of times, trying to figure out if my brain is tricking me, or if I’m really in my bedroom at Dad’s.
My head is hazy. And really fucking numb. The kind of numbness that comes courtesy of seriously strong painkillers.
Images flicker through my mind.
The church.
The cross.
The men.
