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“I wish I was joking, Ana,” I said quietly.
“Where are you now? Are you safe? Where is Evan? I swear to God, I’m going to kick his ass.” Panic colored her words.
“I’m okay, I’m okay.” I had to say it several times before she stopped ranting. “If you listen, I’ll tell you everything. But I’m only going to say it once, and I’m struggling to get through it right now, so can you please, please listen to me?”
Analise huffed out a frustrated breath. “Yes. I just feel like I’m about to lose my mind now. I need to see you to know you’re okay.”
I punched the button on my phone to switch to a video call, and a second later, Analise’s worried face filled my screen.
“See, I’m okay.”
She pursed her lips, her eyes darting all over my face. “Where are you?”
“I’m in Texas, at Evan’s family home. We’re safe, out on clan lands where no one can get me,” I promised.
“Tell me everything.”
So, I did. I told her about how Tomas cornered me outside the restaurant, how he’d had a gun, how he’d forced me into a car, threatening Ana’s own safety if I didn’t comply. She let out a snarl at that.
I told her about Jax, how he’d tipped off Evan and helped me escape, and I told her about everything that’d happened since.
“So, now what? I mean, this guy needs to be behind bars.”
If only it were that simple. “I agree, Analise. But this is out of the hands of human law.”
“It’s not,” she insisted. “You’re a human, and he kidnapped you. Shifter laws and politics don’t apply when they mess with humans.”
She was right on that point, but Evan and Sebastian were plotting and planning, coming up with a solution to take Tomas down once and for all. This was so much bigger than kidnapping. He’d used me as a pawn, which pissed me off, but Tomas was dangerous and needed to be dealt with in a way human law enforcement simply couldn’t undertake.
“Evan and Sebastian are going to take care of him,” I assured her.
“That’s Evan's father?”
“Yes.” I’d told her most of the details about Evan’s family situation. “He’s a very powerful alpha dragon—perhaps the most powerful. I promise nothing is going to happen to me.”
Analise let out a sigh. “I think you need to come home. Being there on that shifter land, surrounded by dragons… I just don’t think that’s safe, either, Mariah.”
“No one here would ever hurt me. This is Evan’s family. His clan.” I didn’t have a doubt in my mind the Careys would go to bat for me. They’d welcomed me here as if I were one of their own, even if was still struggling to feel at home there. “This is the safest place I can be.”
“I don’t know.” Analise’s face twisted with doubt. “I’ve been worried about you, Mariah. For a while. You know this. But now? I’m genuinely scared. There are red flags everywhere. You know you can just walk away.”
“It’s not that simple, Ana, and you know it. I… I’ve fallen in love with both Evan and Sofia. They’re the family I’ve always wanted. I can’t just walk away. I don’t want to.”
My future was with Evan, wherever that might lead.
“I’m not okay with this.” She jutted her chin out and glanced away, not looking at me through the screen.
“I know,” I said gently. “The fact that you’re looking out for me means the world, but I need you to trust me on this. This is where I want to be.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re not coming back to New York?”
“That’s not what I meant. Of course, I have to come back. New York is where our lives are. Evan has his business. I have you. It’s my home. And then there’s the matter of the custody case. We’ll be back. I just meant that, right now, I need to be by Evan’s side, so that means being here for a bit.” Until we figured out what to do about Tomas.
“So, what about your future? Everything we talked about with going to school, pursuing a career. It’s not like you’re the nanny anymore. Are you even getting paid?”
That might need to be a conversation to have with Evan. Before the kidnapping, I’d questioned that myself, but then I hadn’t thought much about it after. We’d briefly touched on me going to school and pursuing my own dreams, too, but that’s about as far as it had gone. We needed to sit down and have a talk to better define what my role was in his and Sofia’s lives now.
“We’re figuring that out.”
