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I nodded. “Yeah, but I had started to piece some of that together anyway.” I looked over at Huck and Gage. “I heard more than you all realize,” I said. “Huck hung them on a cross after shooting them. That’s not normal.”
Gage chuckled and tried to cover it with a cough.
“The men who took you, they did it because of me. You became something I had never had before. A weakness. You’re a target. My claiming you made you that. It’s why I’d tried so damn hard to stay away from you.”
“They were another mob?” I asked.
He snarled, “No. They were fucking lowlife dealers. We have enemies. That happens in this life.”
I felt like there was more to that than some drug dealers, but right now, I had too much to process. “How did they find me? How did you?” I asked him.
“Your phone. Melanie gave it to you, but I’d bought the phone. I’d put the tracking device in it. They took the phone, of course, and turned it off. They wanted something from me, so they wouldn’t destroy the phone. They kept it to contact me directly. But the device wasn’t in the phone. It was in the case.”
It was all starting to fall together. His insisting I take the phone. His number being in it that time he had texted me.
“How does horse racing fit into this world?” I asked.
“It’s how the family was started. It’s also a big part of who we are. Gambling, politics, controlling drugs inside and outside of the track.”
I knew something was being left out, but I didn’t push.
“That’s everything?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he replied.
I didn’t say anything, and I heard the chairs move as the others stood to leave. The kitchen cleared out, and when it was just the two of us, I looked at Blaise.
“I wouldn’t have run from you if you’d told me,” I told him. “But I understand.”
He studied me. “Can you ever love me? Knowing all this?”
I laughed at his question. “You are worried about me falling in love with you? What about you? You’re not only beautiful, sexy, and wealthy. You will also have power. You already do. Women are drawn to that. They’ll throw themselves at you. I see them do it now. I should be the one worried about you falling in love with me.”
An arrogant smile curled his lips. “You think I’m beautiful and sexy?”
I rolled my eyes.
Blaise cupped my face with his left hand. “Baby, I’ve been in love with you for fucking years. I fell in love with you before you ever laid eyes on me. Truth is, I was in love with you when you were jailbait.”
My mouth fell open. “What? You didn’t know me. You couldn’t have loved me.”
He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips. “You were that damn special. So strong and loyal. I almost killed that fucker Hank when he cheated on you. I hated him for having you, but to have you and not realize how damn lucky he was? The shit didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”
“I need a moment,” I told him. “Maybe give me time to process all this before you tell me any more.”
He kissed my lips again. “Take all the time you need.”
“There is one thing you should know,” I told him.
He frowned. “Okay.”
“You’re my home. And I realized that when I thought I was going to die. You were the only thing I didn’t want to lose. Nothing else mattered but you.”
He kissed me again, then whispered, “I love you too.”
Thirty-Five
The next month, things all began to make sense. I didn’t feel like I was being kept out of something or being lied to. I convinced Blaise to let me get a job. It was working for him, of course, and I was enjoying it. I didn’t clean stalls at Hughes Farm, but I did start helping with bookkeeping and running the stable offices. Blaise moved Empire back to the farm too.
