Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
DALILA
I wake up in the morning in Nevio’s embrace.
Sleepily, I open my eyes just a crack and reach up to wrap my hand around his bicep, tracing the curves and touching his skin.
Last night left me speechless. The way we connected. The way he moved with me. It was like he could read my mind. I never knew it could feel that incredible. The books I read - they were always heated, spicy, wild, dangerous - but that - that was something completely different and something I don’t even know how to describe.
For the life of me.
I can’t make my heart stop beating wildly every time I think of him.
Is this what love feels like?
He makes me feel seen. Like maybe I am the only person in the entire world he wants to see. He makes me feel heard and appreciated. He makes me feel beautiful, happy, safe.
It must be love.
I grin and close my eyes again. Outside the window I can see soft snow flakes drifting in a breeze. It’s so warm and cozy inside here - I’ll just snuggle for a little while longer before I get up.
I feel him moving, rolling, and pulling me with him.
He lets out a yawn and then buries his face in my hair.
“Morning, little cutie.” He says, running his hands up and down my back as he stretches out his legs, trying to wake his muscles up.
“Morning.” I smile, pressing against him.
Glancing over at the alarm clock on the side of his bed, my eyes shoot wide open.
I dozed off again and slept for another hour and a half.
“Is it coffee time?” he asks, looking down at me.
“Definitely.” I agree.
We both climb out of bed and Nevio hands me a thick black dressing gown, fluffy like a blanket. He rolls the sleeves up for me because they are too long and then ties the cord around my waist, so I don’t trip over everything.
“Cozy?”
“Very.”
Down in the kitchen, sitting on the edge of the counter staring down at my woolies socks with panda bear faces on them, while Nevio makes the coffee, I am thinking about my father.
“You’re very quiet.” Nevio steps close to me and runs his hands over the outside of my thighs.
“Just thinking.”
“About?”
“My dad.”
He nods, listening, giving me a chance to say something if I want to without pushing me for information.
I sigh, then thread my fingers through his. “I might want to meet with him and ask him some questions. I think last night everything took me by surprise — finding out what he did — it shocked me, and I didn’t actually say the things I wanted to say or ask him anything.”
“What would you ask him if you could?”
“I want to understand what he was thinking. Maybe, I don’t know, but maybe it will help me - it just hurts so much that he made that choice. Like he didn’t care at all. It’s not how I viewed him, you know. He’s my dad. He’s always been my dad . But now I can’t see him the same way again and it’s really bothering me.”
“Your entire perspective has shifted?”
“Yes. Everything I thought I knew about him - it just doesn’t match up in my head anymore.”
“Do you really think that talking to him will help?”
“I hope it will. Because how else am I going to understand it?”
“In my life, I’ve come to realize that some things are not meant to be understood. Especially when dealing with other people’s selfish choices. It’s sometimes just better to let it go - but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try to understand first. But - if it doesn’t turn out the way you want - just know that everything will still be ok.”
I nod. He’s right. I might never understand why my father did what he did - but I do need to talk to him.
Nevio makes the arrangements for me. I am going to meet my father at a coffee shop in town. Nevio is sending one of his guards with me as I’ve asked to go alone. I need to speak to my dad alone. Nevio is not happy about that part of it, but he agreed. I think he can see it in my eyes - how much I need to do this.
At eleven thirty Nevio is standing at the side of the car, holding the door open and looking down at me, sitting in the back.
“Keep your phone on you. Call me if anything happens. I’ll be there in a matter of minutes.” He keeps shifting from foot to foot as though he’s nervous.
“Nev, it’ll be ok. I’m just going straight there and straight back. My father also has his security at the coffee shop, so I’ll be safe.”
“Mm.” He sighs, not convinced.
He leans down, grabbing my jaw in his hands and kissing me deeply.
“I’ll see you in an hour.” He says, setting a time limit on my outing.
I grin and nod. “An hour.”
The car door closes and the driver heads towards town. My stomach is twisting nervously, dread building in the base of spine and tingling all the way up my neck.
Maybe I’m making a mistake. Maybe I don’t need to know. What if I don’t like the answers he gives me?
I chew on my bottom lip as we get closer and closer.
The sound of screeching tires makes me jump. My heart is slamming against my chest.
The window next to me explodes inward, sending glass glittering through the car. I pin my head away and feel it landing like snowflakes in my hair. Sharp, tiny shards of glass.
The driver is pulling the wheel left, but our tires aren’t even on the ground anymore. His head slams into the roof of the car and blood explodes from his nose.
I scream. I can feel the air being forced from my lungs, but I can’t hear anything.
My ears are ringing, a high-pitched tone that is constantly drowning out all other noises.
I don’t know how long I am hanging upside down in the back seat, my hair spilling over my face as it reaches for the roof, blood running to my cheeks and making my head feel heavy and painful.
Hands reach through the window and grab at me. A massive knife slices across the safety belt and my body slumps forward. I reach my hands up to stop myself from falling onto the roof of the car, but someone already has me. Hands are pulling me out of the vehicle.
I can see the shattered glass everywhere, blood pooling from the side of the car where the driver is. I can’t see him though.
The car is a wreck. A right off.
Still in someone’s grasp, I try to reach forward for my cell phone, but I get yanked back, sending pain shooting through my neck. Then a heavy boot kicks my phone away.
Don’t do that. I need to call him.
I need him to come and get me.
I want to go home.
“Get her in the van.”
The ringing stops and noise assaults my ears. All at once.
Sirens, screaming, men shouting.
I am lifted and tossed into the back of a white delivery type van.
“No.” I scream, not understand what is happening.
“Shut her up, for fuck’s sakes.”
I turn to look at the men talking. I don’t know why I expected to see the uniforms of paramedics — but I see very familiar-looking security uniforms.
The same uniforms worn by the three men who chased me in the forest.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t scream.
Everything is spinning with thick panic coursing through me.
Malone’s men have me.
It’s not what I want to do, because my father always taught me not to show weakness, but tears are flooding down my cheeks. I can’t stop them.
I can’t hold back the idea that the only person who knew I was going to be out here today was my father.
Did he give me up again - did he sell me out a second time?
The thought churns in my mind as the van speeds away from the city towards a location outside of our territory. Into the heart of our enemies’ space.