He frowns in confusion, and Jace laughs, grabbing him by the hand.
“Because we tend to get a little loud when we fuck,” he says quietly in case Edie is still within earshot.
“Oh yeah, okay, good call.” They both hurry after her.
“I’ll start unloading the bags,” Cole says, and Riku and Ash volunteer to help him, which leaves me with Shane.
Shane’s quiet as I step up to the huge, bi-fold doors that lead to a veranda with a spectacular view of the rest of the property, overlooking the ocean. “This is gorgeous. I bet you can take some great photos here,” I say to him as he wraps his arms around my waist, hugging me from behind.
“I brought my waterproof case, so maybe I can get some photos of us using the equipment later in the week.”
“That would be nice.”
“Jazzy, babe, did Diego seem familiar to you?” he asks after a few moments.
I feel my forehead wrinkle in a frown. “No, I don’t think so. Why? I mean, I guess I really didn’t look at him that closely.”
“Babe, come sit down.” He leads me to a sofa, and we sit down together, our bodies angled so that we can look at each other while we speak. “I might be wrong, but I don’t think I am. I probably look at people differently due to my profession, but I would stake my reputation on this. I’m almost a hundred percent sure that Diego is actually Dragos. Think about what he’d look like with short black hair and no glasses. He’s basically the spitting image of what Jax will look like in twenty years.”
I feel my heart race at his words, and I jump to my feet and start pacing back and forth across the tiled floors, mulling over what he just said, trying to picture it in my head.
“Do you really think so?” I ask him, and he nods.
“Yeah, babe, I really do.”
“Why wouldn’t he tell me?”
“I guess it’s probably as much of a shock to him as it was to you. Remember, you’ve known for a lot longer. Maybe he just wasn’t sure how to tell you. Not to mention, he’s obviously using a different identity. It couldn’t have been easy being the son of Count Bucataru. Maybe he’s hiding in plain sight too.”
“I need to know. I’m going to find him. Watch Dolce for me?”
“Whoa, hold your horses,” he says as the other guys return with our bags.
“Why are we holding our horses?” Cole asks, dropping the bags he’s holding onto the ground.
Probably realizing how much I need to get on the move right now, Shane says, “Riku, can you go with Jazzy? I’ll explain to the others.”
“Thank you.” I hurry in the direction I saw Diego go, hoping that Riku keeps up.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Jacinta
“Hey, slow down! What are we doing? Where are we going?” Riku catches up to me as I exit the house. Looking around the property, I try to decide where he went.
The backyard is gently sloped downward, away from the house, and it’s filled with vegetation, but I can see a few buildings in the distance. I take a wild stab that one of them is the guest house, find a trail that’s well traveled and not as overgrown as the rest of the backyard, and head in that direction.
“Shane thinks Diego is actually Dragos,” I call over my shoulder, and I hear Riku curse and the thud of feet as he runs to catch up with me. In his hand is his pistol, and he pushes in front of me to lead the way.
“What are you doing?” I ask, a little surprised at seeing the weapon.
“If he is your biological dad, we don’t know if he’s friendly or not.”
“If he wanted to hurt us, I think he would have laid a trap for our arrival.”
“Maybe, but let’s just be careful anyway.”
It doesn’t take us long before we reach the tiny replica of the main house. There, sitting on the patio, with a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other, is the man Shane thinks is my father.
