Luis glanced away, his face falling. “I don’t think that’ll happen. The last thing I found for her was her name on an organ donor list. She needed a transplant, and everything I could find seemed to point toward her not getting it. I’m pretty sure she’s gone. I’m still checking on her, though. There could be a chancesome records weren’t updated…I’m not holding out hope, but I’m still looking.”
I sank back into the couch. Suddenly, a deep and exhausting weariness washed over me. I’d napped, but I still felt like I’d been going for days. There was so much to think about. I’d found my birth parents, seen their faces, and found out their names. All that should have been exciting, but instead, it only filled me with sadness. They were both dead. David had died because some weird royal shifters had decided he was dangerous. Gabriella had to give up her child to keep her safe. I wondered if she’d actually died of a broken heart. I couldn’t imagine giving away a child, never knowing what happened to her. To never see her smile, hear her cry. No first steps, no twinkling eyes on Christmas morning. It had to have weighed on her.
“Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now,” Luis said, standing.
Nico stood and gave him a quick hug. “Thanks, bro.”
“I’m gonna head out unless you need anything else.”
“We’re good. See you tomorrow?”
Luis nodded and headed for the door. Nico showed him out and locked the door behind him. He came back over and plopped down on the couch next to me. He rubbed my thigh and let me sit in silence for a few minutes before speaking. “How are you? After all that?”
I sighed and gave a one-shouldered shrug. “It’s a lot to process.” I leaned forward and grabbed the file folder Luis had left. It had printouts of all the yearbook photos of my parents. I flipped through and couldn’t help but laugh at some of them. They looked so young and in love. So much promise and happiness ripped away for something so crazy.
Nico pointed to a picture. “I still can’t believe how much you look like your dad.”
“Yeah. It’s crazy. I never knew them. Never even saw their faces until today, but I already miss them. Is that stupid?”
Nico shook his head. “No. Especially now that you’ve learned they didn’t give you away for no reason. Your mom tried to save you. I think if your dad hadn’t died, your life would have been really different.”
“I would have never had my current parents. That’s…God, there’s no way any of this could have played out without some kind of tragedy.”
“Well, now we’ve at least got some answers. We have a place to start. Luis will try to find this Kenneth guy. The fact that they never found him dead means he probably went into hiding. If we find him, we get even closer to the truth.”
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s all going to play out the way it’s supposed to. All I can do is go along for the ride.”
Nico leaned over and kissed me. A soft, lingering kiss on the lips that almost completely pulled the stress from my body. He pulled away after a few seconds and looked me in the eyes. “We’ll figure out all of it. I promise you that. Until then, I’m going to protect you. I promised to keep you safe, and I keep my promises. I’m not afraid of a royal family that hasn’t mattered in hundreds of years. They won’t take you from me. I’ll do everything I can to make sure we get to have our happily ever after.”
16
NICO
The day before, a guy had brought in a 1960 Porsche 911 Coupe, and all my guys knew I’d want to work on it. I jumped at the chance, since we didn’t often get rare, mint-condition cars in the shop. Most of what we did were newer custom cars. This one probably cost over a hundred thousand dollars. I called Gabriel to come over and hang with Maddy before giving her a quick kiss and heading to the shop.
The thing was amazing. As soon as I walked in and saw it, I was in love. Bright candy-apple red, fully restored, custom rims—it was a thing of beauty. The guy who’d brought it in said the engine kept misfiring. It sounded like a pretty simple fix—spark plugs and ignition coil being the top two candidates. I rolled up my sleeves, put the car on the lift, and got to work. It was a good way to distract myself while I waited for Felipe’s call.
He’d been working back channels to get a meeting set up with me and Javi. I needed to talk to him face to face. To let him know, in no uncertain terms, that he needed to back the fuck off. It was probably pointless, but he needed to understand my position and the danger he was in. If he tried to touch Maddy, I wouldn’t hesitate to rip his throat out.
The spark plugs looked fine, as did the distributor cap. I followed the chain to the carburetor, and then the coil. I was right about the coil being bad.
I was elbow-deep in the replacement when Felipe called. I nearly dropped my wrench when his number popped up. I knew what it meant, and the anxiety was already building inside me.
I put my tools down and answered. “Talk to me.”
“Hey, Nico. I finally got a hold of one of Javi’s nephews. I sweet-talked him into giving me his cell number. Javi actually took my call.”
“And?”
“Meeting is set for today. One hour in the parking lot of the grocery store downtown. Public, but nottoopublic. Far end of the lot, away from most of the parking and the entrance. I already called the other guys. We’ll be nearby, hidden away in case things go sideways.”
My heart was beating heavily in my chest. “Alright. I’ll finish up here and head that way. Try to get there early.”
“Good deal. If things go well, you won’t see us, but we’ll be there,” Felipe said.
“Later.”
Shoving the phone back in my pocket, I went back to work. The grocery store was only a ten-minute walk from my shop. My concentration went to shit, and it took fifteen minutes longer than it should have to finish the repair.
