“I’ve never lied to you, and I never will.”
“I believe you. Which is crazy because you kidnapped me.”
“You trust me because your mind is putting things together. You’re following your gut.”
“And because I feel safe with you.” The words slip out, and I see a small smile tug at his lips. It makes me dream of getting a real smile from him one day.
“You’re safe with me, little bit. I still need to figure out what the hell is going on, but you’ll be protected.”
“What? Did something change?” I ask.
“Something feels off,” he says as I rest my hands on his hard chest. Touching him makes me feel more grounded and like my life isn’t so out of control.
“I think you’re right,” I agree. This is all too much.
“I’m always right.” I smack his chest playfully and roll my eyes.
This time I get a bit more of a smile as he leans down and kisses me. I moan into his mouth, and my fingers dig into his shirt. His hands go to my ass as he pulls me off the table and back over to the sofa.
“Time for another stretching session, Daddy?”
He lets out a loud groan. “You’re going to fucking kill me,” he says before his mouth comes back down on mine.
I start to close my eyes, but Dutch shifts, and in one quick motion he’s on his feet with his gun trained on something across the room. I tilt my head to see a man in an all black suit. There’s a deadliness about him that can’t be denied. Did my father send him too?
“I’ve got your transport,” he says, not the least bit bothered by Dutch pointing a gun at him. Dutch lowers the gun and tucks it in his belt. “It's ready when you are.” A smirk plays on the edge of his lips. “Daddy.”
Chapter Twelve
DUTCH
“We’re leaving,” I say as I take Iris’s hand and then grab our newly packed bag.
“What? You’re not going to introduce me?” Sergio’s eyes linger on Iris, and I step in front of her.
“Iris, this is Sergio. He got us safe passage to Germany.” I feel her peek around my side and wave to him.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure is all?—”
“Enough.” I scowl at him, and his smile broadens. He’s enjoying this more than I like. “Do you have any information for me?”
His smile falls, and he nods as he looks to Iris and then to me. I’ve known Sergio since we were children, and I can read him better than most. He’s got something to tell me, but he doesn’t want to say it in front of Iris.
“You can speak freely in front of her.” As much as I want to keep her sheltered, she needs to know the truth.
“Let’s sit down.” He motions to the table and chair, and I drop our bag. When we take a seat, he pulls out a folder with lots of papers and pictures inside. “You did a lot of the leg work for me, so it wasn’t difficult to connect the dots.”
He places the pictures I’ve already shown Iris in front of us. She looks at them and then at me.
“This is who you’re saying is my real family, right?”
“Yes.” Sergio brings out another photo and places it beside them. It’s a photo of an old woman holding a little girl in her lap. “This is you around the age you were taken.” Sergio pulls out another photo, and it’s of the older woman, but maybe a decade or two before. “This was your paternal grandmother, Anna. She was a viscountess in Germany and extremely wealthy.”
“What does that have to do with me?” I squeeze her hand and slide her chair closer to mine, needing to feel her warmth.
“I believe the reason you were taken was because of her fortune.”
