I took it and opened it, but I didn’t know what I was reading.
“Your parents are Isabella and Luca Barbieri,” Draven said.
I don’t belong to my parents.I’m not a Taylor.
Draven was not finished as he pulled out a photograph of a young couple, and I am a little taken aback, as there are so many similarities to me.My hair, apart from the silver streaks I had dyed through mine.My blue eyes looked the same as the woman’s.I had most of her features, and my dad looked kind.
“These are my parents?”I asked.“I was stolen?”
“Yes.”
I looked at him and felt sick.“What does this mean?I mean, does that mean you want Lilliana?”I asked.I had an engagement ring on my finger.“Do they even know I’m alive?”
“Not yet.All I have to do is make the call.”
“But you’ve been in contact with them?”I asked.
“Yes.I told them I might have known something or found something.I didn’t want to get their hopes up,” Draven said.
I couldn’t help but smile.Draven was a good man, especially where it counted.
“And now?”
“It’s up to you,” Draven said.“Do you want to get to know your parents?”he asked.
Did I?A lot of time had passed.A long twenty-one years, where I had been living with a family who had never wanted me.I was a means to an end.This explained everything.Why they had constantly kept me apart from them and refused to be seen with me.It all came rushing back, and as it did, anger unlike anything I had ever felt overcame me.
“I can’t believe they did this,” I said.
I got to my feet and started to pace in my wedding gown.Well, I wasn’t sure if this was going to be my wedding gown.It looked pretty.Right now, I didn’t know what was going to happen.
“The next decisions are all yours,” Draven said.
I turned to look at Draven, and all I could think about was the damn trade.I spent so long hating it, wanting to stop it, and all this time, I shouldn’t have even been there.My sister— no, Lilliana—should have been there, not me.
“Do you still want me?”I asked.“Do you still want all of this?”
That anger was fast turning to despair.I didn’t think I could feel this way.Tears filled my eyes, and I didn’t want to cry, because I had put on some eyeliner and mascara.
Draven got to his feet and moved toward me so fast, it took my breath away.His hands cupped my face, tilting my head back, and forcing me to look into his eyes.
“Look at me, Maeve.”
“Is that even my name?”I asked.
“It is,” Draven said.“They were going to call you Maeve Isabella Barbieri.”
Instead, I was Maeve Taylor.
“I love you,” Draven said.
I knew my eyes must have gone wide, because I was in shock.He loved me.
“There is no one else I want.I couldn’t give a fuck about the trade.I didn’t want it, Maeve, but the moment I saw you, learned about you, watched the way you had this fire inside you, I knew I would never want anyone else.You’re it for me.”
And then he kissed me.This was not a gentle kiss.This was passionate, almost wild, consuming.Without words, he was trying to tell me exactly how he felt, and I loved it.
I put my hands on his shoulders.
