“You got kidnapped under his watch. This never would have happened if you weren’t married to him. You never got hurt under my watch.”
I hesitate.
“What?” he snaps.
“I mean… I know you hate this but I used to sneak out all the time and go to clubs and drink the night away. I did it all under your roof. So it’s not like you actually protected me from that. I never got hurt, thankfully, but… I was really lucky.”
“Don’t remind me of your indiscretions. Now, you’re coming home with me. I’m willing to look past everything you did in the past and move on. I just want to keep you safe.”
I blink, not sure if I heard him right. “Come home… with you? But I’m already home. With Enzo.”
“I know you never wanted to marry him. Well, I’m here to keep you safe, Kira. Come along now, before Enzo returns.”
“You want me to leave him?”
“Why are you fighting me on this? You were kidnapped because of him! I will keep you safe. Now, come along.” He tugs on my arm but I refuse to move my feet.
That’s when Enzo arrives back home. For a moment, I feel relief… until he raises a gun and aims it at my father’s head.
Chapter Eighteen
Kira
“What are you doing?” I gasp. Enzo doesn’t waver. His eyes are narrowed and they’re pointed right at my father.
“He’s trying to take you from me. I can’t let that happen.”
Gregor raises his hands in surrender. “She is my daughter, Enzo. I have the right.”
“You don’t have the right,” he seethes. “Not when you gave your daughter to me. You don’t get to just go back on your deal.”
“And neither do you. I agreed to this marriage because it was supposed to lead to peace. It was supposed to keep my daughter safe. But you couldn’t keep her safe.”
“She’s safe now, isn’t she? Standing right before you. You’re making a problem where there doesn’t need to be one. So leave, Gregor.”
He huffs. “Before what? Before you shoot me right before my daughter’s eyes? It’s clear that you care for my daughter. You wouldn’t be fighting so hard to keep her otherwise. So how do you think she will feel if you kill her own father?”
Enzo’s hand tightens on the gun. “I have no other choice if you try and take her from me. Matteo took her from me and now he’s dead. Don’t test me, Gregor. Just leave. We can still keep peace with our families. Just move on.”
“Not when it comes to my daughter.” Gregor grabs my arm, pulling me into him. “You won’t shoot me. Not when Kira is right next to me. I am taking her home where I can keep her safe. That is final.”
“Dad,” I say, trying to tug my arm free but his hold is too tight. “I don’t want to go with you. I’m… happy here with Enzo.” The moment I say the words, I know their true.
“That doesn’t matter when you’re not safe.”
“Don’t I have a say in my own life?”
My father stares at me like he didn’t even hear me. “Kira, I have always had a say in your life. I still do. Now, come.”
“I’m a grown woman, Dad.”
“And yet, you act reckless. You’ve always been reckless. Sneaking out to parties. Getting drunk. You need someone to take care of you because you’re incapable of it. I am your father, Kira. I will do that.”
“No. I want to make my own choices in life. I always have. You don’t get to take that away from me.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” he says with a sigh. “Come along.”
“Dad, no.”
