“Much,” I smile in return.
We finish our dinner, and as much as I hate to have this conversation via video chat, I have no other choice under the circumstances.
“Sophia, I need to ask you some questions about your family. You have to be completely honest with me,” I warn with my stern tone.
She nods and swallows hard. Scrunching her face up like she just bit into something sour, she’s obviously dreading this conversation, but reluctantly nods in agreement. “What do you need to know?”
“What happened to cause your separation from them?”
She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and looks away as she prepares to answer. Sighing she says, “It wasn’t just one thing—it was a culmination of many things over the years. When my dad lost his job, he became a completely different man. My mother was depressed and my brother was hanging around some bad people and started getting into trouble. I hated what our family had become and I just wanted to get out and away from them.”
“Tell me what happened, Sophia.” There’s no need for me to elaborate. She knows exactly what I mean. She knows both sides of her Dom—the loving, affectionate man, and the relentless, unyielding disciplinarian man. She lowers her eyes in submission and nods.
“I was really young, so I don’t know all the details of what happened with my dad, but I know somehow he lost his job. They were both very stressed, especially since my mom didn’t work, so money was more than tight. One day, my dad just started bringing home large bundles of cash.
“My parents fought all the time at first, but they tried to keep it from us kids. I overheard my mom telling my dad that it was wrong and it would come back on all of us one day. I never knew what ‘it’ was, but my dad had changed so much I didn’t even recognize him as the man I’d known all my life. He started staying gone for long periods of time and was mean when he did come home, so we all just tried to avoid him.
“This went on for several years. At first, I thought my mom just cried at the drop of a hat, but one day I noticed a pattern. Every time the news reported about an assassination-style murder, she would cry and wring her hands. Then she would go into a deep depression for several days, never getting out of bed. I had to feed and take care of my little brother and get us both to school. It’s like she forgot us both when my dad disappeared.
“Then, one day, he just came home. He just walked in like he hadn’t been gone forever…like we’d never gone hungry because he forgot to send money or bring us groceries. Mom just took him back with no questions asked, no demands, and no expectations. It was hard to deal with, honestly. I spent so much time wishing he would come back and make everything go back to the way it was. When he came back, I was so resentful of everything that I couldn’t stand being around him.
“So, I ran away. I left them all behind and that’s when I met…m-my Sir,” she stutters as she’s unsure of what to call him.
“You can call him your ‘ex’ now, Sophia. I don’t like hearing you refer to another man with that title,” I reply dryly.
“Yes, Dom. That’s when I met my ex. I was hungry, dirty, and sleeping in an abandoned building. He saw me on the street, begging for change, and took me in. I thought he was my savior, but he turned out to be so much worse than what I’d run from at home,” she says sorrowfully.
“We can finish talking about him later. Tell me how he plays into your family issues,” I say. This is bad enough without having to picture that fucker hurting her.
“I had secretly kept in touch with my brother because I was worried about him. I love him so much and felt so bad leaving him behind. Then, my ex and I ran into my family out at the farmer’s market one day. When I introduced them, he insisted that I tell them what he was to me, so I did. My family looked absolutely horrified. My father started a fight with him and the police had to separate them. One of the policemen recognized my father and instantly let him go and gave my ex a warning not to mess with my father again.
“When the police left, my ex and I were walking away when my father approached us from behind. He said I had embarrassed and dishonored him and to never come around them again. I tried to call my brother again after that, but he told me the same thing. I’ve tried to talk to him a few times since then, but he would just hang up on me. He knew I was the one calling him. He answered just so he could hang up in my face.
“I haven’t heard a word from any of them since then until my mother called today, wanting to meetyou. I don’t even know how she knows about you, Dom. Is this causing trouble for you? Is that why you asked about my family?” she asks remorsefully.
“I just need to know what could come up, Sophia, especially with this government contract on thin ice. If you had to guess, how do you think they would know about me?”
“I honestly have no idea, Dom. I wish I did.”
We talk for a while longer about everything and nothing, just catching up and spending time together as long as we can. After we disconnect, I lie in the bed and stare at the ceiling. I’m usually pretty good at puzzles, being a software engineer by trade, but this one has me completely stumped. I can’t see the connection between her parents and me, or why they would want to kill me. That isifthey are even the guilty party behind it.
The next thing I know, my eyes fly open with the shrill ring of my six o’clock wake-up call. I’m no closer to unraveling this mystery than I was last night and I have another long day ahead of me. Pulling my thoughts together, I put on my game face as Shadow and I head back to the facility to complete the contract negotiations and move on to the next phase of this project.
Then I can get back to my life before someone makes another move.
