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I can’t even begin to comprehend what he is saying. I was fucking adopted? I wonder if my real parents are still out there. No, I don’t have time to care about this right now.
“Oh, and yes, Kias was my son. However, Sophia wasn’t his mother. Cecilia Connors was.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?! Sophia loved you, you selfish son-of-a-bitch!” I can't help but scream. Of course. He has kept every other thing in my life a goddamned secret. Why not this?
Jezi, Kias, and my wife are all half-siblings. Well, I guess when I took care of Kias I killed two birds with one stone. No weird sibling bullshit, and no more Kias.
I grab the decanter from the bookshelf and chug the whiskey straight from the bottle. Do I want to throw shit? Yeah. Will I regret it? Nope.
He shouldn’t really care that I killed Kias because it’s one less thing he has to be bothered with. How could he sit here and lie to my face for years? How could he force me to marry someone and then not care when she goes missing? How could he not tell me that I was fucking adopted?
“Atlis,” JD puts her hand on the gun that is still in my hand. She lowers the barrel so it points at the floor. “You are better than this. You're losing it. Let’s go. We can figure out the whole sibling thing another day. Let’s find Zolina and put an end to all of this. I’m sure she didn’t leave by choice. She would have told me if she planned to escape. Maybe we should track down Nikolus. I can probably contact him, being his daughter's bodyguard and all that. Come on.”
I let her lower my hand. My face relaxes from screaming and goes back into its normal state of irritation. “Fine.” Yet, I quickly pull the barrel back up and aim between my father’s eyes. “But I don’t like people who keep secrets from me. Especially when it's my family.” Without waiting for someone to speak another word, or another lie, I pull the trigger.
His head falls to the desk with a thump. The slow trickle of blood from the desk onto the floor reminds me of sand in an hourglass.
Time is not on our side.
Jezi pales, her skin turning almost as light as Zolina’s. My father didn't even try to explain himself or how Jezi or Kias came to be, which only pisses me off more. The audacity of that man is still astounding. I don't know what other secrets he kept, but I will figure it out eventually. He would do anything to turn a profit, including keeping a secret child and neglecting the others. I should have shot him a long time ago.
However, I still have to figure out who the fuck kidnapped my wife. And I hope whoever did understands the beast they have unleashed. I can't think properly without Zolina. I can't breathe without her. I can't fucking live without my beautiful white-haired siren to keep me sane.
Chapter 33
Zolina
It's cold, dark, and fucking musty. I can’t take a deep breath without smelling the mold and mildew spores in the air. My breath billows out of my mouth, making a small vapor cloud. Since they kidnapped me, the least they could do is turn on the heat. I'm sure no one intentionally wants to kill me–at least not by freezing my body.
Yet.
The room around me is small with concrete walls, dripping with gray paint that globs down from the ceiling. The floor is the same way and only has the chair I’m sitting in resting in the middle. I can’t tell if it’s a freezer that I’m in or something else, but fuck, it’s cold.
It has been a mere few days since I have been married, but already I miss my husband. I assume he has already stopped at both our fathers’ houses, but literally being in the dark, I can't confirm or deny.
My father probably isn't home though. He very rarely is. That’s why JD was hired. He was always leaving on trips or hiding in his study for days on end. He is the reason that I’ve been thrown into this situation in the first place. He is the reason I am fucking married. Fuck him. I hope someone comes in and beats him to a pulp. I don't want him dead, but you shouldn't arrange a secret marriage for your only fucking child.
All I see is red, a familiar color, but one that hasn't returned to my vision since I was a little girl. “Hello?” I call out into the unknown. I put emphasis on my princess voice, the one I use when I really want something and know Daddy will buy it for me. If I can get them to understand that I’m not going to be a problem, then they should untie me. Why am I tied up in the first place? “I won't fight you or be angry. I just want to talk.”
Said everyone in romance books, ever. If I could facepalm right now, I would.
“Oh, princess,” a female voice calls back to me. “I didn't disappear forever, yet you've already grown so much without me.” The woman steps out from the shadows. The high heels she wears click on the concrete floor. She’s dressed in an expensive-looking pantsuit, with a short pixie cut, and jewelry on every orifice of her skin. Her blue eyes meet mine as I stare at her with my jaw agape.
“Mother?”
“Yes, dearest. Who else do you think would have gone through the hassle to figure everything out?" She cackles out, the noise assaulting my ears in the quiet room. "Your father? Let's be honest he's as stupid as a day-old doughnut. The man can't even tie his own shoes. Hell, I doubt he could even if they were velcro. So, pray tell, who do you really think would have taken you?" I don’t even have time to consider her question before she waves a hand in the air and continues. “Ah, never mind that. You haven't forgotten about me, I see.”
“I’m so fucking confused. Daddy told me you were dead!”
“Good, that's exactly what he was supposed to tell you. Must we go through this again, Zolina? Who do you think came up with that plan? Silly girl."
No wonder my father had been acting weird since mom ‘died’. I can’t believe he lied to me. “Did you know about the marriage? Is that why you had me taken?”
“Of course, Zolina. I had better plans for you, much more... significant plans. I tried so hard not to let your father set up that arrangement. Yet one of the few times he decided something on his own-”
“I'm so confused. Number one, why am I tied to this chair like I am a criminal? Number two, you're alive and have apparently been plotting this for years? Since you were pregnant? Number three, why the fuck am I still tied to this fucking chair?!”
“Patience, dearest Zo-Zo. If I showed you all my cards already, it would give away the game, wouldn't it?” Before she can go on, her phone starts to ring. It plays the song Run To The Hills by Iron Maiden. She holds her finger up to me as if I will excuse her for being interrupted.
