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Her father swallowed tightly. “For your mother. For you.” He gave his head a hard shake. “I just wanted to protect you.”
From the monsters of the world. Creed loosened his hold and helped Kita to her feet, rising as he watched father and daughter.
Horace Engalls moved slowly across the room, his face lined, heavy with the decision he’d been forced to make.
Even Creed hadn’t been aware of what Engalls was doing until after the chaos in the garage. Only then had Jonas revealed the full measure of the other man’s involvement and the information he held.
Bastard. Marriage sure as hell hadn’t done anything to cure him of his manipulations.
“Kita.” Horace paused in front of her. “I wanted you safe.”
“You should have trusted me.”
And Creed could do nothing but agree.
Horace nodded. “I should have. But the father manual didn’t come with all the answers to the hard questions, sweetheart. It said follow your heart. And all I wanted to do was save you the knowledge of what your uncle was doing. Of how evil the world could be. That’s what fathers do for daughters, honey. Or at least, that’s what they want to do. Just protect them.”
Kita trembled, and Creed could sense her tears. But these weren’t tears of anger or sadness; rather, they were tears of release, of reconciliation, and maybe even of joy.
“I love you, Daddy.”
Father and daughter.
Creed stood back and gave Horace his moment. A chance to right any wrongs, to be the father, and for Kita to be the child.
Tomorrow would be time enough for him to claim his mate again.
Now, he gave the other man a nod and a smile. Now was the time to lay that foundation.
A foundation on which to build a life.
EPILOGUE
THREE WEEKS LATER
Tall, wide windows spilled brilliant light into the spacious bedroom of the Manhattan apartment Phillip Brandenmore had owned. A property his niece, Kita Claire Engalls, would soon possess once the courts ruled the missing owner as dead.
Once the authorities had arrived at the cabin after Brandenmore’s attempt to kill Kita, her uncle had been transported back to Sanctuary, his mind almost broken. He’d been animalistic, incoherent growls and snarls leaving his lips as spittle gathered on his lips.
“I found it.”
Creed turned from the impressive view of upper Manhattan as Kita all but whispered the words.
Her voice was filled with tears, the scent of her pain filling his senses and drawing him to her to stare at the files she had unlocked.
They had been stored, innocuously, on a hidden hard drive inserted into a digital video frame of family videos at Brandenmore’s penthouse apartment.
Sitting in clear view on his desk, it was a device Creed knew for a fact had been checked.
“The hard drive was very cleverly hidden,” she sighed tiredly as they stared at the files continuing to pop up on the computer the device was attached to. “It didn’t show up with normal search parameters, or even those used to uncover hidden files. He was a genius.” She rubbed at her face wearily. “I remembered the file when he was talking about Mother and the fountain of youth. I came into the office and surprised him days before Jonas captured him. He had the frame, and he was muttering about the fountain of youth. That was the second password.”
Creed stared at the files. They hadn’t even known there could be a second password.
“How did he hide it?” Creed stared at the proof that he had indeed hid it, in amazement.
“As I said, he was a genius.” She gave a small shrug, though he felt the disillusionment that tore through her. “And he told me how to find it. He told me to always remember my mother the day I was born.”
Minimizing the files, she pointed to the picture of her mother holding a newborn child. With a roll of her finger over the mouse pad the little arrow touched the very tip of the corner of the picture, and there, a thumbnail appeared. The mouse then moved to her mother’s left eye.
