“And what about Daddy’s death?” I asked, my voice dry as Kade’s quiet words tore at my heart. There was no deception, no taunting or condemnation. In that quiet, dark hour, as the highway rolled beneath us, a black ribbon lit up by the LEDs of the car’s headlamps, both of us were too tired for anything but the truth. “I couldn’t find anything, and the lawyer that represented the trust wouldn’t tell me anything, not even where he died.”
“Paris Nova died in a prison in Singapore when you were still in elementary school. He turned his fists on a young call girl and crippled her while holding enough coke to get most of the country high as a kite. They didn’t even have time to give him the death penalty. He was shanked in prison two months after his conviction. You were eight when he died.”
I felt the foundation of the world shifting beneath me, like I was in an earthquake. For sixteen years, I’d hated my mother, when in reality I should have been thanking her daily for saving my life. I must have known it inside, thinking back to how I couldn’t refuse Mom when she really needed me or asked something of me. I blinked, tears forming in my eyes, shaking my head. My stomach twisted, and I felt gorge rise in my throat. “Kade, pull over,” I said, holding my arms over my gut.
I staggered out of the car, falling to my knees in the breakdown lane of Interstate 5. All I could do was scream and cry, pounding my fists into the ground.
Kade came around and knelt beside me, letting me vent my feelings. When I was hollowed out, an empty shell, he gently wrapped his arms around me. “Now you see why I couldn’t even let you know how I felt,” he whispered. “Alix, you have to let it go. Your illusions, your anger toward your mother, all of it. Because if you want to go somewhere with me, you’re going to need all your strength for that.”
I sobbed, nodding into his chest as I felt purged. “Help me please, Kade?”
“I can try,” he replied. “No matter what, I’ll try. I love you, Alix.”
I sniffled and looked up at him, barely illuminated in the yellow light that came from the running light on the side of the car. “Love me like family . . . or something else?”
“Until a few days ago, I would never have let myself love you as anything but family, except in my dreams,” he replied. “This is new for me, too.”
We knelt there on the side of the road, and again it was pure nature that took over for us. I saw the love in his eyes that said he’d never do to me what Daddy—no, that man wasn’t my Daddy—what Paris Nova did. I leaned up and kissed him once, and it was just as sweet as when we’d kissed on the pier. It didn’t go further, though, as we were lit up by lights coming up toward us as another driver pulled over. “Hey, you guys okay?”
“Yeah,” I called back, breaking the kiss and getting up. “Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine.”
Chapter 12
Kade
When we got to Portland, I wanted both of us to take our time. Thankfully, my condo has three bedrooms, two of which were unoccupied at the time.
“What’s in here?” Alix asked when I showed her around. It was late afternoon after we arrived, since both of us had been so exhausted after the drive to do much more than go to bed. She reached for the door knob, stopping when I spoke.
“Don’t go in there,” I commanded, just a bit of sternness in my voice. Alix turned to me, her eyes growing wide as she heard me give her her first order. “Alix, do you trust me?”
“Yes, Kade,” she said. She looked at me with her eyes wide and clear blue, looking at me without any fear at all. “I trust you completely.”
“Then don’t go in there,” I said, “Not yet,” still commanding but not as stern. “Alix, there’s so much I want to show you. But not yet.”
“Why not?” she asked, pouting before stopping. “Sorry, I guess I’m not supposed to ask why, am I?”
“You can ask, but don’t expect an answer quite yet.” I smirked. “But before anything, I need you to do something for me.”
“What?” she asked, leaning into my hand and shivering. “God, that feels good. How is this so good?”
“Because we’re doing it for the right reasons,” I explained. “But what I need you to do is call Layla.”
“And do what?” she asked. “Apologize?”
“Yes,” I said quietly. “You don’t need to tell her what you know. She had her reasons for not telling you, as much as I personally disagree with them. But you do need to apologize to her for the way you’ve behaved for so many years. In the meantime, I’ll have a visitor tonight.”
“Who?”
I nodded, leading her into the living room. “It’s my paralegal investigator, Vince. He’s the guy who tracked down what happened for me, although he doesn’t know the details. He and I are going to discuss our legal weapons available right now, and some that are not exactly legal. Vince has some connections on both sides of the law.”
Alix nodded.
“Before you call though, I have something for you,” I said, knowing Alix was ready.
“What?”
“Tudor Rose,” I said. “Never forget it. Say it, and I stop anything.”