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  I look over to see his once smiling eyes dull with despair. He’s a very handsome older man, even with his dull, dark eyes. “Tell me what?” I ask. The detective purses his lips and meets my gaze.

  “Nothing, Adelaide. All in good time,” Kristy says, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We have work to attend to at the moment.” Even though I know she’s right and my attention is immediately diverted to my family’s safety, I don’t let the present matter fade too far from memory.

  I’ll have the answers I seek. I don’t like being left in the dark. I spent most of my life sheltered, I don’t need to return to the isolation.

  “Follow me, ladies,” Detective Gonzales says, his voice strong and authoritative as he turns to lead us out to a sleek, black Dodge Charger. I can see the police lights hidden near the windshield and know this is an undercover vehicle. I slide into the back with Kristy by my side, buckling in.

  I glance over at the girl who has become my sister with a frown marring my face. She was the last person I expected to keep secrets from me.

  Sensing my feelings of betrayal, Kristy grabs my hand and squeezes it. “I’ll tell you everything, Adelaide, I promise. There’s plenty of time for answers. But right now, we need to focus on saving our family, okay?” I see the sincerity in her eyes and know that Kristy is telling the truth.

  I guess I can quell my curiosity for the time being.

  I lean my head back against the smooth leather seats as the detective leads us away from the busy airport.

  The next time I open my eyes I’m being torn from a dream and thrust into reality by Kristy shaking my shoulder. I subtly stretch as I look around my surroundings. We’re in a neighborhood containing small houses and semi-dead grass. I bite my bottom lip and slide out of the car, holding my bag.

  Detective Gonzales is already at the front door to the light blue ranch-style house. There is a paved walkway from the driveway leading to the small porch that holds two white plastic lawn chairs. I hear a dog barking loudly from the house to my right, and I look over to see the large black beast standing at a window, staring right at us. I arch an eyebrow, but otherwise ignore it as I walk toward the house.

  Once inside, I take in the simple furniture and plain walls. It reminds me of the home I grew up in, and I take a few deep breaths to ease the suffocating fear that begins to creep up. I remind myself that the doors open. That I am able to walk out whenever I want.

  I am not a prisoner.

  I follow a hallway that leads to two bedrooms. “We’ll be sharing the master. Gonzales will take the guest,” Kristy says to me. I look over at the detective following me, respecting my slow pace. He holds a soft expression as he looks at me, the corner of his mouth twitching up in a smile.

  “You’re staying with us?” I ask.

  “For your protection, yes. You two will not leave my sight until this is over.” I bite my tongue to keep from voicing my hesitation. I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about sharing a living space with a complete stranger.

  Warnings from my mother run through my head. Men are monsters. Never trust men. They will only hurt you.

  The old Adelaide would quiver with fear.

  I won’t allow myself to do so. I nod my head in agreement and deposit my bag in the master bedroom.

  “I had my men stock the kitchen. Would you like me to put a pizza in the oven? Then, with full stomachs, we can begin.” Gonzales doesn’t necessarily wait for our responses. He heads to the freezer and pulls out three large pizzas, preheating the oven.

  I turn and hurry into the bedroom to take a quick shower. It will take about twenty minutes to bake the pizzas anyway.

  I need a moment with my thoughts. I need to drive away all fears of confinement and reassure myself that I am completely safe.

  “Why didn’t you tell her?” I hear Gonzales whisper over to Kristy. I press my back and head against the wall, hardly breathing as I listen to their conversation.

  “Adelaide has enough to think about, Xavier. You need to respect my wishes. I know what is best for her at the moment. You don’t even know her,” Kristy hisses.

  I hear a loud bang as I assume Xavier slams a glass on the table. “I didn’t even know of her until you contacted me! You tell me she exists and then expect me to watch her from a distance? You have given me a new reason to live, yet I have to merely exist from afar?” Gonzales’ voice is throaty as he speaks and I can’t help but think I hear him sniffle.

  Who is this man and why does this trouble him? Who is he to me?

  “My parents don’t even know you exist! Aunt Elena trusted only Jeremy with information about you. And he told me. So, yes, you need to merely exist from afar, Detective. Please, understand how fragile she is…for her to learn who you are…”

  “Jeremy? Why would she trust my nephew with such information? He was only a child!” Gonzales is getting upset…so much so that his words don’t even register in my mind until I step out of my hiding place and move to stand in front of Kristy.

  “Don’t yell at her!” I say, placing a hand on Gonzales’ chest, pushing him back a step.

  Surprise alights Xavier’s eyes as he looks at me. He shakes his head, holding his hands up in surrender. “I’d never hurt her, Adelaide. I’d never hurt either of you.”

  I look at him skeptically, shaking my head. “Who are you, Xavier Gonzales?” I ask. The older man looks over my shoulder at my cousin, but I step in front of her, cutting off their silent conversation.

  I thought I could hold off from answers, but at this moment, I need to know the truth. Whatever is going on seems important, their conversation thick with meaning and secrets.

  “Adelaide…you heard your answer. You know who I am.”

  “Jeremy’s uncle. Are you Adam’s brother?” I ask, tilting my head to the side. Who would he be to me then? Missy is my mother’s sister…therefore, Adam is only relative by law. Xavier would have no relation to me.

  “I am Jeremy’s uncle. And Kristy’s. But I’m not Adam’s brother. I’m not Missy’s brother, either.” My head throbs as I try to make sense of his words. What does he mean?

  I look over at Kristy to see a frown deep upon her lips. She drops her head into her hands and sighs.

  “Adelaide, look at me.” The strong authority in Detective Gonzales’ voice causes me to snap my attention back to him. His eyes are intense as he reaches forward to grab my hand. “Your mother and I never got married, but I loved her with my whole heart. She was in love with my brother, however, and one drunken night led to the biggest mistake of her life. At least, that’s what she told me before she ran away from Chicago and moved in with her sister…your Aunt Missy. I tried to contact her. I tried to visit, but Adam rightfully kicked me off the property. I respected your mother’s wishes and kept away. When I heard she was brutally attacked and went into hiding, I was mad with anger. I turned to the law and became an officer and then a detective. My sole purpose was to find the men who hurt the woman who consumed my heart. But there was no proof of the Cicero Disciples having anything to do with it, though I knew in my heart that it was them. Adelaide, I promise that I did not know you existed, sweetheart. I—” I cut Xavier off by ripping my hand from his gasp, stepping back. I shake my head as tears well in my eyes.

  “No…” I whisper. “No. You’re lying! My mother always told me my father was a monster who defiled her!” Detective Gonzales flinches at my words, as if they severely wound him.

  This isn’t possible. I accepted that my father was a cruel man I would never meet. A man I had no desire to meet.

  Was this just another lie?

  “W-we ne-needed you. W-we nee-eded help! W-where were you? W-why d-did you s-stop looking?” I ask, tears welling up in my eyes. I look at the man before me as a tear rolls down his weathered cheek. He makes no move to brush it aside, instead he steps toward me with determination.

  “I used every resource I had to try to find your mother. But she was hiding…she was protected, to keep you safe.
Even your aunt and uncle didn’t know!”

  No…no… Only my grandfather knew of our location, and I assume members of the government, since we were in protection.

  “Adelaide, I want you to look into my eyes right now.” My body shakes as I try to fight his demand. I want so badly to hate him. To blame him for everything that has happened to me. It would be the easiest course of action.

  It would be what my mother would do.

  I lift my eyes to meet his. They are bloodshot with pain and anguish. “I found out that your mother died a little over a year ago and I was distraught. All meaning I had for living was snuffed away from me. All my efforts to bring the Cicero Disciples down were suddenly profitless. I had lost everything I was living for in a single moment and I didn’t know what to do. When Kristy found me and told me I had a daughter, created by a night of one-sided passion, it was as if everything changed focus. The Cicero Disciples no longer mattered. My sick vendetta no longer mattered. All that mattered was you. Adelaide, my sweet girl…the only reason I am continuing my mission to take them down is because I know what happened to your mother. I know what that monster did, and I know the people you love are in danger. Therefore, if I am only to be the man who helps save your family, then so be it. I will accept that. Because I will then at least be more to you than I ever was to your mother. And I’m okay with that.”

  Gonzales’ words tear at my heart. They rip me to shreds. This man is broken and looking at me as if I am the apple in his eye. I want so badly to be able to accept him. To love him as a father. But I don’t know who he is.

  I don’t know where to go from here. My mother has damaged my image of my father. She tainted whatever love I could have had for him by filling my head with lies.

  I hope Xavier Gonzales can alter my perspective, however, before I leave Chicago. Because I desperately want the chance to have a father.

  I swallow my grief and look at the man before me with an expressionless gaze. “We have a lot of work to do, Detective. Please, don’t let me down as my mother has said you have. And…our pizza is burning.”

  Plans in Motion

  July 14, 2018

  Detective Xavier Gonzales, my father, stands in front of a large cork bulletin board. Photos of men are pinned with their names underneath. I sit on the couch with my feet tucked under me, holding a plush pillow to my chest. My eyes lock with the cold gaze of Nile, Maddox’s brother-in-law, who practically attacked my face with his own.

  I had thought he was a friendly citizen of Grove, Oklahoma, checking to see if I was okay and offering a shoulder to cry on. However, it turned out that he had planned the whole sabotage. He had meant for me to get jealous of his wife, Emily. I had seen her with Maddox, and when he told me to leave the store, I naturally thought the worst.

  It gave Nile a prime opportunity to attack.

  He is a monster. I can’t wait to see him go down, along with his father…the man who molested me when I was just a child.

  My father speaks to us; however, I am momentarily checked out as I continue to look at Nile. I silently pray that whatever happens, Maddox and my family aren’t hurt. I could not manage to see them in pain, because of me.

  “…Cameron Maddox Steele…” I hear the detective say and I perk up, watching as he pins a picture of the man I love to the board. “Wanted for the murder of Daniel Cameron Steele.” I feel my eyes widen the same moment Kristy jumps to her feet.

  “No,” Kristy voices. My heart races in my chest at the thought of the police department planning on taking down Maddox as well as the Cicero Disciples.

  “No,” I repeat, shifting forward and bringing my feet out from under me. They tingle slightly from the lack of blood flow, but I ignore the sensation. “He didn’t do it!” I say loudly, my voice rising an octave as panic overwhelms me.

  “We have audio proof of Maddox agreeing to carry out the act Nile ordered.” I shake my head, not wanting to hear my father think that Maddox could do something like this. “I know he means something to you, Adelaide, but he’s a criminal.” Xavier’s voice is firm with authority as he narrows his eyes onto me. I almost feel as if I should shrink away from his gaze, it is so intense.

  “He didn’t do it! He couldn’t…someone else did, so Maddox could be freed. I promise you, he didn’t do it.”

  Xavier looks over at Kristy, as if for confirmation. My cousin nods her head in agreement.

  “Then who did it?” the detective asks. I open my mouth, the name of Maddox’s cousin on the tip of my tongue. But how could I give him over to my father, knowing that he committed the murder to help Maddox? I fear it would offend Maddox.

  A part of me knows that Mouse is a murderer but, if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have had Maddox back. I wouldn’t have been able to fall in love with him and share my first kiss. I owe him more than turning him in.

  I just shake my head to my father.

  Xavier sighs and rubs his hand down his face. “Adelaide…if you don’t tell me who was behind the murder, then I’m afraid I have to arrest Maddox. There is audio proof, sweetie.” I flinch at his term of endearment as he tells me he’s going to charge the man I love with murder. I look over at Kristy to see her frowning down at her feet.

  “You can’t, Xavier. He’s our family. When we save them, we save all of them. Maddox is no exception. You just need to trust us when we say he didn’t commit the murder. We will not rat out the man who did, for it would be shameful of us to do so. So, you need to keep digging and find the truth yourself. Just trust us.”

  Detective Gonzales looks at me for a long pause, not knowing what to say or how to react. But I don’t cower under his gaze. I stand strong for Maddox, not caving. I trust him with my life, and I know that he would never lie to me and the Cranes. Especially not about something so convicting.

  Sighing, Xavier turns to the desk beside him. He rips a piece of paper and makes a quick notation on it before turning his back on us. I watch as he pins the paper on the board and when he steps back, I let out a sigh of relief. Under the suspects section, beside Maddox, is the piece of paper with a large question mark and below it says, main suspect.

  I step forward and wrap my arms around Xavier’s waist, feeling a weight lifted off my shoulders the same moment more is added. Xavier’s forehead drops on my left shoulder as he gently clings to me.

  “Thank you,” I whisper.

  “You’re welcome.” I step back, avoiding his eyes as I turn to sit beside Kristy again. She has a small smile on her lips, her eyes a little watery.

  “All right,” Xavier clears his throat to avoid another off pitched tone. “Tomorrow, I’m going to bring my team in. We will then discuss all you know about the Cicero Disciples and hopefully conjure up a plan to rescue your family.”

  Xavier walks away, heading to the guest bedroom and leaving Kristy and I alone. I look over at my cousin to see her offer me a small smile. “You made him very happy,” Kristy whispers. I lower my eyes, not able to ignore my rapid heart any longer. I can’t deny that my heart feels fractionally warmer since the hug. I know I have been lacking a father role model most of my life. When I met Adam, he filled that role perfectly. I was accepting of the fact that he would be the only father I knew.

  Now, I have Xavier, and I don’t know how I feel. Am I able to invite another person into my closed off life? I’m still growing, still trying to fit people into my once shattered and isolated heart. Can I find a place for Xavier as well? I would like to. But he lives hundreds of miles away from me.

  “Come. Tomorrow is going to be a big day. We should try to get some sleep,” Kristy says, rising to her feet and walking to the kitchen to grab us each a glass of water. I look to the board one more time, meeting eyes with Maddox.

  I will get you out of this. I promise.

  “All right. Adelaide has told me that Miguel is no longer crime lord of the Cicero Disciples. His son, Nile, has taken up the reins. Last known location of Miguel is in Grove, Oklahoma; on the Cranes’ r
anch. He’s wounded, gunshot to his left leg. He’s not our main priority—”

  “But you’re going to catch him, right?” Kristy says, interrupting Detective Gonzales. He looks over at his niece, along with every other officer crammed into the small living room. Our safe house is now packed full with about fifteen officers, some in uniform, and others in plain clothing.

  “Kristy, Nile is the crime lord right now. Our priority is to take him out…that is also how we save your family.” Xavier turns back to his men to continue his spiel. Kristy looks over at me with eyes that are swarming with anger and determination.

  I begin to shake my head but am disrupted by her opening her mouth. “What about Adelaide? Hmm? I understand that Nile is our priority but, as you said, Miguel is injured. He will have to go to some hospital. Look at the logs for any patient matching his description! Spare a few men to find him. Do something, because Adelaide will never rest until you do.” Xavier looks over at me, his dark eyes tight with anger. He looks me up and down before he steps forward. The officers in the room part, as if remaining in his way would result in a bodily injury.

  Xavier grabs my bicep and stares into my eyes. “Yesterday was not the first time you’ve met Miguel?” he asks between clenched teeth. If I knew any better, I would shake under his unwavering gaze.

  I shake my head, biting my bottom lip to keep it from quivering as memories flood through my mind.

  Xavier bares his teeth as he looks over at Kristy. It’s almost as if meeting his niece’s tearful gaze confirms the questions in his head. “Dammit!” Xavier screams, grabbing a coffee table and flipping it over. Officers either move out of the way or step forward to shield us from Xavier. “Oh, give me a break, guys! That is my daughter. I would sooner cut off my own arm before harming her.”