Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
He had always been the perfect and constant fixture in my universe, the one who made sense of a world that otherwise felt too big and complicated. To me, he had always been invincible simply because he was… my father.
But standing in our living room with these three men, he was afraid, and the fear rolling off him was so palpable I could taste it. Thick. Metallic. Bitter. Like the taste of blood on my tongue.
The man, the one with the dark blue eyes, took a step forward. Just one. But the room seemed to contract around his movement, the air crackling with his authority, almost making it harder to breathe.
“You’ve been difficult to find,” he said. “But not impossible. Nothing is impossible, Angelo. You of all people should know that.”
My father’s voice, when he finally spoke, was barely above a whisper. “My children are here.”
The man tsked, and I couldn’t see it, but I almost imagined him rolling his eyes. “I’m aware.”
“You leave them out of this.”
The man’s expression didn’t change. His eyes held my father’s for a long moment, and something passed between them—some history, some understanding that existed in a language I didn’t speak.
“I have no intention of harming your children, Angelo,” he finally said. “They are innocent in your betrayal.”
Betrayal…
What did he mean? Who did my father betray?
I slammed my eyes closed, forcing the memory away. My throat burned as I swallowed back a cry.
I wanted to rage.
God, I wanted to hurt him, the same way he hurt me. Them.
“You see, there was so much I didn't know about my father. So much I didn't understand. He carried my truth, his truth… my mother’s truth, all of it, inside him for years, never once allowing it to cast a shadow over my brother and me.”
I wished I had known the truth sooner.
I wished my father hadn't trusted Adrian that night.
I swallowed against the lump in my throat, fighting back the burn that came with unshed tears. “He carried the weight of it all alone, so we wouldn't have to. He protected us from every ugly truth, every dark secret, and every piece of the world he believed we were better off not knowing.”
Adrian shook his head, brows furrowed, the corner of his eyes tightened with confusion. “I don’t understand.”
Of course he didn't…
He never knew; he would have never guessed that the woman he married could harbor such secrets.
That she was smarter than him. Better than him. More capable than him in every way that it truly mattered.
He never would have guessed that I could deceive him so completely, so effortlessly, that even he hadn't seen it coming.
“Let me introduce myself, husband.”
My lungs clenched as I spoke the words. I have waited years for this moment, to stand in front of him, to look him in the eyes and show him the truth, the consequences that he had never seen coming.
That while he had succeeded that night… he had failed to see the outcome. He never considered the possibility that the girl he never met, never saw, never heard would one day stand before him. Stronger. Smarter. And no longer powerless against him like she had been before.
My stomach twisted violently.
And for the first time in many months… I spoke my truth.
“My name is Elyssa, daughter of Angelo Garza.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ADRIAN
The name sent a shock through me, sharp and brutal, striking me with a force that knocked the breath from my lungs.
Angelo Garza.
The syllables reverberated in my skull, unlocking memories I had buried years ago.
I stepped back from Serafina, my mind reeling. The room tilted beneath my feet, the familiar contours of the hotel suite warping into a foreign den, disorienting. Angelo Garza. Her father. The man I had—
“You’re lying,” I said, but the words came out hollow, stripped of any real accusation or conviction. How did Serafina know about Angelo?
“I have no reason to lie to you now.” Her voice cracked, raw with the pain of confession. That broken expression on her face—no one could act so well because this wasn’t… acting. It was real. “My name was Elyssa Garza before my father changed it. Before we went into witness protection. We used a different last name.”
I pressed my palm against the wall, steadying myself, as the memories flooded back—not the last night I saw him, but before. Years before.
Angelo. A little shorter than most average men, but he was large. He always had been a big man. Wide chest and shoulders, big arms and thick legs. I remembered his dark eyes that crinkled at the corners when he smiled.
That man had been my father’s shadow, his confidant, his most trusted soldier.
He sat at our dinner table every Sunday, and he was the same man who slipped me a piece of candy after I had fallen from my horse and fractured my arm at six years old.