It looked like something out of one of the many horror movies I liked to watch.
An isolated place.
Torture instruments.
And blood.
Lots and lots of blood.
But nobody.
All the blood belonged to Ariana.
The first thing I did was look for Ariana’s body. But my worst fear had been confirmed. Ariana had been tortured by whoever had kidnapped her.
It all could’ve gone differently though. What if they had found Ariana dead in that container?
There was a soft knock on the bedroom door and a moment of silence before it opened. I raised my head to see who had entered. It came as no surprise to find Dad making his way towards me.
He sighed as he took a seat across from me on the window seat. Folding one leg underneath the other, he dropped his hand on his lap and stared at something out the window. Silence surrounded us until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Just say it,” I whispered.
“Say what?” he asked without looking at me.
“What you came here to say.”
Dad turned his head to look at me. “I came here to ask if you’re okay.”
I scoffed. “After what I saw? No, I’m not okay, dad. I’m—” I snapped my mouth shut and dropped my forehead onto my arms that were folded across my knees.
“There’s a reason I didn’t want you to see what we’d found, Eva.” Dad shifted closer until his knee brushed my foot. “I wanted to prevent you from feeling the way you’re feeling now.”
“It won’t change anything,” I muttered.
“No,” he sighed. “I don’t suppose it will.”
Raising my head, I propped my chin on my arm and looked at him. Dad was still watching me with unreadable emotions flashing through his eyes.
“Ari’s alive and I know that she’s still missing and that there was a big possibility that we might. . .” My voice cracked as tears filled my eyes. “I know I fucked up, Daddy. I don’t need you to remind me of it again and again.”
“I’m not here to remind you.”
“I haven’t felt anything from Ari either. I tried to—”
“Will you shut up and listen to me?” he interrupted with a growl.
My mouth snapped shut and my eyes widened in surprise.
“I’m sorry about the things I said. I was angry and scared so I took it out on you.” His eyes dropped down to his hands for a second. “You and your sister are the only two that keep me going since...since your mother died. The thought of losing either one of you...it scares me shitless.”
His words only made me want to cry harder. Dad had never shown us any vulnerability—even on Mom’s death anniversary. To know that Ariana and I were the only ones he was still living for made me feel so much worse.
“Eva—”
“I’m sorry, Daddy!” I cried. “P-please don’t hate me.”
Dad reached out and pulled me onto his lap to cradle me against his chest like he used to do when I was a little girl.
“No matter what you say. No matter what you do, I will never fucking hate you.” Dad pressed a kiss to my temple. “You are my little girl and I will always love you.”
I sniffled. “Sometimes it feels like you love her more.”
“I love both of you equally,” Dad said as his arms tightened.
“You always hug her and treat her like she’s still a little girl. You always call her and not me. You always ask her how she’s doing and not me.”
“But you don’t want me to do that, do you?” he asked. “I remember it as if it was yesterday. You looked up at me with those beautiful brown eyes of yours and said: ‘Daddy, I’m a big girl now. I can take care of myself so I don’t need your help anymore.’ Do you remember saying that to me?”
Swallowing, I reached up to wipe my cheeks but Dad beat me to it. He gently wiped the lingering tears from my cheeks.
I remembered that day too but it wasn’t as clear as day to me. My memory of it was a bit blurry but I remembered why I’d said it to him. It was a few days after Ariana was rescued and she had her first panic attack. I’d heard Dad and Grandma talking.
“I don’t remember,” I lied.
Dad fell silent. I wished I knew what he was thinking about so deeply.
“Your mother once told me that it’s okay to be selfish but that you should beware the consequences your selfishness might have.”
“Mom was a smart woman,” I whispered.
“She was. Sometimes I think that she would’ve handled everything that happened with Ariana a whole lot better than I had,” he muttered.
I sat up and rested my elbow on top of his shoulder. The moonlight from outside was bright enough to allow me to see his face clearly. He looked like he was in so much pain.
I reached up and pressed a finger between his brows to smooth out the frown.
“I think that you’ve handled things just fine.”
“But maybe I should’ve pushed.” Dad’s eyes fluttered closed. “I should’ve done things differently to help her heal instead of keeping her. . .” He trailed off with a shake of his head.
“Granddad Devon said that Ariana needs to heal on her own,” I whispered. “I think...I think that maybe Lucas will help her heal.”
And that was clearly not the right thing to say because Dad’s eyes snapped open as he tensed.
“The human boy,” he growled. “Tell me about him.”
I threw my arms around his shoulders and hugged him instead. “I love you, daddy.”
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
I pulled away and fixed my clothes. “I don’t know him that well.”
“But you want us to include him in our search because you believe that he’s missing too.”
My hands fisted at my sides. “He hasn’t been home.”
“So I’ve heard,” Dad muttered dryly. “From what I understand, the boy and his stepfather don’t get along so well. It’s not uncommon for kids to run off when there’s trouble at home.”
“He won’t do that.” I frowned. “Lucas has a scholarship. If he wasn’t at home then he certainly won’t miss school.”
I shifted from foot to foot as Dad watched me with slightly narrowed eyes. It was hard to explain exactly why I needed them to search for Lucas too without giving things away.
The gears in my head turned as I tried to find a believable excuse to give him. I knew that I would eventually have to tell Dad that Lucas was my mate.
But now wasn’t the right time for it.
“What are you hiding?”
I gave him a smile instead of answering. After thinking some more, I finally came up with an excuse that sounded believable enough.
“I think Lucas will be good for Ari,” I told him. “He’s human but she seems comfortable around him.”
Dad sat up and dropped his head into his hands. “It’s the human part I’m worried about.”
“So you distrust them now?”
“No.” Standing, he reached up but dropped his hand a few seconds later.
“Dad?”
Running a hand through his hair, he reached into his back pocket to pull out a necklace.
“I...I was going through your mother’s things and I found this.” He held the necklace a little higher up so it dangled from between his fingers. “It belonged to your mother. I think you need to have this.”
I had to swallow a few times to find my voice. “W-will you put it on for m-me?”
Dad nodded. I turned and froze as he fastened the necklace around my neck. When he was done, I reached up and opened the locket. There was a photo of all of us; Mom, Dad, Ari and me on one side of the locket.
And on the other side was a photo of baby Luca.
I pressed the tip of my thumb to the picture as I turned to face Dad again. “Do you think that we’ll ever find him?”
“I have hope,” he muttered. “I’m not giving up the search until it’s proven that he’s dead.”
“But what if there is no proof?”
Dad said nothing but I could see the answer of my question flashing through his eyes.
Luca had been kidnapped long before we were born, but I knew all about him.