The next morning when I woke I lay watching Angel sleeping. I didn’t want to get up and have to face anything. I wanted to stay right in the warmth of the night I had shared Angel. There had been something different, something more. I couldn’t quite put word to it, but all the mattered was how it made me feel. It gave me hope that he would be love me one day. It wasn’t impossible.

A shrill pierced the air and I looked around. It was a foreign sound. It sounded like a phone ringing but it wasn’t a ring tone I recognized. I slipped from my bed and followed the sound to my bag. Frowning, I looked through my hand bag and found a phone I didn’t recognize.

I answered the call to stop the constant ringing to wake up Angel.

“Kira.” It was Kaiden.

“Kaiden?” I was confused.

“Before you say another word, go into the bathroom and run the shower.”

“What?” I whispered, peering back over my shoulder to make sure Angel was still sleeping. He was lying on his stomach, eyes closed, his breathing steady.

“Do exactly what I say Kira. Go to the bathroom and the run the shower.”

I did as he said even though I had no idea why he was acting so strange.

Once I closed the bathroom door softly I ran the shower.

“What the hell Kaiden?” I asked in a harsh, whisper. “Whose phone is this?”

“I dropped the phone into your bag, in case I needed to talk to you without being overheard.”

Was he crazy paranoid? He sure sounded it.

“Why not just give it to me like a normal person Kaiden?” I swear the years in the FBI had tainted him into thinking there was danger and deception at every corner, in every person. I had the urge to roll my eyes.

“I didn’t think you would take it, You would have argued that it was overkill. Sometimes, Kira I know what I’m doing and it’s just easier if you don’t fight me on it.”

The crazy thing was, what if he was right? That sent a shiver of awareness through me.

“You think someone might be listening in on my calls?” I asked, not quite believing it.

“I didn’t want to take any chances.”

“So what’s so important you had to call me first thing in the morning and nearly wake Angel up?” I asked, feeling irritated and annoyed that there might be something more to worry about.

“I figured it out.” His tone ominous.

The dread inside me grew. Whatever it was, it didn’t sound good?

“Um…what did you find out?” I asked the question, knowing I didn’t not want the hear the answer.

“Why Angel married you?”

My heart skipped a beat at the mention of my husband. I gripped the phone tighter, trying to fight my fear of what my brother had discovered.

The truth was I didn’t want to know. I wanted to believe he cared for me and that had been his sole reason for his actions. I didn’t want to think that there was another more underhanded reason for everything.

“Kira? You still there?” My brother prompted while I was struggling with the thought to hang up and ignore whatever he had discovered.

But pretending wasn’t an option. With enemies around every corner I had to know the truth.

“Yes. I’m here.” I hoped that whatever he had to tell me wouldn’t tear me apart.

“Maybe it’s best to have this conversation in person,” my brother said.

He was giving a reprieve for a little while and I was taking it with both hands, even knowing that delaying wouldn’t change a thing.

“Yes,” I breathed, trying to calm my racing heart.

There was silence.

“Is it bad Kaiden?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

There was that part of me that hoped it wasn’t so bad and it was something that wouldn’t crush me.

“It’s bad Kira.”

And there was it. There was no more hope that it was some misunderstanding or something I would be able to explain away.

“I might never forgive him for this,” he said.

I tried not to think back to last night when I felt we had shared something special. Something I had cherished until just moments before. To think I had been so close and intimate with someone who had been deceiving me the whole time and I had fallen for it hook, line and sinker. I felt so naive.

“Have you figured out a solution yet?” I asked, needing him to have the answers that I didn’t for the other problem I still had to figure out.

He sighed. “I’m still working on it.”

There was another pause. That wasn’t a good sign either.

I looked up to the ceiling, trying to stop myself from going into a full on panic. It felt like my whole life was coming apart and I didn’t know if there was anything I could do to stop it.

“I’ll figure it out. Kira. Don’t worry,” he assured me, with a confidence I didn’t feel. “I will find a way to deal with all of it.”

At least I wasn’t in this alone. I at least had him. There had been times in my life when he hadn’t been there but he was showing up at the most important time. I got that when our mother died, it had hit him so hard, he had barely kept himself together. Anger had torn him apart, leaving him hateful of the life we led, that’s why he had fought so hard to change his. It was the reason he had fought me so hard when I had decided to marry Angel.

“I know you will,” I murmured gently.

“Come over this afternoon and we can talk,” he said.

I nodded. “Okay.”

I would have to figure a way to get away so I could see him without Angel asking too many questions. I wasn’t sure after what I had revealed, he would just let me go.

My brother ended the call before I had a chance to tell him, I had told Angel that he had found our father. I bit my lip as I stared down at the phone, trying to figure out at which point my life had spiraled into this mess.

I was having breakfast when Angel joined me later that morning.

“You were up early,” he said, kissing me on the cheek before he sat down beside me.

Every time I saw him or thought of him, I was reminded of his betrayal. Granted, I didn’t know the details but from what Kaiden had said I knew it was worse than even he had initially thought and my brother always had this way of seeing the worst in every situation so for him to say it was bad I knew it was something that I couldn’t come back from.

I shrugged. “I had some stuff on my mind.”

“Your father?” he asked, pouring some coffee.

I nodded. Could he tell I was lying?

I found it nearly impossible to sit and have breakfast with him while making polite conversation.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

Plastering a smile to my mouth I nodded. “Yeah. I just need to go see my brother later today.”

Apprehension settled in me when Angel’s eyes met mine. “Why?”

“He wants to discuss how we are going to take care of our father to ensure he doesn’t cause any more trouble.” I kept my voice light, holding back the anger and hurt.

How could I feel so torn before I even knew the truth of why Angel had married me? It was never a marriage born out of love, but I had never believed for a second he had done it without my wellbeing in mind.

He studied me and I shrugged. “I’m not looking forward to it. My father still doesn’t believe he did anything wrong.” I scoffed. “Who does what he does and not take responsibility for it?”

“I spoke to Kaiden this morning,” Angel revealed.

My hand holding my coffee shook and set it down. He had already called my brother. I hadn’t given Kaiden a heads up and I felt guilty.

“What um did he say?” I asked, hoping that Kaiden hadn’t revealed anything.

“Pretty much everything you told me.”

I swallowed. “I’m not even sure how he found him.”

“Your father is good at disappearing. He might not have morals, or self preservation but he can vanish without any leads. I’m curious as to how Kaiden found him but he wouldn’t reveal anything.”

Kaiden had access to resources Angel didn’t have. Maybe that’s how he was able to find my father when Angel hadn’t been able to.

“I think he just got tired of running,” I murmured. “Besides the Vincents aren’t after him anymore, they want me. And you were the only one actively looking for him. Maybe he heard about the wedding and figured you wouldn’t harm your father in law.”

“He put you in a dangerous position, and I won’t forgive that. Not when it comes to your safety.” His words were so convincing.

Was I so easily manipulated? Maybe if I had just looked below the surface I wouldn’t be sitting across from the man I loved wondering why he had really married me.

I dreaded knocking on my Kaiden’s door and waiting for him to open up. Every second felt like much longer. There was no more delaying, it was time face the truth even if I wasn't sure I was ready to.

Jack was hesitant to remain outside but I told him in no uncertain terms that I needed to speak to my brother privately. I did wonder if it was Angel who had played a part in the request.

When Kaiden answered he was subdued and looked deep in thought. His usually neat hair was a mess and he was dressed in a shirt and jeans. Not his usual suit. It wasn’t a good sign.

He opened the door and I entered reluctantly. I wanted to be anywhere but there. There was a part of me that wanted to pretend that none of what was happening was true and I wanted to hold onto what I shared with Angel last night without questioning his motives.

“You better sit down,” Kaiden instructed and I bristled but reminded myself that none of this was his fault. He wasn’t the person to blame.

In fact, he was the one who had warned me, I was the one stupid enough to believe that Angel was capable of caring about me. I had been the gullible one who had believed everything Angel had told me. There had been no reason, not to.

I sat down, trying to fight the urge to run so far no one would be able to find me.

“I thought we had agreed not to say anything about me finding dad?”

“I’m sorry,” I said, knowing I had been in the wrong to break his trust. “It’s just he was so determined to find out what was going on. He just wouldn’t let up until I gave him something. I thought it would be easier to tell him about Dad than my biological dad. If I hadn’t said something he would have kept at it. I can’t tell him about my real father or what that means.”

I still didn’t fully understand it but that was a problem for another day.

My biological father’s business card still lay in my bag. I hadn’t been able to call him to set up a time to meet and discuss things further.

“Yeah well, I got an irate call from him this morning. He wasn’t happy that I hadn’t told him about finding dad.”

“I should have let you know but he got to you before I could get out the house.” I shrugged.

“It’s fine. I know how persistent and relentless he can be.”

Now that we had discussed that it was time for him to reveal what he had discovered.

“Tell me,” I forced myself to say and I made a point of giving looks up to him as he stood with his arms crossed.

“Remember you asked about Angel’s brother?” he began.

I nodded. What did that have to do with any of this? I frowned. Julian had died years before.

“What do you know about it?” he asked, watching me closely.

I shrugged. “Not much. Angel was pretty tight lipped about it. All I got was he died when he was eighteen and Angel was nine. He had an accident, a car accident. I don’t know why Angel didn’t want to go into details, maybe it hurts to talk about it. It couldn’t have been easy for him.”

Angel’s mother had run off with another man when he had been a toddler. I can’t remember all the details but I know she never bothered to keep in contact. No one had ever heard from her again.

Kaiden nodded.

“What does this have to do with Angel marrying me?”

“I’m getting to it.” He rubbed his chin. “It was discovered after the accident that Julian, Angel’s brother, had been high on drugs at the time of the accident.”

I couldn’t imagine what it would have felt like to lose someone so young, especially a sibling.

“I still don’t get it.”

“It was later revealed the drugs that were given to Julian came from the Vincents.”

The link was clear but I still didn’t understand why that would explain why Angel married me. None of that he was saying made any sense.

“Okay. I still don’t get it.”

“Later it came to light via a snitch that Andrew Vincent’s father, your grandfather, paid a drug dealer to single out Julian to get him hooked on drugs. He was a bit of a wild rebellious teenager who got in with the wrong crowd. It wasn’t a difficult order to execute.”

It was horrible to think that someone would do that, never mind my biological grandfather. I was glad he was gone, and no longer around to hurt anyone else.

“It must have been devastating to hear that,” I murmured, feeling sorry for what Angel had gone through. “Why would someone do to that?” It seemed ruthless and senseless.

“It was about money and power. How do you hurt a family empire? You take out the heir.”

I inhaled and exhaled, I was the same target now that I had discovered I was in line to inherit from Andrew Vincent. I couldn’t understand a world where that meant more than the life of an eighteen year old boy. And there was no sense in family members out harm someone purely because of power and money.

“But none of this has anything to do with me,” I reminded my brother, still not seeing the link.

“I’m getting to it.” He began to pace. “You just discovered your real father is Andrew Vincent. What if Angel knew this?”

I got where he was headed with this. “But you have no proof Angel knows anything.”

He stopped pacing. “No, I don’t have any proof that he knows. But it would explain everything Kira. It would explain why he was so insistent on marrying you. My gut says he knows and that’s why he married you Kira. It was for revenge.”

I shook my head. “I’m not blowing up my entire life on your gut feeling Kaiden.”

I was annoyed and angry that he had made such a big deal out of something he had no proof happened.

“But think about it Kira. It makes sense.”

“If you can prove it I will believe it but until then I don’t.” Was I naive to believe that Angel had done everything because he wanted to protect me and no other reason?

I stood up and Kaiden stepped into my path to stop me. “Don’t leave Kira.”

“I can’t stay out for too long. I have to get back before Angel starts getting suspicious.”

“I know I’m right Kira. You have to trust me.”

I sighed. “I want to trust you more than anything but I can’t do that on a hunch. I need more Kaiden.”

My brother studied me. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

When I couldn’t meet his gaze, he swore.

“Kira, how could you be so stupid,” he said, making me feeling an idiot for falling in love a normal woman. It was a natural thing, not something to be hidden or viewed with disgust.

He ran a hand through his hair and turned his back to me.

I stood waiting for him to work his way through my revelation. Finally he turned to face me.

“Does Angel know how you feel about him?”

It was a strange question but I answered it anyway.

I shook my head. “No, I haven’t told him. I’m not sure I’m going to.”

Despite our closeness the night before, I did not believe he would welcome it. In fact, it might destroy everything we had, and I couldn’t take that risk.

“As a kid you always followed him around, I thought it was something you would grow out of.” He sighed.

“Well, I didn’t.” I had different memories, memories where Angel had stood solid when no one else had. That’s what I remembered most. He was the one who had shown up when I had needed someone. I couldn’t believe he would have only married for revenge, I just couldn’t believe it. That’s why I needed proof, then I would have to believe it.

It didn’t matter how I got to this point, all that mattered was where I was standing now.

Never once did I believe I would fall in love with him, a man who couldn’t love me back. I was a sucker for punishment.

And I didn’t want to think about Kaiden’s theory either. What if he was right? What if Angel had done all of this for revenge and I had so easily fallen into his plans without even suspecting a thing?

I couldn’t think about it.

“I need to head back,” I said. “Call me if you find proof.”

He nodded. “Be careful Kira. Angel isn’t who you think he is and I will prove it.”

I didn’t want to argue back and forth anymore so I nodded. “You show me the proof and I’ll believe you.”

On the way back to the house my mind went round in circles trying to figure out what I would do if Kaiden was right. Although I didn’t believe it, I had to prepare for the possibility. I couldn’t allow it blind side me.