Page 14 of Possessive

"Why didn't they come for me?"

"My guess is they didn't know," I said, my voice quiet, even for me. "Asher, in particular, would have done anything to get you out of there if he was aware. Rose too."

Dane was a self-serving son of a bitch, who knew what his agenda might be?

"They didn't know," she echoed. "My father must have lied to them too."

"As far as anyone knows, you ran off to marry some nice boy and live in the suburbs," Damon said. "They say you kept in contact for a while before you didn't. They must have thought you were happier away from this life."

"I never contacted them," she said. "I couldn't. Kurt… Kurt had my phone. He must have sent messages, pretending to be me, and they never thought to question it. No one ever thought to try to find me."

"They might have tried," I said. "They wouldn't have been successful. If I had to guess, I'd say the only one who knew about the connection between you and Kurt was your father. Once he was dead, only you and Kurt knew, and he wasn't saying anything."

"And I couldn't." She chewed on her lip. "If you hadn't had my father killed?—"

"I doubt he would have told anyone," I said. "I can't imagine your siblings would have taken it well if they knew. If I hadn't had him killed, they would have. Or someone else would have. He was good at making enemies." And giving his innocent daughter to a monster. My only regret was that he didn't die slower.

"He was," she agreed. "I'm glad he's dead. I don't believe in hell, but if it exists, I hope he's there. And I hope Kurt goes there soon."

"He will," I assured her. "I have a lot of resources on finding him. The twins have assured me they are on his trail." Hunter and Parker were both pains in my ass, but they were useful in their own way.

"The twins are… I guess they grew up," she said.

"My youngest brothers got older, but I don't know about growing up," I said dryly. There were twenty years between me and them, so they had time. If they didn't get themselves killed first.

"I feel like I got left behind," she said. "Everything has changed. I don't know where to start to catch up."

"I recommend you start with pizza." Gianni stepped into the room and handed Mina a plate.

Her eyes huge, she started to eat.

"Don't eat too fast," Gianni warned. He crouched down beside her like he might snatch the food away again at any moment.

She moved the plate away from him, as though that might stop him from taking it, and bit into the pizza, a look of bliss on her face. Terry made the best pizza I'd ever had, but it must be just this side of heaven for her.

Watching her eat, the urge to keep her here grew stronger. I wanted to see her experience all of the things she’d missed out on in the last five years. Fresh air, sunshine and good food. Safety, security and stability.

Usually I wouldn't give a shit whether anyone enjoyed those things or not. But with her, things were different. I was drawn to her. The need to protect her was overwhelming.

Maybe I was getting soft, but I didn't give a fuck. If anyone lay a hand on her, they'd lose it.

I snapped out of my thoughts as she made a gagging sound. She pushed the plate towards Gianni, clapped a hand over her mouth and staggered towards the door.

CHAPTER 6

MINA

I lay on my side, my hand on my bloated, sore stomach.

After throwing up the first few mouthfuls of pizza, I kept down some dry crackers and sips of juice. That meagre meal was more than I'd eaten in too long. The taste though…

Even watered down juice tasted like heaven. Clean and fresh and full of flavour. I could easily have ignored the pain and eaten a whole box of the crackers. If I did, I'd throw them back up. My stomach wasn't ready for that much food, even if the rest of me was crying out for it.

I flinched as a shadow stopped in the doorway. Surrendering to a spike of fear and panic, I curled up around my cramping stomach, even as I made out Reuben's silhouette in the light from another room. It illuminated the corridor and most of the room I lay in.

The bed under me was like a cloud after living on concrete. It was almost too comfortable, the blankets too heavy and warm. I'd pushed them aside and lay straight on the mattress.

"Better?" Reuben stepped inside, arms crossed as though he needed to defend himself from me. He had no reason to be physically intimidated by me, so I wasn't sure what was behind his posture. Something about me had him on his guard. Vice versa was true, so I'd lay no blame on him. Not yet.