Page 82 of Chad's Chase

“I had no idea who was ordering hits on me, or why, until yesterday. Now it all makes sense. My life here has been pretty peaceful, until roughly two years ago when my aunt and her husband got murdered in their home, and I became sole guardian for their daughter, my cousin, Alina. This aunt was from my mother’s side, and much like the Niiveuxs, they are from old money, and the mothers passed their legacy down to their eldest daughters. My aunt was the oldest between her and my mother, so the legacy went to her. When my aunt died, because Alina is an only child, the legacy went to her—”

“And because Alina’s under your care, Rafail wants you dead so she will end up under your mother’s care, hence his care. Then he’ll do the same thing he did to you to manipulate her into signing over her family’s legacy to him in exchange for her freedom,” I summed up, my voice hollow, my blood alternating between cold and hot, indecisive of how it really wanted to flow. Oxygenated or deoxygenated?

Oh. God.

I’m so afraid. I’m so afraid to tell him.

“Yep,” Chad said. “That’s my summation, too. Can’t see any other reason why he’d want me dead.”

Maybe I shouldn’t tell him. What good would it do?

“How much is she worth?”

“Twelve.”

“Billion?”

“Jhay?”

“Yeah?”

“Whenever I’m talking figures to you, always assume I’m talking billions.”

“Mhmhm,” I absently responded, too busy warring in my head with my decision. To tell him or not to tell him?

No, I have to tell him.He told me everything tonight. Held nothing back, even when it hurt. If we were going to forgive each other and move forward, there needed to be no secrets. None.

“She has eyes like yours and hair like mine,” I whispered, so tremblingly soft I could hardly hear myself. “She’s beautiful.”

Chad’s whole body went still, and I could feel his questioning eyes on me, but I avoided them at all costs. “What?”

“She was so scared,” I said, voice getting even lower. “Her dark eyes were wet, pleading, as she begged me not to kill her. But I was ordered to keep her alive, so I did the same thing you did to me and told the in-training assassin assigned to me for that hit to duct tape her and lock her in her closet.”

Bracing up on his forearms, drawing himself away from me and further to the headboard, he shook his head once. “No.”

I nodded yes. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know who they were. But everything matches up. Two years ago, plus that name, Alina…I remembered her name. I remember it so well because ‘Alina’ was the last thing her mother whispered before she took her last breath. I remember her because when I looked at her, I saw myself at ten years old. I saw me.”

Vision blurred with tears, I stopped hiding and looked at Chad. His face was ashen, black eyes so glossy I could see my reflection in them. This was hurting him. It was clear he had a special love for this particular aunt. Of course, they had to have had a close relationship for her to leave her only daughter in his care.

“Why?” I cried. “Why would he order me to kill them? His wife’s only sister?!”

In a cold, gruff voice, he said, “You said it: my mother would get guardianship of Alina and she would automatically be under his care.”

“And what does—”

“You need to go.”

“What?”

Detached, hard, devoid of warmth, he reiterated. “You need to go. Go to your room.”

“Why?” I demanded.

He pinned me with that unfriendly black glare. “That aunt, I loved her. And it’s taking every bit of strength in me right now not to reach out and break your fucking neck. So just…go.”

Incensed with resentment, I eased up onto my knees and intrepidly leaned into his face. “How fortunate of you to have aunts and uncles and fucking cousins. I only had a mother, a father and a fucking brother, and you took them from me. All of them, gone! And now you want to whine like a bitch because you lost one fucking aunt? At least when I was killing her, I was killing a complete stranger. You, you knew who my—ourfamily was and you still pulled the goddamn trigger.”

“Get out, Jhay,” he said, his warning deadlier now.