For the life of me, I didn’t understand why being pregnant meant being tired every second of the day. I hadn’t intended to fall asleep while waiting for my father to arrive. When I woke earlier and texted Andi to see if he’d made it, I hadn’t expected to her to confirm that he had. She’d taken on the task of catching him up on any recent changes around the grounds and any other information he wanted. He would need it if he was going to assist her while Ayden and I were gone.

After learning my dad was there, we headed toward the arena. As soon as we passed through the gate, I spotted Andi and Bentley. Both stood next to my dad as he spoke with Tommy from security. I caught the end of their conversation as we approached.

“Did you check the security footage to see if he or the truck are on it?”

“Yes, sir. We’re waiting on a call back from one of the local delivery agencies to see if they have any information.”

“Good. Keep me posted.” As soon as my father noticed me, he paused what he was saying and smiled. Then his gaze shifted to Ayden. “We’re trying to track down the guy who delivered the package to you the other day. Andi said she has never seen him before.”

“Is it possible it was someone new?”

Ayden directed his question toward Andi, who shook her head. “I’ve already checked with the agencies who always deliver. They didn’t have any packages scheduled to be delivered that day, and they don’t ship live animals.”

“Sounds like this was a setup.” Ayden’s assumption matched mine. We both knew who was responsible for this. All we needed was proof. Hopefully, my father would be able to find something.

“Andi, keep me posted on any new information. And thank you for catching me up. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“It’s good to see you, Shane. We’ve missed you around here.” She hugged my father before she and Bentley joined hands and waved to us. Once they headed for the arena, I became the center of my dad’s attention.

“It’s good to see you, princess.” My father crushed me to his chest in a tight embrace. It had only been a few months since we last saw each other, but a lot had changed since that day. Now that I was heading out of town, we didn’t have time to catch up. Still, I sensed both excitement and anxiety in my father’s energy. It was hard for me to know where he was directing his conflicting emotions. Some of it was toward Ayden and me. Some was meant for my sister.

As my dad eased back, his lips tightened, then he lifted them in a smile. “I still can’t believe my baby is having a baby.”

“Dad.” I enunciated the word as I placed my hand at my waist. Ayden wasn’t saying much as he stood behind me, leaning against one of the large cement flower planters in front of the arena. I knew he was nervous about my father’s reaction. The first time they met didn’t start great, but Ayden earned my father’s respect before the night ended.

Now he’d gotten me pregnant. Regardless of how happy the news made us, Ayden worried my father wouldn’t feel the same. He knew my dad would stress over me.

I wasn’t the only person concerning him. My sister was too. She’d kept her distance since the snake incident, but it was only a matter of time before she pulled some other stunt.

My dad rubbed my arm then stuck his hand out and shook Ayden’s. “Good to see you again, Ayden. Thank you for keeping an eye on my girl.”

“No need to thank me, sir. I’d do anything thing to keep her safe.”

“As would I.” My father touched Ayden’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “You understand this on my level now, don’t you?”

Ayden nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Father’s put their children first. They protect them. I know you want to do the same for the child you’re having with my daughter.”

“Absolutely. It’s why we’re adamant about leaving for a while.” Ayden reached for me. He clasped my hand and laced his fingers with mine. The heat of his body warmed my arm as I leaned against his chest. “I appreciate you filling in for Mia so that we can get away.”

My dad chuckled. “Trust me, son. I appreciate you getting her away more than you can fathom. She’s needed a break for a while. Now it’s dire.”

Squeezing me tighter, Ayden nodded. “What are you going to do about Izzy?”

His question had my breath hitching. While I couldn’t deny that I worried about what Izzy might do to our father, my dad assured me he wasn’t afraid. He swore that if anyone could get a rational thought through to her it would be him. He was the biggest reason why my grandfather never made Izzy leave. She always left on her own accordance but not until she caused enough chaos.

My father lowered his gaze to the ground as he shook his head. He adjusted the cufflinks on his shirt then moved to his tie. Once it was tightened, he peered at Ayden. “Don’t worry about Izzy. Leave her up to me. Get my daughter to a safe place and take care of her. I’ll handle the rest.”

“Trust me, Shane. I give you my word that I will protect Mia with my life.”

“Good.” My father’s voice hit a gruff tone. For a moment, his face seemed to age twenty years. His eyes went past me to what I assumed was the water fountain in the distance, the one he dedicated to my mom. “Forgive my insistence, but Mia is the only thing I have left of my Morgan.”

I held my breath when my father mentioned my mother. The pain in his voice was evident to me. It was always there whenever he brought up the subject of her.

“Dad, I’ll be fine.” I left Ayden’s side and folded my hands over my father’s. “You’re not going to lose me. In fact, next year, you will gain another part of me. You’ll have a grandchild.”

He grasped my hands and patted the top of one as he nodded. “I know you don’t understand my fear. I’ve never told you what happened to your mother when she was pregnant with you.”

As his words repeated in my mind, my skin pimpled. I glanced at Ayden, but the way his brow rose said he was as confused as I was. “What are you talking about, Dad?”

My father faced the planter and played with one of the flower shoots. “When your mother was about eight and half months pregnant with you, she went to Phoenix to meet with an old dance instructor who trained her in New York. She wanted him to come to Music Haven and work with some of our choreographers. I didn’t go on the trip because a band I was trying to sign was giving me grief.”

“Did something happen while Mom was gone?”

I leaned against Ayden as I waited for my father to answer. After a few seconds of complete silence, he nodded his head, but he never looked away from the flowers.

“She was supposed to return home the next day, but she never showed up at the airport to board the jet. The pilot alerted me to the situation, so I told him to stay until she arrived. I thought she was running late or stuck in traffic.” He glanced at me briefly before turning toward the fountain again. “When she hadn’t shown up by that afternoon, I knew something was wrong. I left word with the airport to ask your mother to call if she showed up. Then I had the pilot come back to get me.”

“Did she ever arrive?” A chill spread down my spine when he shook his head. Ayden’s arms wrapped around me as we both listened to the story my father was telling. “What happened, Dad?”

“By the time I arrived in Phoenix and checked in with the hotel where your mother stayed, it had been twenty-four hours since I’d heard from her. I retraced her steps, met with her former instructor, and talked to everyone who saw her that day. No one knew where she went.”

“So mom disappeared?”

“That’s the way it looked. The cops weren’t much help so I stayed for a week, searching for her. Then I came home. I was convinced that your mom had left me and it devastated me, but that wasn’t the case.”

Ayden shifted his weight to his other foot then pulled me closer. He must have felt me trembling. I couldn’t help it. This story was new to me, and the thought of my mom disappearing concerned me.

“A couple days after I returned, I received a phone call. The person on the other end had their voice distorted. I thought it was a prank until the person said they had your mother. I heard her crying in the background.”

“So my mother was kidnapped?”

My stomach knotted when my dad nodded. I gripped Ayden’s arm as I faced him. I tried to speak, but no words would come out. He couldn’t talk either. All he did was rub my arm and look at my father again. Once I did the same, I noticed the tears in my dad’s eyes.

“I told the caller I would pay any amount of money they wanted to get my wife back. They said they wanted to make me suffer. When I begged them not to hurt your mom, they hung up the phone.”

“What did you do?”

Wiping at his eyes, he pulled a handkerchief from his slacks and blew into it. “Your grandparents and I involved the cops, but it didn’t do us any good. Each day, I’d get a call around the same time. All I could hear was your mother crying and begging someone not to hurt her baby. This went on for two weeks straight.”

“How did this not make national news?” Ayden asked. His hold had tightened around me to the point I could barely move. What my father was describing had to be a husband and father’s worst nightmare. I could only imagine how Ayden would react if something like this happened to me.

“Besides the fact that we were working with the Feds, my father knew a lot of people. Let’s just say, if he didn’t want something to get into the media, it didn’t. He was a powerful and influential man.”

I always knew my grandfather was well respected, but I had no idea he could pull strings like this. I’m sure he did it to protect my mother’s life, as well as mine. The media made things difficult sometimes.

“You said this lasted for two weeks. What happened after that?” Ayden had taken over asking questions. I couldn’t. My mind was so blown that processing the information was a challenge.

Once my father put his handkerchief away, he took a deep breath and released it. Then he gazed at me. The memories racing through his mind were causing him pain.

“The Feds were finally able to get a location on where the calls were originating. By the time they arrived, a car had pulled down the driveway, but they caught another man trying to escape. He had you in his arms. I had no idea it was you until we found your mother in a room in the basement. She was delirious.”

He gazed into the distance and laughed half-heartedly. I wanted to go to him and remind him that everything turned out okay, but I couldn’t. In truth, I didn’t know if my mother ever fully recovered from this horrible incident.

“This is unbelievable,” I mumbled.

I wasn’t sure if my dad even heard me. He didn’t acknowledge what I said when he began speaking again. “As soon as the medics were with your mom, I went upstairs to find you. Another group of medics were checking your vitals. Once they cleared you, they bundled you up and placed you in my arms. I held you as I watched the cops cuff the man and throw him in the back of the police cruiser. I found out later that I had just missed your birth by an hour.”

As I stood there, every nerve in my body thrummed with the beat of my heart. The revelation stole away any rational thought I had. No wonder my father was worried about my safety.

“What about the car that pulled out when you arrived? Who was in it? Were they involved in Mom’s kidnapping?”

“It’s funny you should ask. I didn’t find out the truth until years later after your mother passed away.” My dad shook his head. He glanced at the ground as he mumbled something under his breath. When he gazed at me, anger had reentered his eyes. “The only reason I found out then is because of the tire tracks. The ones left by the vehicle that got away matched up with tire tracks in another case a few years later.”

There was something else he wasn’t telling me. I wasn’t sure what, and part of me was afraid to ask. It was difficult for him to talk about my mother. Not only had he done that today, but he also shared a painful memory as well. Still, I had a feeling I needed to know the truth.

“So who was it? What other crime did this person commit?”

My mind raced with so many questions. I thought I knew everything about my mother. Turns out I was wrong, and that simple fact angered me. So did my dad’s answer.

“The person who escaped that night wasn’t just an accomplice in your mother’s kidnapping. They were responsible for your mother’s death.”

The world around me spun. I clung to Ayden, doing my best to ground myself. No matter what I did, disbelief racked my body. “Are you saying . . .?”

“Yes, Mia. Selena Giles kidnapped your mother. Izzy’s mom is the reason I missed your birth.