“I’m proud of you, Kite.”

I bowed my head, squeezing my phone until the casing cracked.

I would have to be ready…there was no other way.

“Now, tell the lady’s maid to prepare the girl. Tonight, we inch closer to the finish line.” His teeth glinted with an evil smile. “Tonight, the Third Debt will be paid.”

I FOUND TEX in the lounge, nursing a brandy and looking as if he hadn’t showered in days. He didn’t look up as I perched on the arm of his favourite chair.

Something had changed between us. We no longer had a close bond—it was taut, strained—full of accusations and denials.

I missed him.

I feared for him.

But I didn’t have the strength to bring up what I truly wanted to know. So, I sat there, rubbing his forearm with my tattooed fingertips, hoping he knew that I forgave him. He might be my elder, but he wasn’t faultless. He needed to let his guilt go before it killed him.

Without looking into my eyes, he spoke. His voice was cracked and brittle, his brandy glass long since dry.

“She told me to hide you.”

I knew instantly he spoke of my mother.

“I had plans. I’d booked flights for all of us. I had a whole new life arranged in America. There was no way I was going to let those bastards have two of my girls. I would’ve died to protect you, Threads. You have to believe me.”

My father’s head bowed as the weight of wrong decisions pushed him deeper into his chair.

“The night before we were due to leave, I had a visitor. He showed me…things—” He swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes as if he couldn’t bear to remember. “He made me believe that no matter where I took you, no matter how well I hid you, they would find you. And if they did, the debts would be twice the repayment. Twice the pain. He made me a promise that if I let his firstborn take you easily, that you would be given a good life. A life that might go on for years.”

A tear rolled down his cheek. He clutched my hand so hard blood ceased to flow. “By God, I believed him, Nila. He had too much…too many things to prove he spoke the truth. I couldn’t refuse. I couldn’t subject you to that. The things they’ve done—”

Taking a deep breath, he stuttered, “So I cancelled our new life and remained, knowing that one day you would be taken from me.” A horrible sob escaped him. “I’m so sorry, little one. I only did what I hoped was right. I chose the lesser evil, do you see? I chose the one with a longer timeframe so I could get you free.”

He looked up, his black eyes watering and bloodshot. “I couldn’t save your mother, but I’m going to save you. I will. I swear it.”

His confession wrenched silent tears of my own. I kissed the top of his head, granting absolution. “I trust you, Dad.”

He collapsed in on himself. I didn’t have the strength to ask him what I desperately wanted to know.

Where did he think my mother was buried all this time?

And what did Cut show him to leave his wife in the hands of monsters?

“Miss?”

The dream shattered.

Not that it was a dream, but a memory. The one time Tex spoke honestly while I’d been back home. He’d then wiped it from his history by drinking so much, he didn’t remember the next morning.

“You awake, Miss?”

I stretched, wincing at the crick in my spine. “Yes. Yes, I’m awake.”

How long did I nap for?

My phone rested on the floor and a damp patch where I’d drooled on the silk loveseat hinted at a while.

I shivered, rubbing my arms to ward off the chill. The archaic central heating in this place was intermittent at best. Scrambling to my feet, I eyed up the marble fireplace. Cold ash and black soot looked back. I’d set it last night, but I sucked at making a decent heat-delivering flame.

Picking up my phone, I checked the inbox.

Nothing.

I’d hoped after my message, Jethro would’ve replied or at least come to see me. I needed him again. I needed him every damn day. The lust in my blood never ceased.

The maid bustled about, picking up scraps of material and tossing them into the wicker basket where my cut-offs ended up. “You have an hour, Miss. Time to get ready.”

“An hour?” I rubbed my eyes, chasing off the cloudiness from my nap. “For what?”

The maid with her brown ponytail and pink lips never stopped tidying. “Wasn’t told. I only know you have to get ready.”

My heart unfurled. Could it be Jethro’s way of asking me to prepare for a long overdue conversation?

Could he be taking me on the date he promised the night of the Second Debt?

I hugged myself at the thought. Finally. After weeks apart, we could finally connect and be true. Like we should’ve done at the start.

He’d admitted we were on the same team, yet he’d avoided me ever since.

Teams have to stick together, Kite.

He’d been raised with siblings but always so alone. However, he wasn’t alone any longer.

He has me.

“Tell, Mr. Hawk, I won’t need an hour.”

Without waiting for her reply, I charged into the bathroom.

Fifty-one minutes later, I stepped from the misty steam back into my bedroom.

I’d never been so diligent in my appearance before. I’d used the expensive soaps and lotions stocked in the bathroom. I’d showered, shaved—ensured my legs were silky smooth, and the hair between my legs manicured into a perfect strip hiding just a little but not a lot.