Have you ever had one of those life-changing moments where you know you’re never going to be the same again? That’s what today was. Life-changing. In a good way and also a bad way. It’s crazy when I think about it, how a mere twenty-four hours can be so changing—so significant. It makes me wonder what’d happen if you simply lost twenty-four hours of your life.

Like Hadley has.

Although, I think her amnesia was for a a bit longer than twenty-four hours.

The worst part is that I wouldn’t put it past my dad to have taken Hadley. Mel’s owed him for a while. Perhaps he took Hadley as punishment. But then why give her back and not make Mel work off his debt? As far as I know, Mel just started working to pay back my dad. But maybe I’m more in the dark about my dad’s work than I thought.

“Is she okay?” Blaise whispers as he quietly walks into the room with a bottle of water in his hand.

After Hadley sobbed into my shirt for a half-hour straight, I managed to get her to lay down on the sofa with me. Almost the instant we laid down, she fell asleep.

Right now, my arm is tucked underneath her head and her face is nestled in the crook of my neck. I’m not going to lie. It’s strange to be cuddled up this close with someone. But it’s not necessarily bad. Just… new and different and… calming.

“I’m not sure.” I softly brush my fingers through Hadley’s hair, turning my head to look at her. “She fell asleep about a half an hour ago, but…” I sigh. “I think until she gets her sisters back and takes care of this problem with Axel and our Dad, she’s not going to be okay.”

“I know.” He sinks into the chair across from me and unscrews the cap from the bottle of water. “We’re going to help her, right?”

I shake my head. “I am. You need to focus on going to school and running your shop.”

“It’s your shop too. Sofie and Jay gave it to all of us.” He takes a swig of water then sets the bottle down on the coffee table. “I want to help. There’s no way you can handle all of our problems and her’s.” He rests back in the seat. “Besides, I like Hadley and I want to help her.”

I comb my fingers through her hair, my muscles constricting as I ask, “Like her, like her?

He wrestles back his amusement. “Would it bother you if I did?”

I want to shake my head, but instead I just swallow hard.

The truth is, I like Hadley, even though I barely know her. But there’s something about holding one of the toughest girls that I’ve ever met while she falls apart that made me… I don’t know, start to… fall for her, I guess is the best way to put it.

But falling is fucking terrifying, hence my silence to Rhyland’s question.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” His amusement breaks through. Then he gets up, and grabs his water bottle. “I’m going to go check on Jaxon and try to message Alex again.”

“You still haven’t heard from him?” I ask. When he shakes his head, I try not to get worried. Alex is known for taking off and not telling anyone where he’s going. But usually when he does, it’s to get high, so…

Yeah, I’m worried.

“I’m sure he’s just being an irresponsible ass,” Rhyland says as he starts for the doorway. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

I nod and he leaves the room.

I lie there for a while, holding Hadley, staring out the window at the night sky. The longer I do, the more my thoughts drift to her being kidnapped and how my dad might’ve been the one that did it.

Finally, I can’t take it anymore.

Carefully slipping my arm out from under Hadley, I climb off the sofa and sneak into the kitchen to make a call I really don’t want to make, but feel like I have to.

After three rings, he answers. And it’s him, not his secretary, which is odd.

“Blaise, I’m so glad you called,” my dad greets me when he answers.

My guard instantly goes up. My dad hates when we call him.

“Why?” I ask warily, sinking down into a chair at the table.

“I’ll tell you,” he says. “But first, I’d like to hear why you called me.”

I pinch the brim of my nose with my fingertips. “To ask you a question about Hadley Harlyton. Her dad, Mel, worked for you. But from what I understand, he was only doing so because he owed you a debt from a long time ago.”

“And where did you learn this information?”

“From all over.”

“That’s a very vague answer.”

“Well, I learned how to be vague from the best.”

Silence momentarily fills the line and then he says, “What do you want to know about her?”

I take a deep breath and lower my hand from my nose. “I want to know if about eight years ago, you kidnapped Hadley because of Mel’s debt.”

“And where did you come up with this theory?” He sounds as calm as can be, but that doesn’t mean anything—my father’s an excellent liar.

“I heard a story,” I answer vaguely. “And came up with it on my own.”

“Hmmm…” He gives a annoyingly, and probably purposefully, long pause. “Well, unfortunately your theory is incorrect. I’ve never kidnapped Mel’s daughter, but you were right about him owing me for a very long time.”

“Okay.” I can’t tell if he’s lying or not. “What is his debt over?”

“That’s none of your damn business. None of this is since you chose not to work for me.” Annoyance clips his tone. “However, like I said, I’m glad you called. I have something I want to discuss with you about your brother.”

“Which one?” I ask. “Or did you forget you have multiple children?”

“Watch it,” he warns. “You may be a legal adult now, but I’m still your father and still own Honeyton, so punishing you won’t be a problem.”

The muscle in my jaw ticks. “Which brother do you want to talk to me about?” I ask as composedly as I can.

“Alex,” he says and my heart slams against my chest. “He’s gotten himself into a bit of trouble.”

I open and flex my hands. “What’d he do?”

“Not only did he steal from me,” His voice is as cold as ice, “But he stabbed me in the back and tried to make a deal with Axel.”

Oh. Fucking. Shit.

“Maybe it was a misunder—”

“No, it wasn’t,” he cuts me off. “And now he needs to pay. He may be my son, but I’m not going to let him off the hook. What sort of father would I be if I did?”

Do you really want me to answer that? Luckily, I don’t say that aloud.

“Look, he’s going through some stuff.” I work to keep the panic out of my voice, but fail. “Whatever he did, I’m sure he was high when he did it.”

“Yeah, so? How is that my problem?”

“Please, just go easy on him,” I beg, panicking. “In fact, you should punish me since I’m the one who was supposed to be keeping an eye on him.”

“That’s actually a good idea.” With how swiftly he comes to that conclusion, I wonder if that’s what he was planning on doing the entire time. “And I have the perfect idea for your punishment.” He pauses. “I have a job I need done down by the docks, and I want you and Rhyland to do it.”

“No, I want to keep Rhyland out of this,” I say. “Just me—”

“Silence!” He shouts. “From now on, you’ll only answer questions I ask, got it? If you don’t, I’ll punish Alex and it won’t be by making him do a job.”

I swallow the bitterness in my mouth. “Yes, sir.”

“Good,” he says. “Now where was I?”

“You were about to tell me about the job Rhyland and I are going to do for you,” I grit out.

“Oh yes.” He sounds so pleased and I hate him even more for it. “There’s a boat coming in on the docks tomorrow night that’ll be carrying expensive products, but there’s something in particular I want you to steal.”

I inhale and exhale, hating this.

My father is one of the best thieves there is, the gambling thing being a side job to distract people from what he really does; stealing jewelry money, drugs—anything of value he can get his hands on. I promised myself a long time ago that when I turned eighteen, I’d stop helping him steal. Yet, here I am, nineteen-years-old and about to do it again. And I’m bringing Rhyland into it.

But the only other option is to allow my dad to punish Alex and it won’t just be making him steal. No, he’ll break Alex apart, mentally and physically.

“Okay,” I manage to bite out.

“Very good,” he mutters. “Be at my house tomorrow morning at seven o’clock and I’ll give you the details. Don’t be late or else I’ll punish Alex for it.”

He hangs up.

“Fuck,” I growl out, clutching my phone in my hand.

I hate this. Hate him. Hate him for making everything so shitty all the time.

Well, not all the time…

Sucking in a deep breath, I push to my feet and wander back into the living room where Hadley is sleeping on the sofa. Her hair is a halo around her head and her shoes are off because I took them off—in my opinion, sleeping in shoes is so damn uncomfortable.

I stare down at her, brushing my fingers along her cheek. A small smile touches my lips when her eyelashes flutter. Seeking more calmness, I climb back onto the sofa and tuck my arm underneath her head. She rolls to her side, curling into me, and my pulse quickens, in a good way.

In a frightening way.

I’m scared shitless, for many reasons. And tomorrow is going to be even worse.

But right now, in this moment, lying here beside Hadley, I feel calm. And all I can do is hold onto that feeling for dear life and hope it doesn’t destroy me.

And that my father doesn’t.