Claire greeted me as I stepped into her house. Jack remained outside the front door.

“That’s a bit over the top,” she murmured when she saw Jack.

“Angel is big on security,” I replied, not wanting to go into all the valid reasons for my need for a bodyguard.

“It’s so good to see you,” she embraced me tightly and I breathed the familiarity of her in. Just being in her presence took me back to a childhood where loss didn’t exist and everything was right in the world. "I was devastated when I was told of your death."

"He believed faking my death would keep me safe."

It had until I had decided to show up again and I unknowingly put myself in danger again.

I felt a pang of guilt that I hadn’t reached out to her as soon as I returned.

“Angel was trying to protect me,” I told her, hoping she wouldn’t push for too many details.

“You look so grown up,” she murmured, gazing at me affectionately.

I shrugged. “I might look different but I’m still the hot headed girl who doesn’t do what she is supposed to.”

It was something that Angel constantly reminded me of. My inability to do what I was told.

She smiled. ”Good to hear that you aren’t doing what you’re told.” She had a mischievous glint in her eye and that made me smile.

She never made me feel any of the shortcomings I knew I had.

“So tell me what’s been going on,” she said as we both entered the living room and sat down.

I didn’t go into the specifics but revealed the threat to my life but not who was behind it. She listened intently.

“That’s why Angel faked my death.”

She frowned but didn’t say a word. She wouldn’t even look me in the eye.

“I have something I need to show you,” she finally said after a bit of silence.

Her body language and tone made me nervous but I nodded. I trusted her.

“Promise me you will hear me out before you do anything.”

I nodded. My nervousness grew.

“Come with me,” she said and I followed her to the kitchen.

When she entered she stopped and looked at me. I halted when I saw a man I didn’t immediately recognize seated at the kitchen table. He stood and I looked to Claire.

“I need you to listen to what he has to say Kira,” she said.

They shared a look and my gaze went back to study the stranger. He was tall, older. He was dressed in a suit.

“Who is he?” I asked, studying him. There was something familiar about him but I couldn’t remember where I knew him from. “Do I know you?”

Had he been a friend of my mother’s?

He shared a look with Claire. There was something going on.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Please sit down,” he offered me the seat across from him but I shook my head.

“I’m good right where I am.”

Claire touched my arm. “Please hear him out Kira.”

I frowned.

“For me?” she asked.

I nodded. I would do it for her.

She left the kitchen and I faced the stranger.

“I’ve wanted to do this for so many years,” he said.

“So then get to it,” I said, not liking unknown and the fact it felt like I had just been ambushed.

He smiled.

“I know there has been a lot of stuff going on in your life but I need you to listen to what I have to say.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’m going to start by telling you who I am.”

I nodded.

“I’m Andrew Vincent.”

It hit me at once. His surname and why he was familiar. When I had heard the Vincents I had seem some pictures of him.

I backed away from him, looking around for a way to protect myself from him.

“Kira,” he said. “I won’t hurt you.”

It was the first time I wished I had carried a weapon but my eyes found the knives and took one. It was then I was thankful for every lesson James had given me.

He stepped closer. I waved the knife in his direction. “Stop. Don’t come near me.”

Jack was outside the front of the house and even if I screamed he wouldn’t hear me.

The hand that held the weapon shook. I couldn’t allow him to see how scared I was. I had to show that I was strong and in control. Flashbacks of the man lunging for the gun and being shot at the same time came back to haunt me and I swallowed.

“All I need you to do Kira is to listen to me.”

“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.” I was looking for a way out.

He blocked the door out into the garden. My eyes went to the door Claire had left through. I was weighing up if I could get to the door before he got to me.

“I would never hurt you.”

I shook my head. “You guys have been trying to hurt me for years.”

“I can explain.” He moved closer and I waved the knife in his direction.

“I know how to use this so keep away from me,” I threatened, hoping I had the guts to do what I had to.

He held his hands up at me. “Like I said before I will not harm you. All I want to do is talk to you.”

“I’m listening,” I murmured, but my mind was running ahead trying to find a way out and wrestling with Claire’s betrayal. She had put me right in my enemies hands.

“You are so much like your mother,” he said.

I frowned. “You knew my mother?” My fear wavered

He nodded.

“How did you know my mother?”

He loosened his tie. “She had a flat tyre one night and I stopped to help her.”

My mind was intrigued.

“I did the gentleman thing, I changed her tyre. We struck up a conversation which led to getting a drink together.”

I had a sense of where this was headed. I frowned. “You slept with her.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

He nodded. “It was unexpected but there was just something about your mother that I couldn’t resist. There was a vulnerability in her that brought out the protectiveness in me.”

“Did she know who you were?”

He shook his head. “Initially, she had no idea who I was. We were just two people who found each other by chance one night.”

“And then?” I asked, wanting to know more. I lowered the knife.

“And then.” His eyes held mine. “She fell pregnant.”

My mind was blown. I needed to sit down but I remained where I was.

“Was it yours?” I prompted, needing to know how his story ended because I knew how my mother’s had ended.

He nodded. “Your parents weren’t sleeping together when she fell pregnant.”

“My father never suspected?” I found that hard to believe.

“He was content with his affairs. As long as your mother never gave him trouble, he never questioned her about it.”

It had to be the most dysfunctional relationship I had ever heard of.

“What happened to the baby?” I found myself asking.

"She grew up." He smiled as he watched me. "She is now an adult."

I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

“You are my daughter Kira.”

I held the breath I had just inhaled. “That’s not possible,” I breathed, holding onto the knife tighter, feeling my world spin out from under my feet.

“I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“I just…but…” Nothing made sense anymore. It was like I had been shifted entirely to a different point of view and I was trying to view my life differently with a new perspective that I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.

It was impossible, wasn’t it?

“I’ve got to go.” My first response was to flee and never look back, like I could outrun the truth. I set the knife down on the counter.

He stood in my path.

“I know you still need time to process what I’ve told you. I’m willing to answer any questions you have.”

I couldn’t even put a sentence together at the moment.

“All I ask is that you not reveal this to anyone.”

I didn’t want to tell anyone this explosive secret. In part, I was struggling to believe it was true.

He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a card which he left of the kitchen counter beside me. “Call me when you’re ready to talk.”

I nodded. I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to see him again. My father. The thought felt alien and unreal.

My mind continued to spin as I took the card and headed out the kitchen. Claire was pacing the hallway and stopped when she saw me.

“It can’t be true,” I whispered to her.

She gave me a sympathetic look. “It’s true, Kira.”

I pushed past her and opened the front door, my only goal was to get away so I could process what I had just learnt.

“You okay Mrs Knox?” Jack asked when I hurried to the car with him following behind me.

“Yes, I just want to go home.” He opened the door and got in. Inside the back of the car my mind reeled as I considered that Kaiden was only my half brother. If Andrew Vincent was my father that meant people who were related to me were trying to harm me. None of it made any sense. It couldn’t possibly be true.

It didn’t matter that Claire had confirmed the secret, I needed more.

Then I remembered my mother’s journals.

My mind blurred as I rushed into the house and straight up to the room where I had unpacked my mother’s journals.

I began to search through them one by one. Trying to find the one she was writing the same time I was born, hoping she would refute what Andrew Vincent had claimed.

I wouldn’t allow myself to even consider what he had told me.

It took me nearly half an hour before I found the right one. Before that moment I had never been able to work up the courage to read through my mother’s thoughts but this time I had to ignore the grief of what was lost to find the truth I needed so badly.

My eyes drifted through the book, one page after the other until I found it. His name. Andrew Vincent. Even with the proof of her written word I still couldn’t believe it.

I set the book down back in the box and packed up the rest of the journals, unable to read any more of it.

Her words confirmed what he had said. He was my father.

I stood up and put my hand to my mouth as I went to stand by the window and looked over the grounds. There were so many questions fleeting through my mind, I felt dizzy.

I went to the bedroom I shared with Angel and lay down on the bed, on my side hugging the pillow. I felt like that lost little girl who had found her mother’s lifeless body. Shaken, disbelieving and know that my life would never be the same.

A little while later the bedroom door opened. Footsteps drew closer to the bed.

“Maria says you haven’t eaten anything today.” Angle stood at the edge of the bed.

“I’ve got a headache,” I murmured, not wanting to reveal what Mr. Vincent had asked me to keep secret or the internal struggle it had caused.

I was very aware of how my husband studied me for a little while before he left and I released a heavy breath.

What did I do now?

I sat up in the bed and shoved my hair out of my face. My mind was filled with questions and it was hard to concentrate so I began to jot down some questions on my phone. I needed to clear my head to be able to figure out what to do next.

The next logical step would be to talk to Mr. Vincent and find out what had happened between him and my mother. And I needed to know why my life was in danger.

Then my mind led me to Angel. I couldn’t tell him. What would he think? I was the daughter of his enemy, it would create more of mess.

I worked up the courage to call Claire and set up another meeting with her the next day without going into details for fear the phone was bugged or for fear someone would over hear it.

That night I didn’t sleep much. I tossed and turned. Even when Angel pulled me close into his body I still couldn’t calm my mind long enough to fall asleep.

“What’s going on?” Angel asked the next morning while he pulled on a shirt and began to button it up.

I sat in the bed feeling tired, listless and overwhelmed.

“Nothing. Why would you think something’s going on?” I was on the defensive.

He stopped and frowned. “I know you Kira. There’s something going on.”

I frowned. “I had something to eat at Claire’s and I haven’t been feeling well.” I shrugged.

He studied me for a while before he continued to get dressed while I sat silently in the bed hoping he wouldn’t ask anymore questions.

Later Jack took me to Claire’s again, but this time I entered I was nervous.

“Kira,” Claire greeted and ushered me into the kitchen where Mr. Vincent waited for me in the same spot as the day before.

He stood when I entered. I felt nervous and unsettled as I took the seat across from him. Claire left us alone.

“You have questions?” he asked.

I nodded, trying to scan his features to find ones similar to mine.

“Why?” I asked before clearing my voice.

“Why, what?”

“Why didn’t she leave my father for you? Why did she stay in a loveless marriage?”

His features softened. “Sometimes the choice we make aren’t always clear to see from the outside. I loved you mother and I loved you. That’s why I chose to break things off. To keep you both safe.”

I gave a hollowed laugh. “Do you know what happened to her?” I stood and put some space between us as I shook my head, finding his words hard to believe.

He nodded solemnly. “I always kept an eye on her and you but I never knew how bad things had gotten. And then I found out she overdosed.” He sighed and raked a hand through his greyed brown hair.

“There was no way to know…” I could hear the emotion in his voice but that didn’t absolve him of the blame or guilt.

“And what about me? Your daughter,” I asked.

“You were safe.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Safe?”

He nodded. “That’s why I never claimed you as my daughter. I didn’t want to put your life in danger. If everyone believed you were your mother’s husband’s daughter you were safe. It was that simple.”

I shook my head. “No it isn’t. Do you know how lonely I was? I had a father who wasn’t there much and a mother who took an overdose because she was so broken. My brother ran off the first chance he got and I was alone.”

The day of my mother’s funeral returned in a memory and all I could remember was Angel standing beside me.

“But you were never alone. I was always there in some way or another,” he murmured.

“What do you mean?” I asked, he wasn’t making any sense.

“I’ve watched over you through the years, be it through a nanny or a close friend. I’ve always had someone in your life to watch over you.”

He was unbelievable.

“And you think that’s as good as being there?” I asked earnestly.

“No, but I did the best I could. You’re only alive today because we kept you a secret. Your mom understood the danger.”

“But she left me!” All the emotion of losing my mother rushed back like it was happening all over again. I trembled as I teared up. “She left me.”

“I will never know why your mother chose to end her life but trust me I have always been here, waiting for the day to claim you as my own.”

“No.” I backed away. “No, you don’t just get to come in and get to do that.”

“You’re upset, and I understand it’s a lot to take in. But since my secret has been discovered I’ve had to do everything to keep you safe.”

“Someone figured it out?” I asked, not sure I was ready to hear this part.

I was tired of being in danger, having people out to get me. I just wanted it all to be over. Marrying Angel had been my solution.

“Yes,” he said, his voice heavy. “My brothers.”

“I don’t understand.” Why would people I have never met want me dead?

“It was the same reason I kept you secret all these years. You are my weakness Kira, a weakness my enemies can exploit to hurt me.”

I needed to sit down. I found the nearest chair and sank down on it.

“The eldest always inherit the family business. When my father died and I took over the business, my brothers who weren’t happy with that decision began to plot and scheme.”

I listened intently, feeling emotional all over again.

“Then they discovered you.”

“How?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“Couldn’t you just deny it?” Surely there was away out.

He shook his head. “They had DNA proof that you are my daughter.”

I was floored.

“But I don’t get it. Why am I a target?”

“I never married or had other children Kira. You are my only heir.”

I stared at him while he continued to talk.

“As my heir you will inherit everything, including the family business.”

I couldn’t even comprehend what he was saying. “But why would that matter right now?”

“It matters now because I’m ill Kira. Terminally ill.”

This could not be happening.

“How long?” I croaked, feeling like there was so much pressure on my lungs that I couldn’t breathe properly.

“A few months. They can’t be certain.”

There was no outward sign there was anything wrong with him.

“Couldn’t I just give everything up? Surely no one can be threatened by a girl who doesn’t want to inherit any of this?” Wasn’t that the best solution?

He shook his head. “It’s not that simple Kira. The only way that would be a solution is if you were dead. Legal documents signing over everything matters little to them. This is a cutthroat world, you know that Kira. You can’t just walk away from it. Besides. I need you.”

“Why do you need me?” I crossed my arms.

“I need you to stop the murder and slaughter that will explode if you aren’t there to keep things in line.”

I shook my head. “Are you crazy? I can’t run anything.”

I didn’t even want to. I didn’t want any part of any of this.