He was right when he said I didn’t belong to this world.
This lifestyle had never realistically crossed my mind. I had a fairly normal upbringing. My parents encouraged me to study hard and I was always interested in my books. Math had been a passion of mine, and especially as a teenager, I found out the hard way how it wasn’t such an acceptable thing.
I was the nerd. I was the girl who’d never easily made friends. I was the girl whose longtime best friend dumped her when she started going out with their mutual teenage heartthrob.
My parents seemed normal for the most part. They loved and nurtured me, encouraged me to follow my dreams and passion. I idolized my father. He was a businessman and usually worked late hours. He made it a point to make me see he worked hard. That anyone who wanted to make anything of their lives would have to work hard.
The kind of money I’d seen around Aldo Baron, and the kind of apartment Tristian Doherty lived in—they belonged to a different world from me.
Most importantly, they lived on the edge. On the other side of the tracks. What I would’ve so far considered the wrong side of the tracks.
In the span of just a few months, I was exposed to the kind of violence and crime I had never imagined myself to be a part of. To witness firsthand. I only thought that stuff happened in the movies. It had to be just folklore. Real people couldn’t live that way.
But there I was, standing in front of a guy who set my body on fire, and at the same time—could snap me into two pieces any time he wanted.
I had every reason to be afraid of him.
“So, you’re telling me Aldo captured you? Picked you off the streets randomly because he knew he’d use your skills?”
Tristian’s eyes narrowed while he studied me closely. Maybe he was trying to figure out if I was lying to him. I had a feeling he’d pick up very quickly if I was to lie to him. He was not the kind of man you lied to because he wouldn’t go light on a punishment. In fact, I didn’t even want to imagine what he was capable of doing.
I had already witnessed what Aldo Baron was capable of.
“No, there was nothing random about it,” I replied.
I needed a moment.
It’d been a few months since everything unraveled. Since my life came tumbling down around me and I lost all control. But it hadn’t been long enough. Everything still hurt.
I wrapped my arms around myself like I had a stomach ache. I almost doubled over with the pain. Tristian watched me closely. Did I detect concern in his eyes? Why would he be concerned about me? Why would he care?
“My father…he had known…been associated with Aldo for a while,” I began.
Tristian clenched his jaws. It was like a light bulb went off in his head, and he finally made sense of it.
“So your dad has been a part of this world.”
I had to look away. Talking about my father now, knowing everything I knew—made it even harder. Even more painful.
“I still don’t know to what extent he’d been involved with Aldo. But he had always kept me away from it. I never had an inkling, growing up, that this was going on in the background.”
“How was he involved with Aldo?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t know. Nobody has given me an honest answer. I don’t believe anything Aldo or his men say. All I knew was Dad ran a moderately successful business.”
“What kind of business?”
“He had a pawn shop,” I said.
Tristian sat down on the couch with a thump while I stood at some distance from him. Every time he moved and I saw the way his muscles moved under his clothes, I felt an obscene tingle between my legs. A wave of desire washed over me and I was filled with guilt.
I couldn’t understand it. How could I be attracted to this man? This man who was so dangerous to me. Who’d kill me. That’d solve all their problems, right?
“So how did you find out what was really going on? How did you become involved with Aldo?” Tristian continued.
“It was when Aldo decided my father wasn’t doing enough to pay back the money he supposedly owed. I don’t understand how…why…he’d been so foolish to owe money to a man like Aldo. My father was not a stupid man. He may have been a liar and a deceiver.” I spoke in a feverish jumble, more to myself now, than to him.
I was just trying to make sense of the thoughts in my head. Trying to straighten out all the things I felt for my father.
“Why do you keep referring to him in the past tense? Where is he now?”
That caught my attention. I looked up at Tristian who waited for an answer. Maybe he’d figured out the answer before I even said the words. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get them out. They were stuck in my throat.
“Aldo…he killed my father. He murdered both my parents right in front of my eyes,” I said.
I went to stand by the window again. I needed to look out because I craved the distraction. The view of the river calmed me a little. It reminded me of the summer we had spent by the lake that year. Rivers and lakes would always have that effect on me. They’d forever remind me of Dad.
“I was back home, visiting my parents for their anniversary. I’d just graduated college and had been hunting around for jobs. I’d even been offered a few positions, good jobs. I hadn’t decided which one to accept yet and wanted to go spend some time with my parents before diving into a new chapter in my life.”
I had my back turned to Tristian because
