“Ariella already told me that you’re working for the Ricci’s.”
I had assumed that much when he brought up Moreno. “Yes, but they’re not the problem. Are you familiar with a man by the name of Vance DeLuca?” I exhale a heavy sigh.
My chest is heavy. Everything inside of me hurts.
Just being out of Nova’s sight has me worked up into a frenzy, but I trust Ariella with her.
“I know of him,” Jaxson says. He folds his arms across his chest. “What’s going on, Paige?”
“Vance grabbed me off the street this afternoon when I was heading to my car. He kidnapped me, threatened me, and told me that if I didn’t help him, he’d hurt Nova. Then he made this sound like he was hinting to me that he was going to blow up the Ricci household, and so I grabbed Nova to protect her.”
Jaxson’s face is firm.
I can’t tell if he believes me or thinks that I’m mad.
“I can’t let anything happen to that little girl,” I plead with him to help me. He has to understand. He’s a father.
“And you told Moreno that you took his daughter?” Jaxson asks. His tone is calm, but I can see the cogs going in his head.
“Well, no. He wasn’t home. And I couldn’t leave a note. Vance broke in the minute I managed to get downstairs with Nova. It looks bad, and I get it. Nikki probably thinks I kidnapped Nova.”
“You did kidnap her.” Jaxson pinches the bridge of his nose.
“No, it wasn’t like that.” He has to see this from my point of view, Nova’s life was in danger, and I was doing everything that I possibly could to protect her by taking her out of that house and saving her from an explosion that Vance intends to set off.
“Moreno is going to come looking for you.”
I’d expect nothing less from him. He loves his daughter, and he won’t stop until he finds her.
“I know, and that’s why I need you to keep her safe. If I stay, I don’t know what he’ll do to me.”
The words rattle through my head,mafia prince, and a shudder runs down my spine.
Moreno has never hurt me, but if he thinks I betrayed him, my life is in further danger.