Page 57 of Stealing Jia

“Charm.” He winked at me.

“Charm?”

“Yes, ma’am. It works every time.” He smiled, revealing his dimples. “And I took her dancing.”

Holy Jesus! My father was a lady’s man. “That’s it?”

“No. She showed me Rome. We ate. We talked. We made love. It was the best week of my life.”

“Your affair only lasted a week?”

“A week from the day we met, Viola vanished. I scoured the city, but it was like she had never existed. I returned to the States and hired a private investigator to continue the search.”

“Did you go back to Rome?”

Dad’s mouth hardened into a grim line. “I hunted for Viola until the Tai-Kok came.”

“I wish you had found her.” I placed my hand over his.

His fingers curled around mine. “Me too.”

“Do I have any half-brothers or sisters?”

Dad’s eyes darkened with pain. “No. Voila was the love of my life. I never married.”

“Salvatore Genovese had ties to the Dragos clan. Viola might have been one of his thieves,” I said in a feeble attempt to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

“Which would explain how you ended up at Saint Michael’s Home for Lost Sheep.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Had my mother been fleeing Salvatore’s enforcers when the avalanche hit?

The mess hall doors swished open and Bey scurried in.

My alone time with Dad had just come to a screeching halt.Zzzzzt!A glowing green energy ball formed on my left palm. “Behave or I’ll put you to sleep again.”

He stopped. “I have come to apologize.”

“You have?”Consider me surprised.

“LeeLee and LooLoo are terrors. They get into everything. They throw tantrums. The only way to keep them out of mischief is to web them to the wall. I cannot get them to obey me, but they listen to you. I only wanted a little peace.”

“I feel your pain, but they’re babies who have been through a lot. We don’t know what they saw on Threll or how the Rodan treated them. You need to show the evil twins some love and then web them to the wall.”I patted the table. “Would a bowl of mealie worms help?”

Bey hopped up on the table.“It would.”

“I’ll get them,”Dad said and walked over to the food processor.

“Still think I’m a petka?”

“You have earned your warrior status,”Bey conceded.

“Thank you.”

The doors opened and Adoz flew in. Chirping loudly, he landed on my shoulder. “That bad, huh?”

He cheeped.

“Who’s this?” Dad asked, sitting the bowl of mealie worms in front of Bey.

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