Page 48 of Fighting For Light
“And here you are, one of the best in the nation.”
I flash her a smile and continue. “It kind of just happened that way. None of us intended to make it a career. I give Mom a lot of credit, though. She risked everything for us.”
“What do you mean by trainers? I thought she got you coaches.”
“Yeah, you’re right. They weren’t typical coaches. They were retired navy seals, MI5, and well, they didn’t tell us where else they came from. Mom’s intention was to teach us how to protect ourselves.”
“That sounds like overkill for self-defense classes,” she mutters, taking a drink. She winces a little with her hand on her stomach, and I jump to my feet.
“Are you okay?”
She smiles softly and nods with her eyes closed. “I’m fine. It’s just a muscle cramp. The baby is starting to move, and it’s an odd feeling.”
“Oh,” I say because I can’t think of anything else.
She huffs a laugh. “I figured you did your research by now,” she teases.
I lift a shoulder. “I did, but that doesn’t mean it’s all correct.”
“What else happened?” She shifts again, making herself comfortable while I grab a few pillows to help prop her up.
“Is that good?”
She nods, and I sit back down, watching her like a hawk. “It wasn’t for your typical self-defense, it was…uh…psychological, physical, strategic. It was to prepare us for every possibility. My father made a lot of enemies as he rose in power, hand in hand with the Costa mob. Mom made it so when they come for us, we’ll be more than ready.”
“Why do you say when?” Cordelia asks.
“Because it’s only a matter of time. When they do.”
Cordelia’s eyes widen, and her hand goes back to her stomach. “Why would they? You guys have nothing to do with any of it.”
“No, but they don’t care. We are loose ends to them. It’s that simple. Mom told us the relationship was supposed to be brief. The goal was to paint him as a hero for getting drugs off the streets, lowering crime rates, and assisting in human trafficking busts. It got him reelected many times because of it. But theCosta mob became the police instead of the actual police, and he kept digging in, hungry for more power. He worked with them until he got so far he couldn’t get out. Once you’re in, the only way out is death. He lost his funding, aka Mom, to supplement the reasons for his reelection, so we think he got a large loan from them, and that locked him in for life. We hoped he would dig his own grave, but somehow he’s still alive.”
“It’s not if it’swhenthey get tired of your father not handling his side of things, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, we’ve done our best to stay out of it, but they don’t care. They will come after us if Fred doesn’t hold up his end of the deals he made. They will use us to get to him, and it will work because he cares more about himself than us, of course. But the status quo has changed recently. They came after Mom and tossed the beach house, and my dad contacted her, but she won’t tell us what he said.”
Cordi gasps. “Wow, I would have never guessed. Is she okay? I can’t imagine…”
“Yeah, she’s fine. She’s tougher than she looks.”
Cordi tilts her head to the side. “Yeah, I’d say so. Especially with what you all have been through.”
“We know who sent the man who came after Mom. We handled it, but—“
“It’s not over,” she concludes.
I shake my head, and she swallows. I wait, letting the information overload sink in. It’s a lot to take, and I’m nervous about how she’s going to respond to it. I don’t want her to leave me, but I wouldn’t blame her if she did. Her lips purse, and she takes another drink of water.
“This is a lot, Kai,” she says.
“I know, I’m sorry. I wanted you to have the full picture.”
“Thank you for telling me,” she rasps. “What does this mean for us and my baby?”
“It means, gem, that I will protect you both. No one will touch either of you. And that’s regardless of whether you marry me.”
“Do you still want me to marry you?” she asks hesitantly.
