“Emma.” My name rolling off Dylan’s lips has always held such power over me. It’s the way he says it, as though it’s his favorite word in the entire world. But now—after our fight and his very quick declaration that I am not romantically involved with him whatsoever—I shove that power away.
Because he’s not mine. Just as I’m not his.
“I’m fine, Dylan. I apologize for calling, Mrs. Hunt. I didn’t know anyone else’s number by heart, and I wanted everyone to know that I’m okay.”
“Honey, I’m so glad you called. Please know that we all love you, and we only want to know that you are safe.”
“She is,” Gio says. “I can assure you of that. No one will harm Emmaline while she is with us.”
“Where are you?” Dylan demands.
“I’m not at liberty to share that with you,” Gio says coolly. “Given that I don’t know you and you’ve been nothing but aggressive on this call, I have no interest in telling you where you can find the most important people in the world to me. Your declaration to hunt someone down was a threat, and I don’t take too kindly to those. However, as I said, Emmaline is safe, and she will contact you all when she chooses to return home.” He takes a step back.
“Listen up?—”
I take the phone off speaker and press it to my ear again. “Dylan, stop. I’m fine right now, okay? As soon as I can, I’ll make sure you know where I am. Please make sure someone takes care of my cat for me.”
“You’re not safe. Anyone willing to go to those lengths to get to you is not trustworthy.”
“I know.” Tone calm. Words chosen carefully. “If I could swim, this place might feel like paradise,” I add with a smile, hoping he’ll read between the lines. Ocean. I am somewhere near the ocean.
Dylan is silent a moment. “I’m coming for you,” he says. “I promise.”
My hand tightens on the phone. “Talk soon.” I end the call.
“That boy sounds dangerous,” Gio comments as he turns to Mattheus, who nods and slips from the room.
“He’s just temperamental. Always has been.”
“And he is not your boyfriend?”
“Just a really good friend who cares about me. Can you blame him? It’s not like Mattheus approached me and asked me to willingly go with him.”
Gio runs a hand through his hair. “That is fair. I apologize.”
I want to call Dylan back. Stay on the phone with him until someone comes to get me—but I get the sense that would just not be possible. I have to put my trust in him that he’ll somehow find a way to locate me.
Until then, I have to play ball. And a deal is a deal.
“The results are on this phone?” I ask.
“Yes. In the text messages, there’s a photograph sent from the lab. The certified results will be in tomorrow. The packet was sent overnight through the mail.”
I open the messages and stare down at the image sent through the only message on the phone. It’s a screenshot of a medical document, and I have to zoom in to read.
There are four columns with a bunch of things I don’t understand, but multiple markers are circled in red. 47% out of 50% shared DNA. Sibling match.
So it is true. Regardless of how I was brought here, according to this document, Mattheus is my brother.
“Can we go see your mother now?” Gio questions. “I fear, if I keep her waiting much longer, she’s going to come looking for us and spoil the surprise. You can always call them back. Feel free to keep the phone if it will make you more comfortable.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Anything for you,” he says with a kind smile, then takes my hand and loops it through his arm. It feels strange to be walking so close to a man I just met. But I imagine that had I not been kidnapped all those years ago, this would likely feel as familiar as breathing.
Kidnapped away from my family.
Kidnapped and brought back.
