His to Own (His to Own #1) Page 8

  I refused the offer of being looked over at the closest hospital, so my father ended up calling someone he knew that made house visits. Somehow, I was able to get away with not having a full exam, knowing that the mark on my arm would be noticeable. I wore long, or half sleeves, for a reason. I didn’t want to test my father seeing such a mark, fearing what he’d do.

  Jonas had been adamant about not letting my parents see that mark or Hell would break loose sooner than anyone wanted. I didn’t question him on it, but it could wait. Father’s rage was bad enough on a good day, I wasn’t going to risk it right after my safe return. I knew better than to test him now, or anytime soon.

  ~oOo~

  A couple of weeks later, I was in the kitchen making dinner, per my father’s request. He thought I needed a reminder on what my life will no doubt consist of once I am married to whoever he chooses. Everything I thought about my life being planned out day by day for years to come, I can’t help but scoff at the idea. It was not going to work out that way, and I damn well was going to make sure it didn’t.

  Doing household chores was something I expected to do, no matter what, but I refused to let father marry me off. I’d do just about anything.

  Without hearing from Zachariah for weeks now, I just gathered that whatever he wanted from me, he got. I hadn’t heard a thing from him, and it was probably better that way. My heart gave a small pang at that thought, and I brushed it off. I knew I was attracted to him, but I’d live to see another day. I was pretty sure that many women liked him for his looks alone. I could still picture his dark eyes watching me with amazement and something else I couldn’t name.

  Unlike the few days before, this time, I overheard my father talking to someone. I tended to not pay attention to who he talked to, knowing it’d likely get me in trouble or have more questions than answers.

  I didn’t mind making dinner, I just didn’t enjoy it when father hinted how I did things differently or not to his taste. I always made things the way I tended to like instead of the mostly tasteless foods my mom would often cook per father’s wishes.

  I have yet to get a chance to ask mom, nor did I really know how, about my worries. How was one to ask their parents if I was taken from a woman I didn’t know? I surely couldn’t ask while dad was anywhere close by. I didn’t fancy risking his anger more than I needed to.

  I had no idea who father had invited over, and I didn’t quite want to know. He was already spinning my story to meet his needs.

  Putting the grilled BBQ chicken on a white serving dish, and then setting it on the table next to the steamed veggies, my father entered the kitchen, Zachariah following closely behind.

  “Please set another place for Mr. Melendez,” father spoke in a way of command. “He’ll be joining us for dinner tonight. I’ll go fetch your mother.” Then he left, leaving me alone with his unsaid threats, frozen in place.

  My heart wasn’t sure if it wanted to slow or speed up by the man’s presence.

  After a moment, I shook myself and grabbed another place setting. I was surprised when I went to turn to take the plate to the table, Zachariah was nearly right there behind me, scaring me. One of the many things he was good at.

  “Let me help you,” he smiled, causing my heart to speed up on its own. I hated how my body worked without my say so.

  By the time that I got my body to move, Zachariah had another place set. It was then that I realized he’d be sitting right next to me. Normally, there would be a place between my parents and me at the round table. With the table only fitting five people, it wasn’t polite to move my own place setting over one.

  It didn’t take long for both of my parents to return. Mom’s eyes were a bit too bright, hinting that father had done something to her once more. I was sure that was why she was faking a headache once again. At least she was no longer following me like it could be the last day she ever saw me.

  After we had all sat, and father said a prayer, he turned towards my mom mostly more than me as if I wasn’t even there. I might as well not have been if my gut feeling had anything to say about it.

  “Mr. Melendez here has helped us a great deal over the years, along with his father.” He seemed proud of that fact. How? Did he not know what this man next to me was capable of? I didn’t know to what extent, but I had a feeling I’d learn soon enough.

  “Welcome,” mom said with a false smile his way. “Avidya, dear, what wonderful food you made.” She hardly looked at the guest but did shoot a small look my way that I was unable to figure out. Did she know what was going to happen?

  “Do you cook often, Avidya?” Zachariah asked, turning his full attention to me. Both of his hands were on the table, although my left knee bounced in place.

  “She cooks at least once a week,” father was quick to answer. “Every woman needs to know their way around a kitchen.” I mentally rolled my eyes at his words as I took a small bite of the food.

  “True,” Zachariah replied, not removing his eyes from me. “But I’d like Avidya to answer my question.”

  “I cook often enough,” I muttered out after father waved his hand for me to go ahead and answer.

  “No need to mutter child,” father said, almost like he was talking to a child and not an adult. I hated how he always was able to make me feel so small.

  “Are you settling back in well?” Zachariah asked me. “I heard you were missing.”

  “I guess so,” I answered, playing with my food in front of me. My appetite was now gone thanks to father.

  “She’s doing just fine,” father spoke up, his voice rough. He wasn’t happy with the fact that Zachariah had his attention on me. Wasn’t that the whole point of having him here for dinner?

  “She can answer me herself,” Zachariah said, turning to glare at the man. “My views differ greatly from yours. I may not have a say in how the girl was raised, but I like for her to answer herself.”

  My father gulped at the words. It was the first time I had ever seen my father afraid of someone. Given, he did mask his expression quickly.

  “So, Zachariah,” mom spoke up before my father could reply with anything. “What do you do?” She was damn good as stopping arguments with others, and it happened more than I liked to admit.

  “I run a few businesses here and there,” he answered vaguely. “You should eat, Avidya,” he said my way.

  “I’m not hungry,” I said, glancing up at him. My stomach did another flip as I met his heated gaze for a moment. His dark eyes pinned me to my spot.

  “She’s never been a big eater,” mom said, explaining my lack of eating. If only that was the reason why I wasn’t eating. I couldn’t possibly eat as much as I’d like to with my father glaring down his nose at me for eating over the allowed limit, let alone eat with a hot man sitting next to me.

  My mom asked a few more questions here and there while we finished dinner. I only managed to eat a few more bites, not finding the food to be all that appealing. It held no taste from the seasonings I was able to find to put on the chicken. Nothing like the food that was stored in the apartment. I couldn’t believe that my parents ate such tasteless food most days now that I had something better.

  After dinner, my mom and I cleaned up the kitchen, leaving the two men to do whatever it was that they were doing in my father’s office.

  “Are you pregnant?” mom asked.

  I spluttered a cough. “No!” There was no absolute way I could be. Nor would I be anytime soon.

  “You just haven’t eaten much,” she asked, rinsing a soapy plate in the sink.

  “Just haven’t been hungry with all the stress,” I answered after regaining back my composure. There was no need to say anything about how Zachariah made me nervous, being here in the house. Nor how father made me feel on edge every time he walked into the same room I was in. I didn’t want to deal with father’s hints about eating too much, either.

  “Just making sure,” mom trailed off. “Your father is looking at potential husbands,�
� she said hurriedly after draining the water when there were no more dishes. Her voice was quiet, almost like she needed to get it out before we’d be interrupted.

  “Figured as much,” I stated. Father had pushed the idea for a number of years, so I wasn’t surprised. I was surprised that he was searching so desperately so soon. Maybe my kidnapping had something to do with it?

  “He had a couple of men that were scared off by your disappearance,” she went on. “I had hoped he’d let things calm down before he went this far.” She trailed off, scrubbing down the sink.

  “I know it’d come sooner or later,” I shrugged. “At least I will get to know who’ll I’ll be forced to spend the rest of my life with.”

  “He’s not that bad, Viddie,” mom said, using my very seldom used nickname. “You’ll probably do what you do now, for the most part. Zachariah seems like he’ll be the best of your choices so far.”

  “You know I won’t get any say,” I said, willing my tears to stay at bay. “But it won’t be any different than being on house arrest now.”

  I wasn’t going to say that I was slightly looking forward to being with Zachariah. Already, he showed me more care than my own parents ever did, and with fewer rules to abide by. I was pretty sure that when the time came, Zachariah was my best choice to actually be happy in life.

  Chapter 12

  Zachariah

  “What?” I growled out as I answered the phone.

  Since the finding of Avidya Ray hit the news, my phone kept going off. It was getting on my last nerve, and I about had it. No one but Jonas knew my role in all of it, but since Avidya had given Gem’s name, everyone was questioning what truly happened.

  Gemini. That man had been a thorn in my side for way too long. My men should have known that already. He would have ended with a bullet in his head sooner or later. Most likely sooner. That didn’t stop my men from wanting answers. Answers they would not be getting.

  Now, Shemoli would have answers. Between Gem and Shemoli, I knew that they were two men that never listened to what I demanded. In time, Shemoli would be facing the same fate as his little buddy. I could play the game he was trying to play as well as he could.

  “About time I got ahold of you,” replied Nathan Stone, one of my trusted contacts that worked in the police department. “You are a very hard man to get ahold of.”

  “What do you need, Stone?” I sighed out.

  I knew Nathan from my teen years when he helped bail me out of some trouble I ended up finding myself in. Somehow, he talked my father into letting my error slide. I can’t entirely remember what I had done, other than popping a few pills at the time. In my family, that was enough to get my ass shot.

  He still helped me. Now was no different.

  “Avidya Ray,” he said without missing a beat.

  I could picture him at his home office, watching his teenage son on his computer monitor, a glass of water in front of him. He knew his purpose to me, but also, he was a family man that hated seeing his son suffer from poor life choices.

  “Should I know her?” I asked, not wanting to give anything away.

  “She asked for me the night she was found, so I am assuming so. Jonas wouldn’t tell a soul on who he is associated with,” Stone said. “You didn’t do it, did you?”

  “No, Stone,” I huffed out. “I would never go that low. If I wanted the girl, I would have gone about getting her a different way that did not go that route.”

  “Just checking,” he sighed, relieved. “You do know Jonas said that someone was following her the past few months?”

  “Yes,” I replied slowly. He had never mentioned anything, but it was also not his place if I wasn’t involved. I did know someone was keeping tabs on her father, therefore also Avidya in turn. Jonas was the man that kept track of it all, and he’d sure as hell tell me if something was suspicious.

  “Just be careful,” with that, Stone ended the call. Also, a man to the point with little chat.

  Seeing the time, I pocketed my phone and grabbed my keys for the car. My dark blue BMW M6 was parked in front of the building, just as I had left it. I nodded at the man that stood guard before getting into my car and driving across town.

  It didn’t take long to where I knew Avidya lived with her parents. After doing a bit of research the days before she left my small apartment, I had looked into who exactly her father was. I knew the surface, as it wasn’t a secret on who he worked with, but what I found digging around was not surprising.

  He hid his family ties well underneath the pretend role of being a Pastor. It did give him favors to keep secrets from many men, but his ideas were sick and twisted. I refused to let his daughter be part of his plans. She was the most innocent person in all this, even with being dragged into it by not only my men but others as well.

  It still nagged at me about where the girl originally came from. Only her parents held that information. The only way to get that information was to get on their good side, which would be harder than I would like. I loathed getting close to the enemy to gain their trust, and Cody Ray would be one of the hardest yet.

  But I wasn’t the type to just give up.

  Ever.

  Mr. Cody Ray already had the door opened before I ever got out of my parked car when I pulled up. The house wasn’t anything compared to what I had, but decent for his job title. Of course, not many people knew how he was able to have such a decent home. His work was more than surface deep, and he’d rot in Hell once I killed him after I gathered the information I needed.

  His dark hair was combed over the side, hiding his balding middle. His age was beginning to show now more as the stressful years went by. His light brown eyes were lined with wrinkles, along with his mouth. His brown suit was fading from use, but yet he still held himself as though he ruled the world.

  Mrs. Ray didn’t work outside of the house. She volunteered at the church at least three times a week, but that was about as far as she went work wise. Lynn did want any wife should do – keep the house and children. Granted, she only had one child, who wasn’t even biologically hers.

  “Thank you for coming by,” Cody said, allowing me inside. “Let’s go to my office.”

  I followed him in, looking around the clean house. Too clean for being lived in. The house smelt like Pine Sol cleaning products. Nothing was out of place, but there were also no pictures of anyone on the wall or sitting around. It was almost like they were only staying here for a short time instead of living fifty years here.

  The office was at the front of the house, and once seated before the light oak desk, Cody shut the door tightly. He didn’t do small talk, much like myself.

  “So, you want to marry my daughter,” he started off, staring me down.

  “Yes,” I replied, staring right back. He didn’t frighten me. I frightened him, and he hid that well.

  “Why?” he asked out next.

  “She needs protection. I know for a fact that the man you previously had lined up backed out after she went missing. I’m not afraid of threats,” I replied, leaning forward. “Whoever was behind her kidnapping will strike again. I have the means to keep her safe, no matter where she is.”

  “Even in my own home?” he said, fighting to roll his eyes. He didn’t believe me, but who wouldn’t if they were trying to get rid of their own daughter? I had an inkling that this man here was the brains behind the girl’s disappearance.

  “Even here,” I said, leaning back in my seat. “I can set up eyes and ears around this house and the church. No one would know but you and me.”

  “Alright,” he sighed out, almost like he knew he was out of options himself. “Have you met her before?”

  “Nope.” The lie slipped out without a second thought. “I’ve seen her picture, but who hasn’t?”

  “Everyone has. Makes keeping her safe a bit tougher,” he laughed. That was true, but there was nowhere safer than with me.

  He then invited me to stay for dinner, and there wasn’t a rea
son why I should not accept. It gave me the perfect reason to see Avidya again. Cody didn’t say much else about her, but that was okay. Whatever he would have to say wouldn’t do her justice, or wouldn’t be who she was. She was so much more than the simple well-mannered girl this couple had raised.

  During dinner, my anger was nearly boiling over at how Avidya was treated by her father. It was glaring obvious that she was not of the same blood. She was too pure. Even her mother was stuck up, given she was probably just trying to live her life as well as she could with being married to a man that was demanding and keeping his secrets to himself.

  Avidya, though, took everything better than I expected. Either she was just used to how her father was, that his words no longer had much effect on her, or she was somewhere else mentally. I was pretty sure it was a mixture of both. How much damage had Cody caused her?