Paradise Found: Cain (Paradise #2)(51)

“I haven’t even told her. Why would I tell him?” I couldn’t let Sofie go, and he understood why, long before I did. I stopped my pacing.

“Cain, you have no idea what you’ve done by not preparing him for her.”

“Preparing who? My father? For my wife?”

“He doesn’t comprehend love. It’s beyond him. You of all people know this. He had it once and lost it. He doesn’t wish for others to find it, for fear that it would crush them, too. It seems perverse, but if he could prevent you and Abel from loving, he could prevent you from hurting.”

“Hurting? He hurt us more than anything else.”

“I know,” Kursch said guiltily. “I know.”

We were silent for a moment and time ticked slowly, letting Sofie get farther and farther away from me.

“I couldn’t stop him.”

“You were his friend. He would have listened to you.”

“He didn’t. He didn’t listen to anyone, not even her.” Kursch referenced my mother with sadness. My father was ignorant toward her. I’d heard their fight that final night. He didn’t want to hear her side, or his part in it. He cast her out, wiped his hands, and steeled his heart to move forward.

“Mother gave me the cross. On the night she left, she came to me, and begged me to protect Abel and Evie. I failed Evie. He threw her out like he did Mother, but I wouldn’t let him have Abel. He knew I had the medallion, though. He caught me with it once. It shouldn’t have been a surprise.”

“The surprise was that if he knew you had it, he also knew you were the one to give it to Sofie. And if Sofie had it, it only meant one thing. She was special to you.”

He paused for this information to sink in.

“When he knows someone is special, Cain, precious even, what does he do?”

“He destroys it,” I stated slowly and then I crumbled to the ground. My fists hammered the floor at my feet. Knuckles cracked as they broke. Blood spurted from open sores. My father would stop at nothing until I was as hard as him.





The hours slowly passed as we traveled overnight to Vegas. My father had taken Sofie to the family home. While I didn’t want Sofie anywhere near that hell, I was grateful that my father was predictable enough that this would be his safe haven. He was lord of his manor.

Entering the house to silence, I knew the devil lived in his office alone. Busting open the door, I didn’t find Sofie.

“Where is she?” I growled, approaching his desk and slamming already sore hands on it. He glared at me over that imposing furniture.

“She’s been resting since we got here. She’s had a rough night,” he snickered bitterly.

“If you f*cking touched her …” I started, but his hand rose to pause my threat.

“I would never covet another man’s wife,” he stated, steepling his fingers and tilting his head downward as he looked up at me. His stare was unashamed. I didn’t believe that he hadn’t hurt her.

“I thought that marriage business wasn’t real.” He paused. “So this is the distraction,” he said, releasing his hands, and shuffling something on his desk that didn’t need attention.

“She’s not a distraction.”

“Oh, she’s deliciously distracting, actually.” He looked up at me again with that devilish look, and I lunged over the desk to grip his shirt.

“Easy,” Atom warned. “Don’t you want to know where she is?”

I did, actually. As if on cue, Sofie was shuffled into the room. She fumbled as one of my father’s minions handled her roughly. I reached out for her, but she recoiled in disgust.

“Sofie?” I questioned. Her face was devoid of all emotion. Her hair a mess of strays and loose strands around her face. Her clothes were wrinkled and her feet were bare. No, this couldn’t happen.

“What did you do?” I turned to my father, ready to pounce again.

“We’ve had a nice chat, as I’ve gotten to know my new daughter-in-law,” Atom said, sounding bored. “That was quite a rock on her finger.” He nodded toward Sofie’s fingers and I noticed her nails were jagged and broken as if she struggled against someone. Her engagement ring was missing.

“Where’s the ring?” I hissed at her, but my question was directed at my father.

“Oh, I’m holding onto it for safe keeping. It seems Sofie here has had a change of heart.”

“What?” I glared at my father then turned to Sofie. I stepped toward her, but she stepped back and hit her legs on the arm of a chair. I reached out to grip her arms to steady her. She tightened under my touch.

“No, Sofie, no,” I said, gently jostling her in hopes to wake her from the dead stare on her face. She hadn’t looked up at me, and her head turned as if I’d slapped her.

“I’ve done a little investigating on your Sofie Vincentia,” my father began. “It seems I’m familiar with her in more than one way.”

I was still holding onto Sofie, begging her with my eyes to look up at me, but my father’s words gave me pause, and he drew my attention. Vomit curled through my stomach that he knew her at all.

“Your name sounded so familiar,” Atom continued. “Gustavo Vincentia sound familiar to you?”