Paradise Found: Cain (Paradise #2)(84)

“I still don’t see how it was any of his damn business,” I stated, seeing the pattern of interference in matters of the heart from a man who didn’t have one. The web my father wove to destroy the lives of people was so entangled; it had more verses than the Bible.

“In attempts to prove my loyalty to your father, I killed two innocent people. Your father covered for me as long as I gave up the girl. His daughter.”

“I’m so sorry, Sofie,” Kursch turned to her; the sadness in his tone begged her forgiveness. Something I knew she’d offer, but he didn’t deserve.

“You’re old,” Elma interjected, disgust in her voice.

“I’m older than her, yes, but not too old for her now.”

“You are still too old for her,” Atom added, with venom in his voice. The irony that he was protecting a child he clearly never wanted.

“If you knew all along who she was, why didn’t you take her back?” I questioned. If her adoptive father was dead, at his own hands, why didn’t he bring his daughter home?

“Your mother was gone. What was I going to do with another child? I only wanted a son. A fighter,” he emphasized, clenching his fist and raising it upward. He disregarded his first born because she was a female. He only wanted one son, but he had two, and on top of that, he had two daughters. History only dictated the fate of those sons. What happened to the daughters of Eve? I hated him in that moment. He had blatantly ignored his other children. What kind of father does that? I had my answer. He stood before me.

“So the daughter you gave up was raised by Zeke Shepherd,” Abel clarified. “Which means Ava is our sister.”





The clarification of this confession swirled around us on the open field, until the sharp cry of Kursch refocused us on the two old friends. Kursch turned to face his new nemesis and the knife in his back was literal. Hanging just below his left shoulder blade was the handle of the weapon Atom had held at my neck.

“You’ll never have her,” Atom sneered. He’d clearly lost his mind. He didn’t want his own daughter, yet he wasn’t willing to let another man love her. It was such a disconnect. It only proved his heart was stone. If I didn’t know the horror stories Cain let slip to me, the past few hours affirmed that Atom was a ruthless, unstable man.

Kursch stepped forward in his last attempt to defend the honor of Ava before he fell to his knees. Uncertain of damage inside his body, the amount of blood slowly pouring from his back could not be a good sign. The knife needed to be removed. I didn’t have emergency training yet, so my first thought was only to apply pressure, in hopes to abate the bleeding. My hand covered the space around the knife.

“Pull it out,” he mumbled, still facing Atom, but his baldhead lowered in agony. He was troubled in more than one way. He’d lost the love of his life in Ava, by the ruthless dealings of Atom. His best friend also had stabbed him in the back. Only a coward does that to a man. Only a coward weakens one son before he fights another. Only a coward beats his child.

“I can’t risk more damage. I don’t know what this has done to your internal organs. We need to move you to the truck and get you to a hospital, as quickly as possible.” Mustering the calmest tone, my arm wrapped around his back in a weak attempt to raise him upward. Instantly, Cain was gently pushing me out of the way, pulling the large man up and over his shoulder. Abel limped to the other side. Together the two brothers helped their injured father figure to his own SUV.

“What happened?” Ava shrieked, jumping out of the passenger seat where she’d been waiting.

“Atom stabbed him,” Cain strained under the increasing weight of a barely conscious man. The string of profanities coming from Ava would have made a truck driver blush. She was torn between going after Atom herself and caring for Kursch.

“You need to drive,” Cain bit out instructions. “Sofie,” his voice pleaded. He was counting on me to help Kursch. We hadn’t had a moment to process what happened. How I got there under the trickery of Malik, or what Atom had threatened if I didn’t appear, but there wasn’t time now. I hopped into the back, balancing myself on the floor as I applied pressure to the still-bleeding wound. Kursch was passed out, face down, and sprawled as best we could lay him across the open space in the back of his SUV. Cain folded in next to me, hovering. The nervous energy coming off him would have frightened anyone else, but I had to remain calm. This was going to be my future, helping those in physical need.

I cringed internally with each bump and bounce over the gravel road until we hit the smoothness of the highway, speeding back toward town. Ava wasn’t speaking as she white knuckled the steering wheel. There were so many questions to ask, but nothing seemed pertinent under the stressful conditions. Cain disagreed.

“How can this f*cking be true?” he barked, looking up at the back of Ava’s head. “My sister? Did you know?” The edge to his voice was razor sharp.

“I had my suspicions, but I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to believe something so evil,” Ava shivered and the tremble came through her tone. “How could I be a product of that man?” Her eyes shifted to the rearview mirror, glancing only briefly at Cain next to me. It was clearly an insult, but I don’t think she intended it as such.

“I’m a product of him,” Cain growled under his breath.