Page 65 of Indecent Villain
I frown. “Cannon?”
“Yeah, I came after you. They got me too.”
“It was Rossi?”
“His man, Elf, is the giant. Not sure what they did to you, but they shot me with a Taser and then injected me with something while I was down.”
I slowly peel my eyes open, and Cannon comes into view. I realize he covered me with his jacket at some point.
“How long have we been here?”
“Since last night. It’s after ten in the morning now.”
I rub my head and groan. “It must have been some good stuff to knock me out for so long.”
“Let me help you sit. There is some water.” Cannon sits me up beside him and then hands me a bottle. “It’s not drugged. I drank some when I woke a couple of hours ago, and I’m still okay.”
I nod and guzzle down the water. “Do you know where we are?” I ask, my gaze fixed on the steel bars of our cell.
“The secret bunker on Rossi’s property, I’m guessing. We won’t get out of here without help, which is an issue.”
“How far underground are we? Don’t bunkers go deeper than basements?” I can’t keep the fear out of my voice.
“Don’t think about it.” Cannon wraps an arm around my shoulders and lets me rest my head against him.
“As we are locked under here, will you tell me why you hated my mother?”
“Oh, Kinsley, I never hated Anna. She is the only woman I have ever loved.”
My breath catches in my throat. I lift my face, but he pushes me back into his shoulder. “Let me get this out. It’s painful to speak about.”
“Okay,” I whisper, feeling vulnerable about what he might say.
“I fell in love with your mother when I was sixteen. She was ten years older than me. Employed by my family to tutor me in math. The only subject I ever failed.” He takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. “She was full of life. Had a vibrant way about her. How could I not fall in love with her?” His voice turns wistful. “I hid my feelings from everyone, even Beckett. He used to tease me about my pretty tutor.” He pauses.
I stay silent, hoping he continues.
He does. “Everything changed after my seventeenth birthday. We were out by the lake near my house. There is a ten-foot drop from part of the embankment. A dog came out of nowhere and knocked her into the water. I jumped in after her, scared she might have been hurt or worse. I got her out of the water and didn’t think. I just kissed her.”
I glance at Cannon as shock races through me. “You loved your father’s?—”
He covers my mouth with a hand.
“Kinsley, my father never touched her. It was me. It was me she fell in love with.”
“Oh!” Realization dawns on me.
“We loved each other, Kinsley. I had to go away for a geography field trip. When I returned home, she was gone. My father told me she’d married Jude. I went crazy. He told me to stay away, or he would have her jailed.”
“You’re my father, Cannon. That’s what you’re telling me, isn’t it?”
He nods and swallows hard. “I didn’t listen to my father. I couldn’t believe she would marry someone else, regardless of the threat. But she did. I hadn’t known she was pregnant. You see, I was still seventeen at the time, and my father had convinced her that he’d have her charged with rape if she didn’t stay away from me. Jude agreed to marry her.”
“Oh God!”
“I was there when you were born, Kinsley. I held you. I fed you. I changed your diapers. I saw you every week until you started to talk, then it had to be from a distance. It killed me. We couldn’t risk you telling anyone about me.”
I stare at him in silence, at a loss for words.