No Escape From Destiny (24 page)

He replied, “I’m not exactly sure, but I can tell you everything I know about Kassie, and I can help you find her.” He went on and told the story of the little angel that came into his life and stole his heart.

When he was finished, Anstice asked, “If she was adopted with no living relatives, then how can you help me find her?”

Damian’s heart started racing. He knew what he was about to tell her could get him in big trouble, but at the time he did it, he didn’t care. He lowered his gaze to the ground and in a barely audible voice said, “The night before she left, I knew that I needed to find her again. Just to make sure that she was safe and being taken care of. I knew that if that couple that adopted her didn’t take care of her or hurt her in any way that I would need to protect her.”

Damian continued, “They let her stay with me like usual that last night. I held her in my arms all night and told her how much I would miss her and that we would see each other again someday. I knew it was wrong, but I needed to see she was safe. I had been told by my parents that it links you together forever and you can always find them. So I took just a little of her blood and gave her a little of mine. Not a lot, not enough to hurt her, and I made sure there were no marks left. Please,
Nikkos
, please understand I only did it so I could protect her. I knew it was wrong, but I can’t protect her if I can’t find her. She was all alone and didn’t know the couple that was adopting her, and I just needed to make sure she was going to be safe. Please, brother, I knew it was illegal, but I had to do it. Please tell me you understand and…”

Damian’s rambling was cut off by Anstice leaping from
Adrian
’s lap and throwing her arms around Damian’s neck. She kissed his entire face, saying a million thank-
yous
before she was forcefully taken away from him by both of her males.

Damian flinched, and Anstice looked up at her mates sheepishly. “Sorry, I forgot, no touching anyone but you.” Then she batted her eyelashes at them and tapped
Nikkos
on the tip of his nose. Even though he was scared for his life, Damian couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his throat when they both melted at her antics. They both glared at him, cutting his laughter off.

Nikkos
held out his hand to him and pulled him into a tight bear hug. “Brother, you are as crazy as I am, and I love you for it. Without you doing what you did, we wouldn’t know where to find Kassie. Now let’s go get her and take her home where she belongs.”

Damian hesitated. “That’s gonna be a little harder than you think. She lives in
Nevada
now. I haven’t been able to see her in about nine months since they moved. I couldn’t afford to fly out there and back. That’s why when I saw the picture I panicked. I thought I could still feel her even from this far away, but seeing that picture I was afraid something happened to her and I didn’t know it.”

“Do you know where in
Nevada
she is? You’ll be able to find her once we get close, right? How strong is your bond with her?”
Adrian
asked.

Damian answered, “They moved to the outskirts of
Las Vegas
. I don’t know the exact address, but I made sure to renew our bond a few times before she left. I knew it was a bad idea, but I also knew if I didn’t that I wouldn’t be able to tell if she was okay from here. I can feel her a little from here, but I’m sure as soon as we get closer I will be able to find her.”

Nikkos
patted him on the back. “You did good, brother, very good. Let’s go.”

Damian stopped dead in his tracks and started hyperventilating. The other three looked at him, concerned. “What wrong?” they all said at the same time.

“Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods,” were the only words that came out of his mouth.

Nikkos
went over and put his arms around his brother’s shoulders “Brother, tell me what’s wrong. Is Kassie okay? Did something happen to her?”

Damian started rambling again, “I didn’t know humans could be turned. If what Lucian found out is true they can be turned by three blood exchanges. What did I do? What did I do? I made more than three exchanges with her. They were small exchanges, but still there were more than three. I thought I had to, to make the bond strong enough to feel her this far away. What if I changed her? What if she’s a vampire now and can’t go outside? What if the people that adopted her find out and do something to her? What did I do to that poor baby? Oh gods! Oh gods!”

Nikkos
had to shake his brother to get him to stop talking. “Don’t worry about that right now. We will deal with it when we find out if it even happened. Besides, she’s only five years old right now anyway. If she has been turned, she won’t show any signs until she’s about twelve anyway and won’t need to feed until about fifteen, when she hits our maturity. She is fine. You would feel her if anything was wrong.” Damian wished he could believe that.

Chapter Twenty-Four

They piled into the
Yukon
and headed home. On the way,
Adrian
called Marcus and had him make flight reservations for the four of them on the next flight to
Nevada
. He didn’t go into great detail, just enough to make sure Marcus knew how urgent their need to get to Vegas was.

They got back to the mansion in record time thanks to
Nikkos’s
lack of patience.
Adrian
suggested that they pack to be gone for a few days. He wasn’t exactly sure how they were going to get the child and bring her back to
Massachusetts
, but he had Marcus and Lucian working on it.

Lucian had come up empty-handed with an address for the name Damian had provided for the adoptive parents. It wasn’t really a surprise, since apparently the father was a cop that had just transferred to LVPD. They knew their best bet was to walk in and take the child, but they were trying to come up with another way that wouldn’t hurt the adoptive parents any more than they had to.

They were going to try to go the legal route. Lucian was good with a computer, so he was able to get a copy of Kassie’s birth certificate showing Anstice as her mother. Anstice had changed her name back to her maiden name after she thought her husband and child were dead, but she had all the paperwork showing that she was indeed Anstice Jameson and the mother to Kassandra Ariadne Karra Jameson.

Lucian also was able to get his hands on the adoption records. This was saying he was a genius, because they were sealed and buried so deep no one should have been able to find them. Unfortunately, the adoption records had no mother’s name, and the child’s and father’s names had been changed, too.

If the paperwork failed,
Nikkos
would insist on blood tests. However, he was afraid that with the possibility that Anstice’s and
Kassandra’s
DNA had been changed with the addition of their blood, the DNA test wouldn’t do any good. They would try it the legal way first, and if it didn’t work, they would disappear with the child where no one, not even the FBI’s finest, would be able to find her. They would probably have to change the child’s appearance a little until they could get her home, but it would be worth it to make Anstice happy.

Lucian was also able to dig up the arrest reports for Anstice’s husband. Digging deeper, he even found the warden’s report from when he was killed in jail. He had also found a news report for around the same time of the fire of a two-year-old girl being kidnapped and never found. This was the only explanation that could be found of where the body in the fire had come from. He must have kidnapped and killed her and taken Kassie with him when he set the house on fire. He probably thought the fire would burn the body enough that it would be assumed it was Kassie. The dental record used to identify her husband could have been changed by anyone that was good with a computer. All one had to do was hack into the dentist files and change some names around. Her husband must have switched some dental records and killed another man to leave in the house to burn.

They had a private plane on standby for when they found the child. And as soon as she was home, they would be changing her name to Kassandra Ariadne Karra, like her mother had first named her. Without the Jameson at the end. Unless of course she decided to take
Nikkos’s
name. But then what about
Adrian
? Maybe they would hyphenate their names and all have the same last name. Or maybe they could all take Adrian’s or Anstice’s name.
Nikkos’s
mind was wandering from the mission at hand and had to stop. They had to get the child back and home safe before he could worry about anyone changing their names.

Anstice was in the closest packing a bag when she collapsed and stared sobbing.
Nikkos
was by her side in a few seconds, lifting her off the floor. “Baby, what is wrong? Are you okay?”

She buried her face in his neck and mumbled something he couldn’t understand. He pulled back from her and placed his hands on each side of her face. “Okay, now start over. What’s wrong, baby?”

She sniffed back her tears and said, “What if she doesn’t know me?”

His face lit up with a smile as he looked down on her. She glared at him. “What’s so funny? I’m serious, it’s been three years. What if she doesn’t know who I am? What if she doesn’t want to come with me?”

“Baby, she is your daughter. I’m sure she has missed you all these years. She will know you, and she will love you. This I promise you,”
Nikkos
said as he held her tight and kissed the top of her head.

She clung to the front of his shirt and sobbed. “I don’t know what her father told her about me. What if she doesn’t remember me? What if she hates me for leaving her?”

She kept mumbling into his chest.
Nikkos
rocked her back and forth until she calmed down, and all that could be heard were soft sobs. He pulled back from her and lifted her chin to look at him. “Baby, everything will be fine. She is your daughter and loves you. Trust me, you will see.”

Nikkos
lifted her to her feet and helped her finish packing. When they were finished, he carried her bag back to the study, where Adrian and Damian were already packed and ready to leave. Their flight left in two hours, so they went out and loaded everything in the
Yukon
.

Nikkos
drove them to the airport in
Boston
just in time to board the plane. With the four-and-a-half-hour flight and the time change, they would arrive in
Las Vegas
just after
midnight
. Marcus had booked them a villa at one of the premier hotels in
Las Vegas
, so they would have all the privacy they would need and luxury they wanted to give to Anstice.

* * * *

During the flight, Anstice sat comfortably between the boys in first class. She didn’t think she would be able to sleep, but the next thing she knew, they were waking her gently as the plane was starting to descend. Once on the ground, they met the limousine from the hotel and traveled there in silence. Anstice knew
Nikkos
could feel her worry but didn’t know how to calm her. Instead, he just held her tight to his side.

When they arrived at the hotel, Anstice was shocked to see that they were taken through a private entrance to a villa in the corner of the property and not the main hotel. She couldn’t speak as they entered the front foyer. The floors were marble and there was a huge glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling. She couldn’t help her curiosity at just what else the place would hold for her to find. There was a beautiful dining room with rich red and gold walls with room for eight at a fully set table in colors that accented the walls perfectly. The table was piled high with fresh fruits, flowers, and an assortment of nuts and chocolates.

The living room was covered floor-to-ceiling on one side by windows and French doors leading to what she assumed was a private pool. Between the two doors, set in the glass wall, was a fireplace that has been started for them. There was also what looked to be a fully stocked bar in the living room.

She took a quick peek outside and found the private pool, a spa, and even the fireplace from inside burned outside, too. Their entire courtyard was surrounded by lavish shrubbery and trees for privacy. Back inside she found a workout facility, a massage room, two saunas, a kitchen, and even a hair salon.