any say it.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and nodded. He was right. She wasn’t making any sense and was just jumbling this up even more by her bits and starts regarding the real problem.
“I knew you before you came to Denver,” she said softly, staring down at her fingers which were clasped tightly in her lap. “I saw you one day at a party my father was throwing. In Chicago.” She didn’t wait for his reaction. Standing up, she started pacing the kitchen area once again, needing to move because of the nervous energy that was building up. “You must have done something to offend my father, because the next thing I knew, you were being thrown into the back of a car, then dumped into an alley.” Every muscle in her body tensed with fear. “My father’s name is Joe Berutelli. I’m his daughter. I changed my name when I left his house, not wanting to have anything to do with him.”
“No!” he almost growled, standing up and coming up behind her. “You’re Sierra Berutelli?” He still wasn’t angry with her, but he could tell that his reaction didn’t convey that message to this sweet, terrified woman.
She couldn’t speak, so she simply nodded her head in shame.
Drake couldn’t believe what he was hearing. And then it struck him. The scent! The honeysuckle. He bent forward, inhaling her fresh scent but she smelled like his own soap. But he thought back to the other times he’d held her in his arms, that familiar scent that he’d never been able to place.
“You’re the girl!” he said with a strange tone. His hands grabbed her upper arms, spinning her around. He’d finally found her! After years of searching and dead ends, she was here in his arms! “How did you know I was dumped into an alley?” he demanded.
The tears were constant now and she blinked to try and focus on him. “Because I followed my father’s goons. I saw them dump you off and drive away.” She was extremely confused now. Why wasn’t he angry with her? Why wasn’t he furious? And what was that exclamation about some girl? She couldn’t help the jealousy that bit into her at the mention of some other woman.
“What did you do?” he demanded, holding her arms even though she was trying to pull free of him. There was no way he was letting her go now! Not now that he’d finally found her! This whole situation was more perfect than he could have imagined! She was Sierra!
She shrugged, trying to loosen his grip but he wouldn’t release her. “I called an ambulance.”
“And went with me to the hospital, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” She wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but he deserved to know the whole truth. “I didn’t know what my father was going to do to you that afternoon. I promise that. I just knew that, after seeing some of his men run into his office where you’d disappeared, something was very wrong and I had to help. I wouldn’t even speak to my father after that night. I moved out the following week and I’ve never seen him since. I only know that he died in prison a little over a year after your beating. I can’t even figure out how the authorities finally got to him because no one had ever been able to get close enough to him to find out any evidence on him. He didn’t trust anyone, not even my sister or me. Which was probably a good thing since we would have turned him in as soon as we could.”
“And he would have killed you, wouldn’t he?”
“Yes,” she said, ashamed that her father had so little family loyalty. Or maybe he always knew that his daughters were repulsed by his activities. She never knew because she’d always been so afraid of him, never challenging him until that night she’d come home after this man’s beating.
She knew that Drake would be furious now that he knew the truth about her heritage. “I’ll go now. I can see my way out.” She started for the door, her feet moving as quickly as possible so that she could get out of his way. He hated her now. And he was fully justified in his hatred.
Drake stopped her once again. He grabbed her by the waist and pressed her back against the wall, his eyes boring into hers so he could find the truth. “You were by my