“And when he got home…” I swallowed again. “That’s when I found out why they’d brought me there.”
Theo’s head angled toward me, his eyes full of dread.
“They wanted money,” I said simply. “Becca and her boyfriend knew all about Ky and his career. The tour. The money. So they were convinced my family would pay anything to get me back.”
Theo gripped my hand tighter.
“Turns out, Becca had never even called my parents to ask if I could go with them. Because they wanted it to look like I’d been taken.”
Theo’s brows pulled together. “What?”
I nodded. “They wanted it to look like I’d been kidnapped.”
I didn’t want to relive all of it because it brought up a lot of emotions. But since Theo had been so open with me about all the hard things he’d gone through, it was important that I shared more of my story with him.
“They needed proof I was scared,” I said, forcing the words out. “So her boyfriend sicced his dog on me. This huge thing that came barreling at me, teeth bared.” My throat constricted. “They recorded me screaming. Sent it to my family.”
Theo went still.
“And then they locked me up so I couldn’t run,” I added, my voice dropping. “In a root cellar.”
I pinched my eyes shut as the memory of being shut down in that dark, dirty hole in the ground with no windows washed over me.
I took a deep breath. “They had a whole plan to make it look like some random person had me. To ask for ransom and keep my family panicked.”
Theo’s jaw flexed, his hand still wrapped around mine like he was the only solid thing on the planet.
“Ky was supposed to perform at a huge charity concert when the message came. But the second he found out, he dropped everything. Cancelled it all and came for me even though he knew he was disappointing a lot of fans.” I stared down at our joined hands. “I was found a week later, and Ky paid Becca a lot of money to stay away. To disappear and stop trying to touch our lives. I haven’t heard from her since.”
For a moment, Theo didn’t say anything. He just stood there with me, his thumb brushing over my knuckles, like he was anchoring me back in the present.
“That had to have hurt,” he said, his voice low. “To have trusted Becca and hoped that you were finally getting the kind of relationship you’d always hoped for. Only to have her betray you in such a deep way.”
“It did,” I admitted. “It was crushing. And I felt stupid. Because I’d believed her. I wanted it to be true so badly that I ignored every red flag she waved in my face.”
I blinked hard and forced myself to keep looking at the water instead of letting Theo see how much it still messed with me.
He just stopped walking and pulled me in. His arms wrapped around me, solid and warm, and he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
For a minute, he just held me there while the ocean moved in and out like a slow breath.
“Thank you for telling me,” he murmured into my hair. “I know that wasn’t easy.”
“Thanks for caring enough to ask…” I let out a shaky exhale and tightened my arms around his waist. “And for listening.” I hesitated and added, “It’s not something I really tell anyone since with Ky’s career being so big, it’s so hard to keep things like this out of the news. But I know that I can trust you.”
Theo’s hold tightened. “I’m honored that you do,” he said, his mouth brushing my hair.
And as I stood there in his arms while watching the sun dip below the horizon, I had the feeling that I could not only trust him with my history, but I was also pretty sure I could trust him with my whole heart.
52
NORA
The restof the trip was perfect.
Not in the “everything went according to plan” kind of way, because a day and a half on a superyacht definitely came with its own brand of chaos.
But even with the antics, it was still unreal.