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downstairs. Kaden sat the computer. I sat down across from him and watched him read the article on the screen. I prayed it wasn't one of the archived tabloid reports of my adolescent behavior. Eventually, he closed the browser and stared at me.
    "You're father is said to be a favorite of the GOP."
    I nodded.
    "Senator Christopher Chapman comes from a long line of political figures but is the first to be a senator."
    I blinked.
    "What would he do if he knew his daughter was kidnapped while hitchhiking in North Carolina?"
    I looked away, afraid to answer. My father would do anything he could to get me back. That was his obligation. If the press found out, he might act, in front of the cameras at least, like he wanted me back. But I was a burden to him, a rebel child who challenged his conservative ideals. He had, over the course of my twenty-six years, paid me to keep quiet and out of the spotlight. To everybody who mattered, I was the ideal daughter. One even to be pitied because of my handicap.
    I looked back at Kaden who waited for my response.
    "He would want me back."
    "Does he know where you are?"
    I shook my head. My father thought I was in Europe visiting museums. I had cashed in my graduation present (first class tickets to Rome) and packed my bag, hitching a ride from the airport. With nowhere in particular to go and months of freedom ahead of me, I had traveled from Delaware all the way to North Carolina courtesy of truckers and lonely drivers. Sure, it was dangerous, but after graduating with a degree that I had no desire to use, I was longing for a little excitement.
    "Does he know who you were with?" Kaden asked.
    "Julie? Does he know I was with Julie, the woman you killed with your car?"
    Kaden answered with a glare.
    "No," I admitted. "I met her in Tennessee."
    "You don't like your father, do you?" He asked without pause.
    Now it was my turn to glare. "What does it matter?"
    "Let me guess, your father fell in love with your mother, the beautiful and vibrant opera singer from London, but couldn't handle the stress of juggling a family and his career so he left you and your mother with a large monthly allowance to keep you happy?"
    "Something like that."
    "Something but not quiet?" Kaden raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
    "I remember us being happy. Until I lost my hearing, we were happy. He could handle anything and everything until that was taken away from me."
    "What happened?" Kaden looked genuinely interested, an expression which I hadn't seen before.
    "Measles."
    "I thought there were vaccinations for that."
    "My mother didn't believe in them. He blamed her for the disease."
    "And now you're angry because she's dead and he uses your disadvantage to advance his political career."
    "Yes. And now you're scared because ransoming a senator's daughter is going to be a lot harder than ransoming off a lonely hitchhiker."
    Kaden raised an eyebrow and we stared at each other for a minute. He had such intuition about me it was almost scary. I was amazed at how much he could learn from a few hours on the Internet and a few minutes in my company.
    "You don't even want to go home, do you, Raleigh?"
    That bastard.
I just want to leave here,
I signed, not wanting him to hear me say it.
    Good luck trying.
    I turned away, unable to look at him any longer. I didn't know what life was going to be like here. I didn't know if I could expect Ray and his pathetic younger brother to attack me every night. I didn't know if Kaden would tire of protecting me and say to hell with it. Maybe he would let Ray kill me if things didn't go his way.
    Kaden's hips and torso came into view as I stared off into nothing, thinking about my future. I turned my neck more so I didn't have to look at him but, like he always did when he had something to say, his fingers gripped my face and turned my head up toward his. He looked incredibly tall from where I sat, his dark hair falling in his eyes and his shoulders curling over his chest.
    "It could be a lot