Sweet and Spicy [COMPLETED]

Secrets Revealed (pt. 3)

"Let me think. Process." Kaya took her hands out of Ransom's grasp to smooth her hair out of her face.

Did she start with the present or the past? Which pressed harder on her curiosity?

Kaya decided she should start with her current predicament. "Why did you tell your uncle that you would meet with me?"

"You asked. I couldn't say no when you need help." Ransom shrugged a shoulder at her. "Someone has to do something about your predicament." 

"How much of my predicament do you know about?" 

Ransom rose to his feet, then settled on the edge of the table in front of Kaya. "I told you. I remember everything." 

"Then you've known about all the things that have happened so far?" 

"Most of them. I hoped you would trust me enough to tell me about them."

"That's why you didn't tell me that you already knew. Because you wanted me to trust you." 

Ransom nodded. "Basically. I thought it had better be your idea to bring it up, but you never told me anything. About any of it." 

"Are you disappointed in me?" Kaya didn't think she could stand much of Ransom's disappointment. 

Ransom chuckled. "I know enough to realize that you don't trust easily. If I did not find it urgent, I wouldn't push you this far."

Something in his tone of voice grabbed Kaya's attention. Some underlying emotion, an urgency that she felt but couldn't place. 

"Why is it urgent now?" 

"Because now they know you're here, they're after you, and they've involved me." Ransom's nose twitched in irritation. "If they want to declare war, that's on their own heads." 

"Don't do anything rash, please." Kaya reached out to take Ransom's hand, then thought better of it and retracted her fingers. "Your uncle couldn't get enough evidence to convince the police then. Why is now different? I don't want you to get hurt because of me." 

"You forget. I've witnessed how it was mishandled. I know now what the problem was, and I intend to go about it differently." 

"You don't want to mess with him. He's... terrible." Kaya looked to her hands in her lap. Terrible didn't begin to describe her mother's foe. A foe that, by family relation, became hers as well. 

Ransom's fingers wrapped around both of Kaya's clutched hands. They were soft, but strong. Something to center her in a world that had turned upside-down once more. 

Kaya lifted her gaze to him and hoped he couldn't see the agony behind her eyes. 

With a soft smile, Ransom reached his other hand out to rest it against Kaya's head. His thumb lazily stroked her hair. "This is my problem just as much as it is yours. He messed with me, first. It's time that he learned he can't have everything his own way." 

Kaya blew out a breath she didn't even know that she had been holding. Most of her had been hoping that Ransom wouldn't leave her to fend for herself. 

"What happened on the road today?" 

Ransom frowned. His hand slipped away from her head. "It was a motorcycle. And it was meant to run you down."

That seemed accurate. Kaya nodded, slowly, as she thought of the consequences to all her actions. To her very existence. "How did your uncle find us in the first place?" 

"It's a long story..." Ransom sighed. "But I'll tell you all I remember."