Halo (K19 Security Solutions 8)

“I’m not staying here with you, Knox.”

He folded his arms in front of him. “Going off to find your other boyfriend?”

I looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. “Why are you acting this way?”

“Because of your refusal to tell me the truth.”

“What truth?”

“What do you really intend to do with those paintings, Tara?” He ran his hand through his hair. “Did you really think I was that stupid? That you could do it right in front of me?”

I sat on the end of the bed and stared at him. “I don’t know what it is you think I’ve done, but this conversation, the way it’s going now, needs to stop.”

“I agree.”

“You can either treat me with respect, and start at the beginning, or

I’m leaving. As to where I’m going, it would be up to the villa to stay with Pia.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized I couldn’t do that. Pia was leaving in the morning to take her mother to Milan. I’d have to come up with another solution, and I had no idea what that might be, unless I could go back to the casina.

Knox walked over to the bedroom window and looked out. He stood there long enough without speaking that I wondered if he would.

“Your father has been indicted for wire fraud and enterprise corruption.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“Art forgery, Tara. He’s sold millions of dollars of fake art throughout Europe.”

My head reeled with the weight of his words. So much so that I thought I might pass out. Everything Knox had asked me made so much more sense. “You think it was me,” I whispered.

“I didn’t want to.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t think you had it in you. I honestly couldn’t believe you were that kind of person.”

“What changed your mind?”

“One of the paintings was recovered two days ago. That’s why I was called to Florence.”

He walked over to the closet and went inside. When he came back out, he had what looked like a painting wrapped in brown paper. He tore the wrap away and held it up. “Look familiar?”

I shook my head.

“Strange because the forensics team found a hair inside of the frame. A blonde hair. It wasn’t long, but it was enough for them to run a DNA test. What do you think they found?”

“Tell me, Knox.”

“Since they already had your father’s DNA on file, it was easy for them to quickly determine whether it was a match. I got the results a few minutes ago. According to the test, there is a ninety-nine percent certainty that the person whose hair we found is Richard Emsworth’s biological child.”

“I see.”

“I thought you might.”

“What happens now? Do you arrest me?”

“Explain it to me. Why was your hair found inside the frame, Tara?”

The explanation was that the test had to be faulty. The hair wasn’t mine, although I couldn’t tell him whose it was, because I had no siblings. But until I talked to my father, I couldn’t tell anyone that. Not even Knox.