Claire greeted me as I stepped into her house. Jack remained outside the front door.

"That's a bit over the top," she murmured when she saw Jack.

"Angel is big on security," I replied, not wanting to go into all the valid reasons for my need for a bodyguard.

"It's so good to see you," she embraced me tightly and I breathed the familiarity of her in. Just being in her presence took me back to a childhood where loss didn't exist and everything was right in the world. "I was devastated when I was told of your death."

"He believed faking my death would keep me safe."

It had until I had decided to show up again and I unknowingly put myself in danger again.

I felt a pang of guilt that I hadn't reached out to her as soon as I returned.

"Angel was trying to protect me," I told her, hoping she wouldn't push for too many details.

"You look so grown up," she murmured, gazing at me affectionately.

I shrugged. "I might look different but I'm still the hot headed girl who doesn't do what she is supposed to."

It was something that Angel constantly reminded me of. My inability to do what I was told.

She smiled. "Good to hear that you aren't doing what you're told." She had a mischievous glint in her eye and that made me smile.

She never made me feel any of the shortcomings I knew I had.

"So tell me what's been going on," she said as we both entered the living room and sat down.

I didn't go into the specifics but revealed the threat to my life but not who was behind it. She listened intently.

"That's why Angel faked my death."

She frowned but didn't say a word. She wouldn't even look me in the eye.

"I have something I need to show you," she finally said after a bit of silence.

Her body language and tone made me nervous but I nodded. I trusted her.

"Promise me you will hear me out before you do anything."

I nodded. My nervousness grew.

"Come with me," she said and I followed her to the kitchen.

When she entered she stopped and looked at me. I halted when I saw a man I didn't immediately recognize seated at the kitchen table. He stood and I looked to Claire.

"I need you to listen to what he has to say Kira," she said.

They shared a look and my gaze went back to study the stranger. He was tall, older. He was dressed in a suit.

"Who is he?" I asked, studying him. There was something familiar about him but I couldn't remember where I knew him from. "Do I know you?"

Had he been a friend of my mother's?

He shared a look with Claire. There was something going on.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Please sit down," he offered me the seat across from him but I shook my head.

"I'm good right where I am."

Claire touched my arm. "Please hear him out Kira."

I frowned.

"For me?" she asked.

I nodded. I would do it for her.

She left the kitchen and I faced the stranger.

"I've wanted to do this for so many years," he said.

"So then get to it," I said, not liking unknown and the fact it felt like I had just been ambushed.

He smiled.

"I know there has been a lot of stuff going on in your life but I need you to listen to what I have to say."

"I'm listening."

"I'm going to start by telling you who I am."

I nodded.

"I'm Andrew Vincent."

It hit me at once. His surname and why he was familiar. When I had heard the Vincents I had seem some pictures of him.

I backed away from him, looking around for a way to protect myself from him.

"Kira," he said. "I won't hurt you."

It was the first time I wished I had carried a weapon but my eyes found the knives and took one. It was then I was thankful for every lesson James had given me.

He stepped closer. I waved the knife in his direction. "Stop. Don't come near me."

Jack was outside the front of the house and even if I screamed he wouldn't hear me.

The hand that held the weapon shook. I couldn't allow him to see how scared I was. I had to show that I was strong and in control. Flashbacks of the man lunging for the gun and being shot at the same time came back to haunt me and I swallowed.

"All I need you to do Kira is to listen to me."

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say." I was looking for a way out.

He blocked the door out into the garden. My eyes went to the door Claire had left through. I was weighing up if I could get to the door before he got to me.

"I would never hurt you."

I shook my head. "You guys have been trying to hurt me for years."

"I can explain." He moved closer and I waved the knife in his direction.

"I know how to use this so keep away from me," I threatened, hoping I had the guts to do what I had to.

He held his hands up at me. "Like I said before I will not harm you. All I want to do is talk to you."

"I'm listening," I murmured, but my mind was running ahead trying to find a way out and wrestling with Claire's betrayal. She had put me right in my enemies hands.

"You are so much like your mother," he said.

I frowned. "You knew my mother?" My fear wavered

He nodded.

"How did you know my mother?"

He loosened his tie. "She had a flat tyre one night and I stopped to help her."

My mind was intrigued.

"I did the gentleman thing, I changed her tyre. We struck up a conversation which led to getting a drink together."

I had a sense of where this was headed. I frowned. "You slept with her." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

He nodded. "It was unexpected but there was just something about your mother that I couldn't resist. There was a vulnerability in her that brought out the protectiveness in me."

"Did she know who you were?"

He shook his head. "Initially, she had no idea who I was. We were just two people who found each other by chance one night."

"And then?" I asked, wanting to know more. I lowered the knife.

"And then." His eyes held mine. "She fell pregnant."

My mind was blown. I needed to sit down but I remained where I was.

"Was it yours?" I prompted, needing to know how his story ended because I knew how my mother's had ended.

He nodded. "Your parents weren't sleeping together when she fell pregnant."

"My father never suspected?" I found that hard to believe.

"He was content with his affairs. As long as your mother never gave him trouble, he never questioned her about it."

It had to be the most dysfunctional relationship I had ever heard of.

"What happened to the baby?" I found myself asking.

"She grew up." He smiled as he watched me. "She is now an adult."

I shook my head. "I don't understand."

"You are my daughter Kira."

I held the breath I had just inhaled. "That's not possible," I breathed, holding onto the knife tighter, feeling my world spin out from under my feet.

"I know it's a lot to take in."

"I just...but..." Nothing made sense anymore. It was like I had been shifted entirely to a different point of view and I was trying to view my life differently with a new perspective that I couldn't wrap my mind around it.

It was impossible, wasn't it?

"I've got to go." My first response was to flee and never look back, like I could outrun the truth. I set the knife down on the counter.

He stood in my path.

"I know you still need time to process what I've told you. I'm willing to answer any questions you have."

I couldn't even put a sentence together at the moment.

"All I ask is that you not reveal this to anyone."

I didn't want to tell anyone this explosive secret. In part, I was struggling to believe it was true.

He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a card which he left of the kitchen counter beside me. "Call me when you're ready to talk."

I nodded. I wasn't sure I ever wanted to see him again. My father. The thought felt alien and unreal.

My mind continued to spin as I took the card and headed out the kitchen. Claire was pacing the hallway and stopped when she saw me.

"It can't be true," I whispered to her.

She gave me a sympathetic look. "It's true, Kira."

I pushed past her and opened the front door, my only goal was to get away so I could process what I had just learnt.

"You okay Mrs Knox?" Jack asked when I hurried to the car with him following behind me.

"Yes, I just want to go home." He opened the door and got in. Inside the back of the car my mind reeled as I considered that Kaiden was only my half brother. If Andrew Vincent was my father that meant people who were related to me were trying to harm me. None of it made any sense. It couldn't possibly be true.

It didn't matter that Claire had confirmed the secret, I needed more.

Then I remembered my mother's journals.