“I don’t think it was anyone from the organization. Most of them were arrested and the rest have likely scattered to unknown parts. It’s Mitch. It has to be, and if it is him, then there is a great chance Kennedy is still alive.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because he’ll try to use her for ransom.”
“What would make him think we have the money?”
“Because we’ve inherited the second portion of our inheritance.”
“How much?”
“A whopping ten million each.”
“He’s going to want it all.”
“And we’re going to give it to him right before I kill him.”
“My daughter, my kill.”
“You’ve never killed anyone before.”
“I think it’s as good a time as any to start.”
Keiran didn’t respond. Instead, he held my stare as if trying to read me. After a few moments of intense silence, I broke it.
“What if he sold her?”
“He won’t.”
“And you are sure of this how?”
“Because what he can get for ransom from us is a thousand times more than what he will get for selling her. The girls don’t sell for much.”
“This is my fucking daughter we are talking about,” I growled. I didn’t like the casual way he spoke of bartering her as if she were a fucking goat.
“And this is real life. If you can’t handle what I’m saying, what makes you think you could kill him when the time comes? Because it will come, Keenan. He isn’t walking away again and I’m not walking on the right side of the law this time.”
I nodded my head in agreement. Mitch had many reasons to die. My mother and my daughter had suffered at his hands… and my brother.
I could see the worry and fear that Keiran tried to hide with a hard visage. He was fighting himself to be a protector.
“Did Quentin tell you about Camden?”
“He did, but I wondered what was taking you so long to tell me yourself.”
“Because nothing’s changed.”
“I never said it had.”
An uncomfortable silence fell between us once again as we both became lost in our thoughts. A part of me wished I’d never come on to Lake and yet a part of me wished I’d been successful. I also wish I knew which part was stronger.
“So, what was that at the hospital?” I knew I wouldn’t have to elaborate given the way he hung his head and took a deep breath before meeting my stare again.
“I fucked up.”
“No shit. I thought things were good between you two.”
“They are… they were. It’s not her. It’s me. I fucked up in California.”
“What did you do?”
“Those men I killed. I promised Lake I wouldn’t murder again. I convinced her I had put the past behind me, but clearly, I haven’t. I don’t even know how to tell her.”
“Are you afraid she’ll leave?”
He laughed though a dark look clouded his features. “No.”
“Because you wouldn’t let her?”
“I couldn’t even if I tried.”
“Is your guilt the reason why you pushed her away?”
“Partly, yeah. That and because I blame her for Kennedy not being home yet.”
“Why would it be her fault?”
“Because if I didn’t care so much about disappointing her, I might have found her by now.”
“That’s insane.”
“No more than you blaming Sheldon for losing Kennedy.”
“Who told you about that? Dash?”
“Q. He told me about the fight, and I know what you’re thinking.”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking.
“I practically raised you. All those thoughts and feelings in your head I planted there just as they did me. You’re going to kill him if he stands in the way.”
“Dash’s future is entirely up to him. Sheldon and Ken are mine. They don’t walk away unless I allow it.”
“Dash is our friend, Keenan.”
“Since when did you ever care about anything other than getting your way? It was you who taught me by any means necessary.”
“Yes, but I also didn’t run away for four years and come back and expect everyone to just fall in line.”
“Not everyone. Just Sheldon and my kid. And you forget… I didn’t come back. You brought me here, and now you’ll bear the consequences. You all will.”
I stood and left without another word or a backward glance.
*
“Hey, boss.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Well, stop being so bossy if you don’t want to be the boss.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and prayed for patience. Sometimes I felt like Di was a pain in the ass on purpose.
“Did you do what I asked, Diana?” I used her full name, knowing how much she hated it though she never said why. I never cared enough to ask.
“Yes, I did, boss man, so when should I expect you?”
“However long it takes to find her.”
“I can’t believe you have a kid.”
Yeah, me either.
“It serves you right that it’s a girl, though.”
“And you say that because?”
“Because the players always get a little girl. You’ll be beating the boys away with a bat when she’s older.” She shouted over the phone as if she had just found a pot of gold.
“Will you fucking stop yelling?” I was two seconds away from hanging up on her.
“I’m sorry, baby doll.”
“Don’t call me baby doll.”