“Well, it was really nice to meet you, Mr. Lawson. I hope to see you again. Our doors are always open. Anything you need.” His voice turned emphatic at that. Genuine.
“I appreciate it.”
Before I could get any deeper, I slipped through the crowd that mingled near the doorway and rushed down the hall, anxious to get to Eden and my kid.
Eden and my kid.
I managed to refrain from shoving through, the apprehension building, the feeling that my past was right there, so close to finally catching up. I breathed out in relief when I made it to the door that was propped open, though right inside, the room was blocked off by a high counter and a swinging gate where parents signed the children in and out.
Eden was in the middle of a mass of kids who were dancing and laughing.
And the girl…the girl was laughing, too.
So free.
So good.
All that grace shining around her like a dream.
I moved to the clipboard on the counter where I’d signed him in. I was quick to sign him out.
A second later, Eden edged my way, my son’s hand clutched in hers as she led him over to the gate. She barely brushed the edge of my hand as she passed Gage through.
It didn’t matter if no words were spoken. Those knowing, kind eyes whispered all the things I didn’t fucking know how to say. Everything neither of us should feel.
Jutting my chin, I took Gage’s hand in mine. We’ll be in the car, I mouthed, and the tiniest smile tugged at the edge of her mouth before she turned her attention to a woman who came in behind me.
We stepped out, and immediately, Gage started bouncing along at my side as we walked, kid prattling on about how amazing Sunday school was as I led him out the door to where my car was parked at the back of the lot.
I helped him into his booster in the backseat, and I dropped a kiss to his forehead when he stopped for one second to take a breath.
Overwhelmed, I pressed my nose into his hair and inhaled his sweet scent.
Felt myself spiraling. It was all right there. Nipping at my heels.
My son, my son.
I tried to remember the one reason.
The reason my mother had given me.
The reason Nathan had passed on after that.
Failure after failure.
There wasn’t much I was scared of in my life.
The only exception was the one that drove it all.
I was utterly terrified of making another mistake that would cost someone I loved their life. Wouldn’t survive if I did it again.
I rounded the back of the car and slipped into the front seat. I powered up my phone. It blipped with a message.
I thumbed into the screen.
Jud: Call me.
Anxiety lit. Burning through my insides as I pressed his name to return the call. It rang once before he answered. “Where the hell have you been?”
“Church,” I grunted, glancing at Gage in the backseat where he was reading some little book he’d brought out with him.
Disbelief filled Jud’s laugh. “You’re shittin’ me.”
“Don’t start, man. Just tell me what the hell’s up.”
I could feel his hesitation travel through the line.
“What is it?” I demanded low, trying to keep the bite out of my voice.
Jud sighed. “Word is, Juna was spotted in LA a couple months ago.”
Fury hit me in an instant.
Dread.
Betrayal.
Fear.
“Fuckin’ bitch.” It slipped from between my lips before I could stop it.
“Ridge’s informant didn’t know why she was there or who she was seein’, only that there were rumblings of her name within the Demon’s, but if she really was there…” Jud trailed off.
Neither of us needed to say it.
If she was there, she’d broken the pact meant to keep us alive. A pact she’d made promising to never return to LA since she was the only one who knew where we were.
Juna was the one who’d led us to Redemption Hills in the first place. Other than the money, she had one stipulation to our deal—I had to raise Gage here. A place she and her family had vacationed when she was a child, and she’d conjured some kind of fairytale idea that one day she’d raise a family here.
Was easy to concede to. A random place to disappear.
“Tell him we need details.” The words grated from my tongue.
“He understands the severity. I wired him some money so he can see who will roll.”
Money always caused people to talk. Secrets confessed for a little dough. Cash the only thing it took for most to sell out.
I’d always wondered when the day would come when the money that I was feeding Juna would no longer be enough, and she’d start sniffing out ways to swindle me in this treacherous deal.
Through the mirror, my gaze found my son. My innocent son who didn’t deserve any of this. A son who should have a mother that loved him rather than one that was willing to sell him.