I swipe my tears with the back of my hands. “I tried looking for you when I left, but I couldn’t find you online. I even hired a private investigator, but it cost so much money, and when he couldn’t find you, I thought you didn’t want to be found.”
“I didn’t, not by them. But if I had thought for one second that you had left them…” He takes my hands in his and squeezes them. “I didn’t think you’d ever leave Max.”
My face falls at the mention of our father’s name. “Did Paw tell you what happened?”
He nods. “He’s where he belongs.”
Doc joins us, and I throw my arms around his neck. “Thank you.” Fresh tears leave a trail down my cheeks. “But how did you find him?”
He gestures to Paw. “Paw is basically one-quarter human and three-quarters bloodhound. He finds people… it’s kind of his thing.”
I let go of Doc to hug Paw and press a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”
He will never understand just how much he’s given back to me.
When I let go of him, I take my brother’s hand again and steal a good look at him. He’s taller than I remember with darker hair and a closely clipped beard. But his eyes are the same. They’re identical to mine, and when he smiles, I see our mama.
“I’ve missed you,” I say, and he hugs me again.
We spend the rest of the afternoon sitting in a booth at the clubhouse catching up on the last thirteen years, talking excitedly as brothers and sisters do when they have so much to talk about.
After escaping the Inferno, he traveled across the country and lived rough for a couple of months before finding a job as a dishwasher at a strip club in California. The owner took a shine to him and let him live in the apartment above the club, where Valentine was able to save enough money to get his high school diploma and earn a scholarship into college, where he studied archaeology. A few years later, he married a fellow archaeologist, and now they spend a lot of time overseas at digs in one exotic place after another.
“Her name is Samia, and she’s the most brilliant, beautiful woman in the world… you’re going to love her,” Valentine says proudly. “I can’t wait to introduce you.”
“I can’t wait to meet her.”
He sighs, and it sounds just like it did thirteen years ago when I last saw him.
It’s strange, but the years just slip away as we talk and laugh and hurry to catch each other up on what’s happened.
I can’t believe he’s here.
It’s clear neither of us wants the night to end. There is still so much to say and catch up on. But sometime after midnight, we have to say goodbye, and I hug him again, grateful to have my brother back.
After he leaves, with the promise to bring Samia back for an extended vacation in a couple of weeks, I slip into bed next to the man who has brought so much change into my life. He wraps his arms around me, and I kiss him deeply, so thankful he found my brother.
But I can’t sleep.
I’m too wired.
My head buzzes with a million different thoughts, and my heart is jumpy. I’m excited but hurt at the same time.
Max had lied about Valentine’s death.
And I know why.
He couldn’t stand the idea that his very own son had escaped right out from under his nose. So he hid Valentine’s disappearance behind a wall of lies.
Just as he had with everything else. And knowing his lust for cruelty, Max would’ve enjoyed the pain it inflicted on me. I feel the sting of it in my heart but push those memories aside.
I don’t need to think about that anymore.
Because Max is gone.
He's rotting in prison.
And I have my brother back.
DOC
A heavy weight lands on my chest, rousing me out of my sleep.
Opening my eyes, I come face to face with a pair of wide sea-green eyes peering back at me. Pretending to go back to sleep, I close my eyes and can feel the curious looks of my son as he watches me. Barely suppressing my smile, I suddenly roar upward and grab him in my arms and give him a big bear hug. He squeals and then giggles hysterically, pretending to fight me, but at the same time, not trying to get away.
At four years old, he’s the most adorable kid in the world. He came into the world screaming on a stormy afternoon in October, and the moment I laid eyes on him, I was a goner. Since then, the little dude has had me wrapped around his little finger.
Just like his mama.
We named him Caldwell John after my father, but everyone calls him CJ.
He grins, and it mirrors my own.