Jonah Bennett (Bennett Mafia)

Yeah. He was right.

I looked in the rearview mirror, seeing him and the other guards watching me.

I should go. We should go. Carson was at the hotel waiting for me. I knew Kai and Tanner wanted to hear how it went. But it was a thirty-minute drive to the hotel, and I’d been in the vehicle this whole afternoon.

I got out, wanting to stretch my legs.

Ezekiel frowned, but I waved him off. I headed his way. We could figure it out in person—I wanted to move. I was restless.

As I walked to his car, a vehicle approached, a silver Lexus. Ezekiel got out to join me on the sidewalk, and behind me I heard, “Hey!”

I turned and looked.

Ezekiel moved in front of me, reaching for his gun.

A man was hurrying across the road, the Lexus behind him. He’d left it in their driveway, half pulled in. The door was open. “Stop!” he yelled.

Ezekiel stepped forward, but I caught his arm. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the guy.

I had.

It was my father.

He got to the sidewalk, dressed as if he’d come from a business meeting or church—a buttoned-up black shirt. Silver tie. Black slacks.

I moved back, but I didn’t want Ezekiel to guard me.

“Put it away.” I motioned to his gun.

He did but moved to stand beside me. He wasn’t blocking me anymore, but he was at my side, between my father and me.

Gabriel looked at me hard, still a distance away, and nodded to himself. “I know you,” he called.

Thirty yards was between us, but I heard him loud and clear.

“I know who you are,” he repeated

I shook my head. “Nah, man. I’m just talking to a friend here.” I motioned to Ezekiel.

“She told me about you.” His eyes were burning now. “Told me I had a son. I knew it. I knew all this time. Told my wife. My daughter. They know about you, too.”

I moved forward, standing to face him square.

“You’re my son,” he said, his voice strong. “My son. I would’ve known you anywhere. You look like me. Got her color, but you’re me. I wanted you. Do you know that? I tried to get you, but he wouldn’t let me.”

I stepped back and nearly staggered.

“What?”

“I tried. Over and over again. I wanted my son, but he’s big. He’s powerful. He’s dangerous. And he threatened me. Anthony. Her husband. Don’t know why he didn’t just kill me. I expected it. I knew who he was, what he did. He killed her instead. He told me he’d kill someone I loved, and she was dead a month later.”

I’d been so little. I remembered her funeral, remembered not holding her hand anymore.

He raised his chin, defiant. “I got word from your aunt, who told me what he did. She told me you were loved, that he wasn’t hurting you. She also told me to stop trying to get you, said he’d likely kill you before he let you go.” He shook his head, lowering it. “I never knew if I did the right thing by backing off or not. I met Cierra around then, but I never stopped wondering.” He looked back up, lifting his chin again. “But you’re here. You came to me. Is he dead?”

I nodded. Damn.

I’d been raw when Kai told me about Carson. I was shattered when Melissa died, but this was different. This was a whole other emotion, and I had no idea what it was.

“He’s dead.”

“Good. Good. He deserves to be dead. That’s good.” His eyes were fierce. “You are my son. I love you, always did. I wanted you then. I want you now.”

I started to shake my head, but stopped. I had no idea how to process this shit. None of it.

“I wasn’t going to talk to you,” I told him. “I wasn’t—I wanted to see you. That’s all.”

He took a step forward.

I backed up.

Ezekiel started to move between us, reaching for his gun.

I grabbed his arm. “No.”

But Gabriel stopped, eyeing Ezekiel.

I stepped in front of Ezekiel. “He’s my guard.” I looked back, and a few of the other guards had stepped out of their vehicles. There were a few others on the sidewalk behind us, some on the other side of the street.

Gabriel was looking, too. “I see that.”

“We still do what he did. We do it. My brother runs the family now.”

He nodded. “Kai. I saw the news, saw years back they were looking for your sister. I hoped everything was okay.”

He did?

I nodded, my head swimming—all the facts, everything he knew. I hadn’t known. I hadn’t been prepared. “Brooke is fine. We’re all fine.”

“I have alerts set up for all of you. I know your names. It was just a blip of news, and then it went away. I figured that’s ’cause of what your family does.” He cracked a grin. “Seeing them now makes me feel a way… They answer to you, right? It’s not the other way—you being captive or anything? They’re protecting you, not, you know…”