Page 14

“Ironic, right?” I scoffed.
“Who is they?”
I shook my head. “He wouldn’t say. He said it didn’t matter.”
“Because he’s going after them,” Johnny surmised. “He doesn’t want anyone else getting involved.”
“His vendetta is gonna get more people killed,” Jack said.
“We would be out there with him if it wasn’t for Lock’s orders,” I said pointedly. “You know we would.”
“That’s different. Rafe was?—”
“An asshole,” Johnny spoke up. “He nearly got you killed. He ruined Tahlia’s life. It doesn’t fucking matter what he did or why he did it. Yeah, we all understand his motives, but he stepped on a lot of people to get what he wanted. And now that’s coming back to bite us in the ass. Make no mistake, Leah’s dead because of what Rafe set in motion.”
He was right. As much as I wanted to avenge Rafe, if he had just asked for help, there was every possibility that things would have ended differently. But that wasn’t Rafe’s style. He never knew who he could trust, and because of that, he died alone.
“What do you need from us?” Jack asked.
I blew out a harsh breath. I didn’t have a fucking clue. “How do you take care of a kid? I never thought I would be a father.”
“Neither did I, but you’ll be fine,” Jack reassured me.
I knew I would be. I would give anything for that little girl in there. “I’m not worried I won’t be a good father. I know I’ll do anything to give her the life she deserves. But she should have her mother.”
“She should have you, too,” Johnny pointed out. “Yeah, it’s fucking terrible that Leah’s gone, but she still has you, and you deserve that just as much. Don’t fuck it up.”
I looked at the house and knew that there was nothing that could stand between me and my little girl. “I don’t intend to.”
* * *
I stood in the doorway to Carli’s bedroom, watching as Tahlia sat on the floor with her and read a book. Carli pointed out words she knew and giggled at her favorite parts of the story. My chest squeezed when I realized she didn’t really understand that her mother was gone. It was like she was on a sleepover at Aunt Tahlia’s house.
But soon, she would miss her mother and I would have to explain that Leah was never coming home. Everything she thought she knew would be gone, and I was the sorry replacement she was stuck with.
Tahlia glanced up and the smile slipped from her lips. “Hey, peanut. I’m gonna talk with your dad for a minute. Why don’t you pick out the next book?”
When Carli got up and ran to sort through the books for the next one to read, Tahlia got up and came over to me, her face instantly wary. “Jason?—”
“Don’t.” My tone was harsh, but not because I was mad. “I understand why you kept it from me. I’m not thrilled about it, but…I didn’t give Leah any impression that I would be there for her.”
“I never wanted to keep it from you. In fact, I think she was going to tell you soon. With every day that passed, it was like she was…” Her eyes drifted off in thought.
“She was what?”
“I don’t know,” she shook her head. “There was something different about her. I tried to get her to talk to me, but she was distant. Distracted.”
“Distracted, how?”
“Like something big was coming. I don’t know. It’s like she knew something was coming. That sounds so silly.”
“Maybe.”
Her head snapped up to meet my gaze. “You think maybe she knew?”
“Maybe she felt someone watching her. She’d already been to prison once. She had to learn to have eyes in the back of her head. It wouldn’t surprise me if she had an uneasy feeling.”
“Why didn’t they go after Carli?” she whispered, looking back at my little girl. “If they were watching her, they had to know she had a daughter. That’s not something you can hide. So, why not take her as well?”