Page 39

“But a threat to who?” Lock asked. “Everyone in The Syndicate is gone, and no one knows who’s pulling the strings behind them. How would Asher be a threat to anyone?”
“Unless someone still thinks I’m in the game,” Asher said thoughtfully. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s walked away from a life of crime, only for it to come back later to bite them in the ass.”
“Again, who would be after you?” I asked.
Asher sighed. “I don’t have a fucking clue, and I’m not gonna figure it out tonight.”
“Get settled in. We’ll work on it more tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Thanks for putting us up.”
“Hey, it’s our fault you’re in this mess,” Lock grinned. “And about Holly…you know Fox is gonna want to meet her. Better watch that.”
I swore Asher turned five shades paler as he walked away.
“What are we gonna do about everyone else now?”
“We can’t exactly keep everyone on lockdown, but we’re going to have to be careful.”
I nodded in agreement. “I have to get home. I ran out on Carli earlier.”
“Let us know if you need anything.”
I grunted, but the last thing I would do was ask any of these guys for help. Jack and Johnny were the only ones I really trusted. Tahlia already had a connection with Carli, so that would help. But everyone else…I was having a hard time getting used to being around them.
“Hey, we’ll figure it out,” Lock said, misunderstanding my silence.
“Yeah.”
I would give them time to figure it out on their own. Then I was going after those bastards on my own, and I’d make Leah’s killers suffer for what they did to her. For what they did to my daughter.
For the chance they took away from me.
* * *
I tossed my keys on the table as I walked through the door. I could hear Tahlia upstairs with Carli and leaned against the wall, taking a minute to breathe through the heartache surging through me. Her peals of laughter were so damn cute, but how long would they last? How long until she missed her momma? How long until I wasn’t enough?
I shook off those thoughts and climbed the stairs. I was her father, her last remaining family, and I would not let her down. As soon as my boots hit the top step, Tahlia peeked out of the room with Carli hot on her heels. My little girl looked up at me curiously. Gone was the shy child from earlier. Whatever Tahlia had done, Carli was now more relaxed.
“Hey, sweetheart. Did you have fun with Tahlia?”
She pursed her lips to the side, twisting her hands together behind her back. “Yeah.”
I bent down on my haunches to look into her eyes. Slowly, she made eye contact and took in my facial features. Then her hand lifted and brushed over my jaw.
“You have a lot of hair.”
A smile touched my lips at the feel of her hand on my skin. “Yeah, I do.”
“Why do you have this?” she asked, tracing her finger over my beard, along my jaw, up to my ear.
I chuckled, wondering how I explained that to her. “I guess I just get too lazy to shave it.”
Again, she pursed her lips at me, and then her eyes dropped to my neck. Her finger darted out and poked my Adam’s apple. “What’s this?”
“It’s an Adam’s apple.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “You have an apple in your neck?”