Page 37 of Girl Lost (The King Legacy #1)

CORBIN EASED HIS CAR to a stop in front of Tori’s house.

What was he doing here at this absurd hour?

Luna would probably murder him for showing up unannounced.

If she was even awake. But the moment he’d opened his eyes that morning , he knew he couldn’t wait another second to talk to her.

To explain. The truth had been eating away at him for far too long , and he had to clear the air between them before they risked their lives going undercover.

He killed the engine and sat there staring at the front door. This was stupid. Reckless, even. They had a high-stakes undercover operation to prepare for, and here he was, ready to dredge up ancient history.

But if he didn’t tell her now, would he ever?

He climbed out of the car, biting back a groan as his stitches pulled. The salt-tinged air filled his lungs. He approached Tori’s front door, his feet feeling heavier with each step. Before he could knock, it swung open.

Luna stood there, dressed in running shorts and a lightweight jacket, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. His heart skipped a beat. Even now, after everything, she still took his breath away.

Her face paled, and her hand flew to her chest. “Is it ... Stryker? Is he—”

“No, no, it’s not about Stryker. We don’t have an update on him yet.”

“You scared me half to death.” She dropped her hands and stepped onto the porch, closing the door behind her. “Although, I don’t know if I should be relieved or not.”

He couldn’t blame her. In their line of work, no news wasn’t necessarily good news. “Sorry, didn’t mean to worry you.”

A gentle breeze caught Luna’s hair and blew strands across her forehead. She scraped them back and tucked them behind her ears. “So, what are you doing here so early?”

“Couldn’t sleep.” A half-truth. His restless night had little to do with insomnia and everything to do with the woman standing before him, but the pathetic excuse was all he could muster. “What about you? What are you doing outside at this hour?”

Luna’s dark eyes searched his face, and he fought the urge to look away. What did she see when she looked at him? The boy who’d abandoned her? Or the man he was trying to become?

“I was about to go for a run on the beach. Want to join me?”

Run? His body screamed in protest at the mere thought. Not just the stitches and his sore ribs. When was the last time he’d slept more than a few hours? But the idea of spending time with Luna ... “I’m pretty beat, but if you don’t mind walking...”

“I was teasing about the run,” Luna said. “Probably you shouldn’t run with stitches in your side.”

“I don’t think I could if I tried.” He followed her down the steps.

“How about a nice slow walk?”

“That I can do,” he said. “Let me throw my shirt in the car.”

While she waited, he unbuttoned his dress shirt and tossed it in the front seat. The white cotton T-shirt he wore underneath wasn’t fashionable, but it was comfortable.

They set off down the dark street. The sound of ocean waves roared, even from blocks away. Corbin kept a careful distance between them as they walked side by side. He wanted to close that gap, to reach out and touch her, to make sure she was really here. But he held back.

How should he begin? What should he say? He was terrified of saying the wrong thing, but he wanted to be honest. The way she’d been yesterday.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Luna broke the silence. “I’m sorry about the commissioner. The way he’s treating you, it’s not right.”

Carlie. The teen’s face flashed in his mind, her bright smile now forever dimmed. “I can see it from his side. His only child was murdered, and I didn’t stop it.”

“It’s the awful part of your job. You can’t blame yourself. He shouldn’t either.”

Couldn’t he? He was supposed to find her. He’d failed. And that wasn’t even the worst of it.

He kicked a rock, and it skittered across the asphalt into the grass. “I’m worried I might lose my job over this. I was already on thin ice, and then the incident with the fire ... I shouldn’t have let you come.”

“I didn’t give you much choice, now did I?” She turned her head toward him. “If you hadn’t agreed, I would’ve been there before you had a warrant. And then...” She looked away. “Then, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

He thought about how she’d stood there, surrounded by flames, unwilling—or unable—to move. “I think I understand why the fire affected you the way it did. The explosion?”

“I froze. When I saw the flames. I just ... I couldn’t move. And you...” She trailed off, shaking her head.

“Luna, I—”

“No, let me finish.” She cut him off. “You saved me. Again. Just like you did all those years ago when Stryker first brought me to the program.”

Back then Luna, barely fifteen, was all hostility and distrust. Somehow he’d been the one to break through her walls, to show her that not everyone was out to hurt her.

“I didn’t save you,” he said. “You saved yourself. I just ... helped a little.”

Luna didn’t respond.

There was something else, something she wasn’t telling him. A lot, actually. He could see it in the way she avoided his gaze, in the tension in her shoulders. He let the silence linger.

“I froze in there.” She glanced at him, then back down. “That’s the first time it’s ever happened to me.”

He wanted to reach out. Pull her close. Tell her it was okay. But he held back.

They reached the beach and paused at the end of the wooden path to take off their shoes and socks. Corbin rolled up the cuffs of his pants and they left their shoes on the boardwalk. Luna bent and picked up a seashell. Wiped the sand off the ridges and tucked it in her pocket.

The sand was cool and soft beneath his bare feet as they made their way to the water’s edge. The ocean stretched out before them, an inky expanse broken only by the white foam of breaking waves.

To the east, the first hints of light were beginning to peek over the horizon.

Sunrise was still an hour away, but already the night was losing its grip.

In an hour, the sun would rise, painting the world in gold and pink, and they’d have to prepare for the day.

To go undercover. Yeah, he should have tried for more sleep, but walking beside Luna, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.

This was exactly where he wanted to be.

“So, what’s really on your mind?” The sound of the waves nearly drowned out her words, and he drifted closer.

They continued down the beach, the waves lapping at their feet.

Corbin became acutely aware of Luna’s presence beside him.

The way the predawn light softened her features.

The slight brush of her arm against his as they navigated a piece of driftwood.

His skin tingled where they’d made contact, and he found himself wanting to close that gap again, but he resisted.

This was it. No more running. “I owe you an explanation. About why I left. Why I couldn’t ... why I thought I couldn’t be a father.”

Luna’s expression remained neutral, but Corbin caught the slight tightening around her eyes. A glimpse of the pain he’d caused her, still raw after all these years.

“I’m listening.”

He licked his dry lips, tasting salt on his tongue. Where to start? How to explain something he barely understood himself?

“It’s about Damien Sullivan. My father.”

Luna glanced at him, a flicker of understanding in her eyes. Of course she remembered. She’d been there for the fallout, after all.

“I know you saw the news reports,” he said. “The trial. But there was so much more I never told you. So much I couldn’t face back then.”

They walked in silence for a few steps. A seagull cried overhead, its mournful call echoing the ache in his heart. He’d never said these words out loud before.

“He didn’t just drink. He beat my mom. Beat me.

For years. And I just took it.” The words felt like broken glass in his mouth.

“I didn’t protect my mom, and I grew up thinking how my father acted is what it meant to be a man.

To be a cop. He planted evidence, beat confessions out of suspects.

And the day they finally fired him... ”

Luna’s hand brushed against his, a fleeting touch that nearly broke him. He pressed on, the words tumbling out now that the dam had burst.

“When they fired him, when he killed those officers ... I was relieved. Can you believe that? My own father goes on a rampage, gets arrested, and all I felt was relief that it was finally over.”

He picked up a piece of driftwood and threw it, sending it skittering across the sand. Childish, maybe, but it helped release some of the tension coiled inside him.

“I changed my name because I couldn’t bear to be associated with him anymore.

I wanted to be like Stryker, to be good.

But when you told me you were pregnant.

..” He swallowed hard, shame burning in his chest. “All I could think was that I’d end up just like him.

I was already drinking, Luna. Already struggling with my anger.

What if I snapped one day? What if I hurt you or our baby? ”

He forced himself to meet her gaze, to face the hurt he’d caused. “I thought I was protecting you both by breaking it off and signing my paternal rights away. But, if I’m being honest with myself, I was just a coward. A coward running away from my fears instead of facing them.”

They’d stopped walking now and were facing each other as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Luna’s face was bathed in golden light, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Corbin’s chest tightened. He’d put those tears there, years ago and now.

“So you ran,” she said.

Corbin nodded, shame burning in his chest. “I didn’t want to hurt you. But that’s exactly what I did, just in a different way.”

Luna was quiet for a long moment, her gaze fixed on the ocean. She caught a stray strand of hair and scraped it behind her ear.

Corbin held his breath, waiting for her response. Would she understand? Could she ever forgive him?

“You’re not the only one who ran, Corbin.” She turned to him, her eyes soft. “We were both so young. Scared and unprepared. We made mistakes.”

“I’ve spent all these years trying to be nothing like him.” The admission burned in his throat. “Changing my name, working with Stryker, joining FDLE. But sometimes I wonder if it’s enough. If I can ever truly escape his shadow.”

Luna reached out, her hands slipping around his shoulders. The warmth from her touch chased away the frost of old wounds.

“You’re not your father, Corbin,” she said firmly. “The man I’ve seen these past few days? He’s brave, compassionate, dedicated to justice. That’s who you are.”

Her words washed over him, a balm to wounds he’d carried for so long. But doubt still gnawed at him, a persistent whispering that he didn’t deserve her kindness. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I see you,” Luna said simply. “The good and the bad. While we’ll always face the consequences of our choices, I’m learning that trusting in Christ gives us forgiveness for our past and the chance to walk a new path.”

Could it really be that simple? That the grace he’d denied himself for years was being offered so freely?

“I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”

“Maybe not,” Luna said, a small smile playing at her lips. “But you have it anyway. That’s what grace is all about, isn’t it?”

The mention of grace caught him off guard. How long had it been since he’d thought about faith, about the God that Stryker was always talking about? He’d turned his back on all of that, convinced he was beyond redemption.

“I’m not sure I know much about grace,” he admitted.

“Then maybe it’s time we both learned.”

Corbin’s heart raced as he gazed into Luna’s eyes.

She was even more beautiful now. How was that possible?

He found himself drawn to the subtle lines at the corners of her eyes.

What stories could those lines tell? What had she been through in all these years apart?

What made her build so many walls? And how could he break them down?

Luna’s hands slid from his shoulders to the back of his neck. Her touch conveyed a tenderness that took his breath away. The rising sun bathed them in a warm, golden light, as if God himself was conspiring to create this perfect moment.

She hesitated for a heartbeat, searching his face. Then, with a soft exhale, she closed the distance between them.

Their lips met in a kiss that spoke of forgiveness, of lost time, of a love that had never truly died. Corbin’s arms encircled her waist, not out of passion but out of a deep-seated need to be close, to reconnect with the other half of his soul.

When they finally parted, Corbin rested his forehead against Luna’s. The world around them seemed to fade away, leaving only the two of them, basking in the light of a new day and the promise of a fresh start.

Even after all these years, even with all the pain and unanswered questions between them, she still had this effect on him. “I’ve missed you,” Corbin whispered.

Luna’s fingers traced the line of his jaw. “I’ve missed you too,” she murmured. “More than I realized.”

As they stood there, wrapped in each other’s arms with the sunrise painting the sky in vibrant hues, a sense of peace washed over him. For the first time in years, hope bloomed in his chest. Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance for redemption after all. For both of them.