Page 18 of Now or Never

She got the zipper to the top. “There you go.” She smiled, and he returned to Mom’s side.

Megan had the coat overlapped in front, so she was surrounded tightly by the warm material.

Kenna’s skin chilled, but she would be fine for a moment. “Megan, there isn’t a perfect solution here. We can all only do our best. But if you need help, if you’re scared for your safety and Joseph’s and you want to get out of this house, there are places you can go.”

She wasn’t going to promise he would never find her, but she wanted to.

The cop glanced between Kenna, Megan, and Jax on the far side by the door. There was barely room on the front step for him to be outside, but he stayed tucked against the open door.

Jax winced. “I hate to say it, but if you have information about the death of Samantha Ambrose, it’s going to give the police more reason to keep you safe. It might even be something they can talk to the feds about.”

The cop said, “You’re dangling witness protection?”

“I was FBI for years. I’m not promising anything, but we don’t know what Megan knows. She could be exactly the person the USmarshals are in their business to protect.” Jax shrugged. “Someone wanted Samantha Ambrose’s death covered up and Megan might be able to tell us who and why.”

Witness protection might not be enough to hide someone fromDominatus. She’d considered it, but even that might not be secure enough to keep them from finding her, and Jax, and their child.

There might be nowhere on earth they could hide…

IfDominatuswas looking for them.

“We’re here because Megan went missing around the same time.” Jax’s tone gentled. “Megan, were you held here against your will the last six years?”

Megan Tilley clutched her son’s shoulder. She nodded.

Kenna said, “Is the man inside that house the father of your son?”

There were limited options as to what could have happened between two men and two teenage girls who had gone missing from their lives. One person was responsible for Samantha’s death, and one person was inside that house facing a serious jail sentence.

Megan just stared at her.

“What is his name?” the officer asked, pulling out his phone.

“Carl Allerton.”

“He keeps you here against your will?”

Megan managed to nod.

“Does he hurt you or your son?”

“That’s not...” Megan’s voice sounded hollow. She covered Joseph’s ears, then said louder, “He isn’t my son. But I’m the only one who takes care of him. I’m the only one who protects him. You can’t take him away from me. I’m all he has.”

Kenna glanced at Jax, whose eyes widened. “Megan, who is his mother?”

“Samantha was.” The woman swallowed. “But they killed her.”

Chapter Eight

“Carl Allerton is nobody.” Zeyla dropped the file folder on the small round table in the hospital café, tucked into the corner of the lobby.

Kenna pulled out a chair and sat, aware of Ramon and Jax getting drinks for the four of them. “No one is nobody.”

Around them, a smattering of people had gathered. An old man reading from a newspaper, drinking out of a china teacup on a saucer. A couple of doctors, or residents, in light-blue scrubs. A guy who gave “dad” vibes having a tense conversation with a teen boy.

Zeyla gripped the back of the chair. “Fine, he was a soldier along with Mitch Caudell. Basic training together, in a unit together. Carl pulled out early. Mitch got redeployed.”

“After they kidnapped Mitch’s girlfriend, Megan, and a younger girl who they killed.”