Distress pulsed. A warning that crashed through the fortress of bliss.
“Then how do I end it?” It was low and hard. A bitter plea.
“Might not be your concern any longer, anyway.”
Hatred flashed.
His face burned in my mind.
All of it wrapped up with the need for this to just go away.
So I could stay here with Mia.
Devoted.
Not caught in this web between who I was and who I wanted to be.
“Pretty sure that greedy bastard has already dug his own grave,” Brax continued. “Karma is coming for his punk ass. Another shipment was scraped. Evidence is finally pointing to him.”
Might have been the first time I was happy to hear that Karma had shown her face.
This was the exact thing Brax and I had been trying to gather for years. Enough evidence dumped at that bastard’s door that there would be no question. Let his own mistakes eat him alive.
It wouldn’t even have been a set up considering we were only pointing Krane to the truth.
“You haven’t had anyone following you again?” he clarified.
“No.”
Had never been so relieved to find out an arrest had been made. They still hadn’t charged the guy with Lana’s death, but the detective said he was close to piecing it together.
Could almost see Braxton nodding. “Listen, found out it was your mom who sent those two guys. All it took was a couple of beers for them to spill. She wasn’t after you, Leif. She wanted them to deliver information but you had them running scared before they got the chance.”
I blew out a sigh, not sure that I could believe it.
Accept it.
She’d done too many wrongs for me to buy that.
But still . . . if I was letting this go, I had to let it all go, and I found I was having a hard time hanging onto the anger when I wasn’t even sure she’d been involved.
“Think you should sit tight for a few weeks. See how this thing goes down here in L.A. Hoping it will take care of itself. And that’s how it ends, Leif. Then you live your life. Leave California behind. Be with your girl and play with your band. It’s your time.”
Maddie and Haylee’s faces gusted through my mind.
Beautiful.
Innocent.
Sweet.
Grief clutched me by the throat.
Could I do it? Let it go? There was nothing I could do to bring them back, and I was starting to realize I’d been chasing down a feeling that was never going to come.
When it came to them, I wasn’t ever gonna feel satisfaction or relief.
“Okay,” I told him. “I’ll hang tight. Let me know when you get word.”
“You know I will.” He paused before he said, “Happy for you, Leif. Honestly never thought you’d get there. Makes me fucking happy that you did.”
“Thanks, man.”
I ended the call.
Not sure if I felt like scum or if I was doing the right thing.
I’d made the mistake of bringing Maddie down with me. A prisoner to the life I was chained to without her even knowing what I was involved in.
Didn’t want to be the fool who did the same thing to Mia.
Mia.
My angel in the attic.
My spirit clutched, girl calling to me from across the miles, and I got on my bike, kicked it over, and let the vibration move through me as I headed back to the West Mansion, knowing things were about to change and they were going to change for the better.
I took the twenty-minute ride back into Savannah, and even though I slowed the bike to take the narrow, neighborhood streets, anticipation wound me high.
Couldn’t wait to get back to her.
See her face.
Start making plans.
I pulled into the garage, quick to park before I made a beeline for the gate.
I punched in the code and stepped into Eden.
Hell was going to have to wait.
I dropped my bag in the guest house before I turned in the direction of Mia’s wing. That long row of windows lit up like glitter as the sun streaked down from the sky at a low angle.
My heart thudded. My stomach knotted.
I buzzed into the house, and the smell of fresh paint filled my nostrils.
I moved toward the hall, sight catching on the wet canvas where I knew she’d stood with a brush in her hand.
A man on one side of a cavern. A woman and two children on the other. Their faces distorted in that mystical, haunting way, but there was no mistaking the fact they were breaching the distance.
Finding a way.
Anxious, I sped up, rapping my knuckles once on the partially opened door and poking my head inside.
Penny was on the couch, phone in hand. She looked up when she heard me and grinned.
Another cracked, brittle piece of my heart sloughed off.
“Leif, you’re back. Did you get all finished? Uncle Lyrik said this album is the bomb. Do you want to go for pizza tonight? Mom said it was fine and then maybe we can ask Kallie, too!”
Her ramble of words were sweet and hopeful and gracious.
Like she was asking me for permission.
Like she’d welcomed me as a part of her life.
A child. A child. A child.
My spirit trembled and shook. Haylee’s face flashed behind my eyes.
I missed her. Fuck, I would miss her every day of my life.
The wound that was my daughter would never heal.
But I had to believe Mia had crashed into my life with a purpose.
Proof had to be what possessed me when I looked at her children.
I crossed the space, leaning over Penny, and I pressed a kiss to her forehead. Relished in the gift. Something I was never supposed to have again, but I’d be a fool to question what I was given. “I would love to have pizza.”
She rocked her head back, beaming up at me.
Love rushed.
I edged back, blinked, my entire world rocked.
Never imagined when I got pushed off that cliff that when I landed there would be an entire family waiting at the bottom to catch me.
“Where’s your mom?”
She gestured with her chin. “In her room, reading.”
“Okay. I’m going to go tell her hi.”
“Okay.”
I straightened, not sure what to do with the jealousy that bashed me in the chest when her phone lit-up with a Facetime call that read Dad.
No doubt, Mia and I had tons of sorting to do. There was no chance she could one-hundred percent leave L.A. behind. Doubted that I could, either.
“Oh, there’s my dad. He said he was going to call me right back.”
My nod was tight, as tight as my throat when I swallowed. “No worries. Take your time. We’ll leave when you’re finished.”
There.
That was civil, right?
The right way to handle this bullshit?
Spinning on my heel, I moved for Mia’s door.
“Hi, Dad!” Penny said in her sweet way.
“Penny-Girl.”
It should have been nothing.
The voice.
But every hair on my body stood on end when I heard it.
Paranoid.
My brain fried.
Waiting for the motherfucking shoe to drop.
That was it.
Still, I froze, cocked my head, and turned my ear. Dread lifted in a sticky sweat that coated my flesh. Mind distorted like a bad trip.
“When are you coming home?” It was a grumble. Petulant.
Selfishness to the extreme.
Vicious and cruel.