“No. Not yet. He’s managed the payments up until now, but the girl… she moved out about a week ago.”
Straightening up, I rasped, “It was her seventeenth birthday last week.”
“Seems she wanted out.” He studied me. “You didn’t know.” It wasn’t really a question.
“It’s been hectic.”
Sympathy had him grimacing. “I’m sorry, your dad… Yeah, of course.”
“You know where she’s living?”
He nodded. “44 Millbank Road. She’s in unit 220.”
“That came to you pretty quickly,” I ground out.
“Got a good memory.” Unease filled me as his gaze turned stark with a warning I knew I’d be a fool to ignore. As much as the Sinners had a rep, the Disciples did too. “Remember, Rex. Seventy-two hours, then I want answers.”
I didn’t argue with him, just nodded. "If I give them to you, and shit works out with her, can I stay?"
He pursed his lips. "We'll see."
Disliking being beholden to anyone, I reached for my JD to sink it back as he twisted around and returned to his hog.
Watching him and his Enforcer ride off into the fucking sunset, I grabbed my cell and keyed in her address.
Finding the route to her place, I wondered how the fuck a seventeen-year-old had managed to get an apartment on her own. If she’d emancipated herself, then I had to reason Maverick would have heard about that.
Had Ally left Jeremy?
And if she hadn’t, if Ally wasn’t there, how had Wynter gotten her own place, and would it be easier or harder without her adoptive parents there while I explained our mutual history?
There was no guarantee that Jeremy and Ally would let me into the fucking house, but if they did, then at least they’d be able to explain that I wasn’t some deranged lunatic who was also her biological dad.
Grimacing, wishing I could have about ten more JDs, instead, I reached into my jacket, downed a packet of gum, and considered finding a motel to clean up first. But I’d showered this morning, my gear was fresh and clean, and I didn’t stink of smoke or booze from the bar, so I knew if I did try to find a motel first, I was just stalling.
Like a goddamn coward.
The menthol explosion in my skull was strong as I tried to chew away the taste of JD, and it plagued me as I drove the short ride to my kid’s place.
The neighborhood wasn’t the best. So much so that I was grateful the Disciples had their eyes on her.
The apartment building wasn’t worthy of a goddamn drug runner. Never mind my kid, that was for fucking sure.
There were bars on every window, and the front door didn’t have a proper lock. Something that was only confirmed when I walked over to it after parking my hog and dragging my saddlebag with me, and it swung open with the kick of my foot.
No working intercom, no lock to keep non-residents out—this was a father’s idea of hell.
Nervous and pissed off, wondering what the fuck kind of game Jeremy was playing, I figured out that 220 was on the second floor.
Once I made it outside her place, I knocked on the door, half expecting no one to answer because it was early enough that she could have been in school still.
Well, that was unless she’d quit school and I just hadn’t known.
The last time Maverick and I had spoken, he hadn’t said dick about her moving out. Hadn’t said anything about her prick father being in debt up to his eyeballs with the Triads.
Although… in fairness, Mav wouldn’t pick up on that unless there were unusual withdrawals being removed from his account.
By the sounds of it, Jeremy made regular payments. Might have even done that for years so Mav likely wouldn’t have seen a pattern.
That didn’t stop me from being furious though.
Not just with Jeremy but with Maverick too.
When no one answered the door, I made to turn away, bitterly angry to realize there wasn’t even a peephole.
Then, just as I stepped aside, determining to return later, I heard a soft, “Go away.”
My kid.
Christ, so like her fucking mother.
What was it with the women in my life?
Always telling me to back off?
Sucking in a sharp breath, I rasped, “I’m not…”
My mouth worked as words failed me.
What was I doing here?
I hadn’t even thought about what I’d say to her. In all honesty, I’d figured it would be a fight to meet her. Hadn’t expected I could just roll up to her place and speak with her immediately.
I thought Ally would be the one to ease things after we argued for a couple hours about how they didn’t want a bad influence like me in her life…
Nothing about this was going how I imagined.
Clearing my throat, I continued, “I’m a friend—” A friend of the family? Was I? Jesus.
“I don’t care who you are. Go. Away.”
The words bit into me again, as she unknowingly beat an exposed nerve with a ball-peen hammer.
I gritted my teeth. “I came a long way to visit with you. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you but I’m R—” I heaved a sigh. “My name’s King. I went to school with your folks.”
Silence.
Not even a whisper.
Fuck, this was more of a disaster than I could have predicted.
“I know you moved out recently, and I figured that money must be tough for you to be staying here.”
I dug my hand into my pocket and pulled out some bills. I didn’t have much on me. A little over four hundred dollars right now. I dumped my bag on the ground, squatted in front of the door, and shoved the money beneath it.
There was a too-big gap that had warning signs flickering to being in my head, so it was easier than I’d like to pass something under the board.
“I don’t want your money.”
“It’s a gift. I just… You should be staying somewhere with an intercom and a front door that locks. Even better, somewhere with an alarm system.” That might have been asking for a lot, but fuck, I needed her safe.
“There’s four hundred bucks here!” The soft exclamation had me swallowing. My daughter. My baby girl.
“I can get you more. However much you need.” Anything to get her out of this shithole.
“I don’t know you. I can’t take money from a stranger.”
The words sank into me like bullets.
I staggered to my feet, pressed a hand to the door. “I’m not a stranger, Wynter. I’m your biological father. But it’s okay if you don’t believe me. It really is. It’s okay if you don’t want to meet me. But please, take the money. I can get you more. I know four hundred isn’t much to get somewhere decent to rent in this area.”
There was a slight rattle from the door, and it opened a scant inch.
A chain.
At least she had a fucking chain.
I sucked in a relieved breath that morphed into a stunned one when a beautiful brown eye peeped at me through the sliver of space.
I wished I could see more. Could see who she was staying with to get an apartment in this dump.
Had she bribed the super?
It looked like the kind of place where blind eyes were turned.
“Your name’s King?” The chestnut iris flared as her pupil dilated with her apparent disbelief.