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“Does he know where they are?” Ronan asked.
I shook my head. “They were living in Lulling, Texas, but Tate left two years ago and hasn’t been back. I think he’s been running from them…he and the kid.”
“Any idea why?”
“I think they were abusing him…Tate. Not sure about Matty – it sounds like Tate got him out of there in time,” I responded. “I went to Lulling last week, but didn’t find anything. Daisy can’t find a trace of either of them so I don’t even really know who I’m looking for. I didn’t want to blow my advantage by asking around.”
I reached for the water and took several long drags on it before I began working on the wrap on my other hand. I steeled myself for what was to come because it wouldn’t take Ronan long to figure out the right questions to ask.
“How’d you end up with them again?”
“I put a tracker and bug in the kid’s backpack.”
“Jesus, Hawke,” Ronan muttered. “Was he at least able to give you anything else?”
I shook my head.
Ronan finally stopped pacing. “I can give you some guys…maybe they can help you-”
“No,” I interrupted. “I’ve got a handle on it.”
I didn’t miss the look of disappointment on Ronan’s face, but I didn’t have time to dwell on what it meant because his next question was the one I’d been waiting for.
“What can I do to help?”
I removed the wrap from my hand and dropped it on the bench and then folded my hands together. “I need you and Seth to watch Matty for a while. A few days, maybe a week.”
“You mean watch Matty and Tate,” Ronan said carefully.
“Just Matty.”
“Why?”
I sucked in a breath. “Because Tate is coming with me to Lulling.”
Ronan was quiet for so long that I looked up at him. “What the fuck did you do?” Ronan finally asked angrily.
“Tate agreed to come to Lulling with me to help me find his father and brother-”
“Bullshit!” Ronan yelled. “No father agrees to leave his kid while he’s undergoing chemotherapy! What did you do?”
“What the hell difference does it make?” I asked, unwilling to tell Ronan the truth about the extent of my blackmail.
“Tell me or I’ll ask him!”
My own temper flared to life and I shot to my feet. “I told him if he didn’t come with me, I’d turn his DNA over to the cops.”
Ronan shook his head in disbelief and took several steps away from me. I hated the way he was looking at me…like he didn’t know who I was. He was quiet for an unnaturally long time before he spoke again.
“Is this what she would have wanted, Hawke?” Ronan asked quietly. “Justice at the cost of an innocent man and his child?”
I snapped at the mention of Matty. “What she would have wanted, Ronan?” I shouted. “She would have wanted to raise our son!”
Ronan stilled, but before he could say anything I barreled on. “What about what I want? Huh? A few days, Ronan. A few days away from his kid! A kid he gets to come back to, a kid he gets to watch grow up! What about my kid? My little boy?”
“Revay was pregnant?” Ronan asked gently.
I didn’t bother to answer because a cold, familiar feeling settled over me. I fought the urge to run my fingers over the burns that made my skin tingle uncomfortably.
I barely recognized my own voice when I said, “My kid’s rotting in a grave with his mother. Tate’s kid is safe and happy and God willing, will be healthy someday. I don’t get a someday, Ronan. All I have left to look forward to in this fucking thing I call a life is watching those men die. Tate is my only chance to finally end this!”
I snatched the towel off the bench and didn’t bother looking at Ronan again because I didn’t want to see what I knew would be in his eyes now instead of disappointment.
Pity.
Chapter Eight
Tate
“You heard?”
I looked up at Ronan as he came to a stop in front of me. When I’d heard Hawke striding towards me from the gym, I’d taken a few steps back into a darkened hallway. But as I’d heard Ronan’s footsteps approaching, I’d stepped out of my hiding spot.
I nodded.
“How much?”
“All of it,” I admitted. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” I added. “I wanted to get the release signed.”
“Sure,” Ronan responded, but he didn’t move away from me and at the moment, I didn’t care. Because all I could focus on were Hawke’s final words.
“Where’s Matty?”
“Still in the backyard,” I murmured. “He and Seth are throwing a ball for Bullet.”
I hadn’t been surprised that Matty would warm up to Seth as quickly as he had because there was something so innately kind about the young man, that it would have been impossible for anyone, man or child, not to gravitate towards him. When I’d asked Matty if he wanted to stay outside with Seth or come inside with me while I got the release form ready to send, he’d barely paid me any attention as he’d waved me off.
