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“Anyway, Simon and I argued, and I was shot in the back. Some of my men found me and took me to the hospital while the other half left with Simon. At the hospital, I found out they hit a vital nerve, and I wouldn’t be able to walk anymore.”
“Wow,” was all I could say after he told me the story. “I don’t even know what to say at this point.”
“Don’t say anything, buddy. And don’t feel sorry for me either. It was the least I deserved after what I did. No matter how much I tried to sugarcoat it, I was out there destroying families and setting them on fire. Including mine.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter that I didn’t know much of it. I was also hurting people. God, if I could do it all again….”
“Do you miss them?” I asked. “Your family?”
“Every day of my life,” he said. “And just when I got my daughter back, I managed to ruin that again.”
The meeting gave me a lot to think about. After it ended, I asked around and also found out that Beau had basically taken in the group of kids whose foster home had burned down, allowing them to stay at the compound rent-free. The woman who had taken me to see Beau could not say enough good things about him, and the kids all seemed to love him too. There was nothing fishy here or anything to suggest something seedy was going on. It left me with a conundrum. Beau and everyone else here might have been lying at that point, but I didn’t think so. Apart from the fact that I didn’t sense it, Beau had spoken with so much regret that it had been palpable, and Beau had been many things, but he had never been a good liar.
But then again, someone had definitely tried to attack Kayla, had been tracking her for some time, and it seemed personal.
Shit. Whatever it was, I had to figure it out soon before they struck again. There was a technique they taught us in recon called using the hare to trap the fox. Sometimes, the fastest way to lure our targets out was to use a captive—someone they wanted badly—and trap them that way. The quickest way to know for sure if Beau was the one after Kayla was to bring her here to see how they interacted. The minute I suggested it, though, Kayla looked at me like I was crazy.
“I’m not stepping foot in there,” she said adamantly. “What, are you insane?”
“Kay—”
“He sent men to attack me. To kill me.”
“I don’t think he did,” I explained. “Look, just trust me, okay?”
She hesitated, looking doubtful. I thought she would say no for the longest time, but finally, she nodded, throwing her hands up and giving in. “What the hell? I'm tired of this cat and mouse game too. Let’s get this over with.”
That was how I found myself driving to Mississippi for the second time that day.
Doubt plagued me the entire way there. Was I driving into a trap? We had left Hunter with Vinny and the bodyguards at home, not wanting to involve him at this stage, but perhaps I should have brought bodyguards with me. Either way, I didn’t think Beau would pull anything at the compound, not with so many kids there.
When I got there, the doubt cleared.
When Beau entered the room, he stared in shock at Kayla, and then his gaze swung to me. His mouth hung open for several minutes, his face stark with disbelief.
“Am I dreaming?” he whispered.
“No,” I said. “You’re not.”
He wheeled himself closer to us, his trembling hands showing his haste. And then, when he was close enough, he gestured at Kayla, who was staring at her father in surprise, to bend down.
When she did, he immediately pulled her into a hug. “You’re back,” he whispered. “You’re really back.”
