a knife right through it would hurt less than the realization of what’s in front of me.
My baby... or his.
I drag my eyes back to my dad, who now sits forward in his chair, eyes taut and face pained.
“I’m sorry, son. I was hoping you were still simply my boys who would take my word as gold and let me make the move, then allow me to be here for you during the aftermath. I never wanted this to hang over your heads. This is not how it was supposed to be.”
“But this is what you planned when you brought her here.”
He hesitates, but only for a second before giving a curt nod.
“So why not take her straight to them?” I ask.
If he had, we wouldn’t know her as we do, wouldn’t care who she was or the reason behind any of this shit. It wouldn’t matter, Zoey wouldn’t be at risk. We wouldn’t be standing here cracking on the inside, facing decisions we could never make.
Acid lining my tongue as I say, “I wish you never dropped her here.”
“Maddoc!” Royce snaps. “The fuck, man?”
I ignore him. “What’s the reason behind all this? Why wasn’t she with Graven the second you found out she existed?”
“I was waiting, hoping Collins would find someone else and we’d be clear until the next generation came, worry about it then, bring her home without telling her who she was, watch out for her, offer her a place here, but then...” He trails off, looking toward Captain.
I follow his line of sight, finding Cap staring right at him.
“But then Zoey was born,” Cap rasps. “The first female Brayshaw in decades, or so they would have thought.”
“Yes, son,” our dad whispers. “Everything changed in that moment.”
“Tell me the fucking truth,” Cap speaks, but his words don’t match the defeat in his tone. “Did you do this? Did you have a hand in Mallory giving her away, hiding her from me? Are you the reason I almost lost my daughter completely?”
My head snaps toward our dad.
“No, son.” He shakes his head slowly. “I knew nothing about her until you hired our men to watch out for her. As soon as I learned, I brought in Maria. I made sure she was the one who would care for her. I knew she was the only person whom I could trust with my granddaughter, if not us or Maybell.”
Cap shoots to his feet. “Maria Vega, you know her? She’s good? She’s... she’s safe?”
“You had her checked out, have had her watched. You know this, Captain,” he tells him.
Cap slams his palm against his desk, dipping into his face. “I know what I’m told. I don’t know the truth. We know better than anyone, anything could happen behind closed doors.”
“If you really believed that, son, you never would have put her back in her car.”
“Say it,” Captain demands.
He relents. “She is safe, loved, and will be very much missed by that woman once we bring her home.”
“And when will that be?” Cap pushes.
Our dad winces, his eyes hitting mine briefly and I drop my chin to my chest before meeting Cap’s stare.
This is why the decorator thought she’d be preparing the room across from Captain’s for Zoey – it would be empty for her.
“Madman,” Royce whispers and Cap’s eyes tighten.
“No...” he whispers, shaking his head, eyes pleading and completely fucking wrecked.
He loves her like I do. They both do.
I give a small nod, gut twisted and tight. “She can come home when Raven is delivered.”
No one speaks for several minutes, but it’s the loudest silence we’ve ever suffered.
Our dad is the first to break it.
“Do you understand now, why she must go? Why I had to bring her here now? Why I could no longer protect her by keeping her away?” our dad asks.
Royce scoffs. “Man, don’t start with the protecting her bullshit. If you really cared, you’d have sent someone there to guard her.”
“You think I didn’t try?” He narrows his eyes. “I sent many people, but Raven trusted no one, no matter what role I tried to place them in her life.”
“’Cause she’s fucking smart,” he throws back. “Still could have had someone making sure she was fucking fed, something—”
“She had that Gio guy,” Cap interrupts. “I’m bettin’ he didn’t end up with the Riveras by accident. Why not set him up there, have him pull her in more?”
“I thought about it, though I’m not sure it would have even worked.”
“Why?” I ask.
“For one, he was her friend,