Page 20 of Declan's Dove

I nod, standing to my full height. “Grab your things for the night, Carter. Whatever you’ll need for bed and a change of clothes for tomorrow. We’ll come back with a cage if it looks like you’ll be staying longer than tonight.”

He heads down the short hallway to his room. We hear him opening and closing drawers, doing as he was told.

I rip open the envelope and unfold the handwritten note.

Dear Declan,

I’m sorry to drop my problems in your lap, but I need your help. I need to leave town for a few days, and I need someone to watch over Carter for me while I’m gone. I would ask Skyler, but she has enough on her plate with her morning sickness and trying to keep Ethan from worrying over her.

I hope you don’t mind, but you were the only other person I knew I could trust to keep him. Carter trusts you. He looks up to you and the guys. If you could just keep him with you for a few days at your place and watch over him for me, I’d greatly appreciate it.

I’ve left a business card for a lawyer as well as the attached written consent for you to be his guardian in my absence. I’ll explain what I can when I return.

Please tell Carter I love him and take care of him. You told him once he was a little King, and the Kings take care of their own. I’m trusting you to keep your word and take care of him as if he was yours.

Thank you.

Love,

Violet

“What’s it say?” Ethan asks. I fold the letter and tuck it into my pocket.

“She had to leave town for a few days, and she’s made me his guardian in her absence.”

“You think she’s in trouble?” It’s not a question.

“I have no fucking clue, but she told the kid if she didn’t come to get him, I would. This letter grants me guardianship over the kid. She even left me a business card to her lawyer.”

“She planned this.” Ethan’s expression mirrors my own frustration. “Why? She wouldn’t just leave her kid unless she was afraid of something.”

“Or someone,” I suggest. “Call Hawk. Have him dig deeper into her alias. See if he can find anything else. Maybe he can comb through the footage of the outside apartment cameras with Wyatt. Whatever is going on, she doesn’t know if she’ll be back. It’s the only reason I can see for her to give me legal custody of him.”

“Why you? Why not Skyler?” Ethan asks, his hands raised when I scowl. “I just mean Skyler and Lilah have been helping keep an eye on Carter whenever Violet needed a sitter. It would make sense to ask us to keep him if she needed to go somewhere.”

He’s right. They would be the more likely choice.

“Something tells me Violet didn’t just need a sitter for the kid. She wants him protected.”

“We’d protect him,” Ethan says, sounding offended.

“I know you would, brother. Violet was terrified about her information getting out the night she had to go to the hospital after the fight in Devil’s Canyon. When they gave her some pain meds, she kept asking me to promise I’d keep Carter safe,” I confess. “I didn’t know what she was talking about. Thought maybe she was concerned about how he would take the news about her being accidentally stabbed. I’ve asked a few times since, but she always shuts me down.”

“You think the kid knows something?” Ethan tilts his head toward the bathroom door, where Carter has just disappeared. It sounds like he’s digging through the cabinets, letting the hinged doors slam as he does.

“I’m not sure what he knows. But I’m going to find out.” I pull my phone out and shoot off a text to Wyatt at Garrison.

Me: I need a sweep of the cameras in Violet’s building over the last twenty-four hours. Get Hawk to help you. Look for anyone suspicious coming or going. I also want to know when she left and if she’s been back.

Wyatt: On it.

Me: Can you check traffic cams and find out which way she went?

Wyatt: I’ll see what I can find.

Once I’m sure Wyatt will do as I asked, I text Gabe.

Me: Pres we may have a situation. Violet is missing.

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