Page 95 of Declan's Dove

I run through everything that’s happened over the last few days, leaving out some of the intimate details, of course. By the time I’m finished, I’m crying and Mili is silent, looking somewhat horrified.

“What? What is it?” I sniffle.

“Halloway is a creep to every female in the hospital. He was on Kayce’s list of possibilities,” she says. “But he’s not the one Kayce was really interested in. It’s the CPS worker—McBride.”

I swallow hard as goosebumps spread along my skin. “Why? What did McBride do?”

“I don’t know for sure, only that Kayce wants him.” She must read the horror on my face because she pauses to stare at me. “What is it, Vi?”

“He’s the one who took Carter from the hospital. Vincenzo said he took Carter to a transition house.” The words spill out and my heart clenches.

“Shit,” Mili hisses.

“Tell me.”

“Kayce couldn’t find the proof, but it was rumored that McBride funnels troubled children to the trafficking ring, but Kayce could never find the link. His bank accounts were clean. He shows no record of being involved. But somehow, he was on Kayce’s radar.”

“But if he’s not being paid, how would anyone track things back to him?”

“It’s one of the reasons I took the job at Oakridge hospital,” she says. “Kayce asked me to take the job temporarily and help him investigate the supposed rumor. If McBride is involved in the ring, he must be getting paid somehow. And if he’s not, then why were there rumors and who’s starting them?”

“So, wait. Kayce sent you to Oakridge on an assignment?” I ask, not understanding. “You didn’t want to take this job or move here?”

“I wanted both, but I was hesitant. When Kayce told me what he needed me to do and why, I came up here for a fill-in position that was only supposed to be a couple of months.” She shrugs. “The directors liked me. I liked the environment and the town, minus a few controlling Italians, well one in particular. But they offered me the job, and I took it.” Mili sucks in a deep breath, staring at the ceiling before she says, “It was in that hospital I learned about the shipment Kayce intercepted in Baron’s Edge.”

“What?” I whisper shout. “Jesus, I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone or something. How did this all connect you to here? And what does any of this have to do with my son?”

“Look, I know this is a lot. I’ve been working with Kayce for a long time to try to help these people. It was only in the last two years that the trail led to Oakridge,” Mili explains. She adjusts herself, tucking her legs up under her butt and sitting back down. “Kayce knew there was a group of bikers involved. Originally, when he found the link between the dead driver from West Enterprises and your friend’s MC, he thought it was them. But after learning the man killed was trying to save his own daughter and working with Vincenzo, Kayce ruled them out.”

“Skyler,” I whisper. “George was her father. Vincenzo was hiding her, keeping her safe from something in her past.”

“After the story broke on the news about you being stabbed at the fight and then a couple of bikers from the Devil’s Order MC were mysteriously found dead in the woods not too long afterward, Kayce started digging into their club.” Mili sighs, her eyes full of trepidation and fear. “They’re bad people, Vi. Like the worst of the worst. They have their hands in everything. Drugs. Human trafficking. Gambling. You name it.”

“They discovered Kayce was looking into them.” Her eyes glass over. Pleading with me to understand and suddenly I do.

“They’re the ones who sent the message that night. The ones who hurt you.” Emilia nods. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

“I did,” she admits. “I also knew if I called Kayce, they could link him to me and everything we’ve been working so hard to do would fall apart.”

“Shit,” I hiss, standing and pacing the floor. “You called me instead, because you knew I would go to Vincenzo for help. Son of a bitch!” Gripping my hair, I continue to pace, anger and frustration building inside me. “If I hadn’t gone to help you. If I hadn’t left my son with Declan, or gone to the cabin to meet Kayce, I never would’ve?—”

I can’t finish that thought because I don’t regret what’s happened between me and Declan. I want the life he’s promised me and Carter. I want the club to be our found family. I can’t say I regret opening myself to love and being loved. But at what cost? “If you had been honest with me from the start, I would’ve told Declan, and we could’ve taken better precautions with Carter’s safety.”

“No.” Vincenzo’s stern voice scares the shit out of me, and I jump. “Carter’s trip to the hospital was an unavoidable accident. The animal got spooked, nothing more. There was no reason to inform you of the rest because it didn’t concern you. It still doesn’t. Carter will be home safe soon enough according to my sources, and then you can go back to your club life with your biker and leave the rest to me and Kayce as it was always meant to be.”

“And what about Mili? What is she going to do now that her clinic is closed and she can’t go back to work at the hospital? What happens to her now that all the plans have backfired for her?”

Mili doesn’t speak. She lowers her head, not making eye contact with either of us. It’s strange to see my courageous friend cowering.

“Emilia will be fine. We have spoken about her future here in Oakridge. She will do what’s necessary and I will ensure her safety.”

What the hell does that mean?

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Declan

After a long, sleepless night in the jail cell, I’m in no mood for anyone’s bullshit. I need coffee and to find my woman.

---