Page 58 of Kade

“Back here.” Kade moved out of Javier’s face and stepped aside.

Jeremy burst in, followed by a small horde of officers. He surveyed the kitchen and turned curious eyes to Kade. “Where’s Tomás?”

“According to our friend here, Tomás got trapped in the basement. Once the fire spread, there was no getting him out.”

Jeremy stared hard at Kade, and he stared right back, unblinking. Conner stood beside his brother, daring Jeremy to question their recounting of events.

“Is that true?” Jeremy moved his attention to Javier, his hazel eyes troubled.

“Sí, señor.”Javier took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Tomás tried to get out through his escape route. I was to stay here and make sure our men got out before you stormed the house. I don’t know how the fire started, but Tomás, he said the door was blocked, and the flames, they got him before he could get out. It was so fast. I’ve never seen fire spread like that.”

Jeremy didn’t buy it. Kade knew he didn’t, but there was no evidence to say that wasn’t what happened. When Jeremy nodded and officers took Javier into custody, a sense of relief spread through him. Only one thought remained.

“Now where the fuck are my wife and kid?”

***

Angel stumbled out of the tunnel into the night air. She wasn’t sure how late it was, but it was dark enough she could barely make out the path that led to the road. No moon lit the way, and she gripped her son’s hand tightly.

“Okay, baby boy, we’re out. We just need to get to the road.”

He didn’t say anything, just held onto her hand as tight as his little fingers could. She wanted to fling the knife from his hand, but Angel also knew he might need it if they ran into any of Tomás’s goons.

She stuck to the shelter of the trees and moved slowly, careful of the rocky terrain. She heard the beach but didn’t move toward it. She needed the road, not the sand. They walked for another ten minutes before she spotted the road.

“Okay, we’re almost there.” Angel crept toward the road, gun in one hand and her son’s in the other.Please God, don’t make me shoot anyone tonight.

“Where’s the damn exit?”

She knew that voice. Dropping the gun, she picked up Mateo and ran. She spotted Kade a second before he saw her. He rushed her, and the moment she fell into his arms, all the pain and fear fled. Kade was here. He’d keep her and Mateo safe.

“Are either of you hurt?” He pushed her back so he could look over her and their son. “Conner, call the fucking ambulance over here. I want them checked out.”

“No, we’re fine.” Angel reached up and pulled his head to hers, needing to taste him after everything she’d been through tonight. She needed him like the air around her to make all the bad memories go away.

When she let him up for air, she smiled down at their little boy. “Mateo, this your papa.”

Kade didn’t know what to feel when those cat eyes shined up at him with curiosity. His face was small, but he was definitely a Kincaid. It was in the stubborn tilt of his jaw and the fierce protectiveness he saw in the way the boy clutched the knife. Conner told him he’d told the boy to protect his mother, and he was still doing that.

“Hi.”

Kade saw the smile break out on Angel’s face. He knew what she was thinking of. That day on the beach when he’d found her lounging with her friends. He’d said it then, and now their son was saying it in the exact same confident swagger he had that day.

Kade cupped the little boy’s face and felt the prickle of tears. “Hi, yourself. I’m so happy to finally meet you.”

Mateo reached up and brushed the tears away that were slowly falling down his cheeks as Kade stared into the face of the child he’d grieved over for almost seven years.

“¿Por qué estás llorando?”

“He’s asking why you’re crying,” Conner informed him. Kade didn’t speak Spanish. Something he’d start remedying today. “Mateo understands English, but he can’t speak it so well yet.”

“I’m crying because I’m happy. I thought you were gone, and now you’re here, safe and sound. No one is going to take you away from me or your mama ever again.”

“Even Juan?” Kade wanted to get his hands around Juan’s throat when he saw the dead look that entered his son’s eyes.

“What did I tell you about Juan?” Conner came over and tousled the kid’s hair.

“He would die.”

---