Page 133 of Hawk
His forehead was wrinkled, and I could tell he was trying to remember something. I tilted my head to the right and waited for whatever bullshit he was trying to invent to manifest. His eyes grew wide and he looked at Devlin then Colton. Colton’s hand gripped my dirty shirt, and he tugged me closer to him as Lucian spoke.
“How did I not know this before?” he asked and ran his hands through his hair as he paced a three-foot swath in front of me. “You were so close, and I never knew.” He approached me and took my shoulders into his hand, forcing the gun against his chest as he said, “I swear, I didn’t know. I would’ve taken you away from it all if I’d known.” Tears built in his eyes as he whispered, “I swear, I didn’t know.”
“Know what?” I asked with confusion in my voice.
“That Papa sold you to . . . him.” He didn’t say anyone’s name, but I knew that he knew.
I wanted to cry but refused to show weakness in front of anyone. “I survived, so you can let go of your guilt. What you need to explain is why you paid that cunt to keep Hailey hidden.”
“I explained this to Hailey when she first arrived. I didn’t know she was my niece.” I began to lower the gun. “I started looking for you the minute I got out of juvie, and it took years for me to get a trace on you. Melody, or whoever she was, said Hailey was her daughter, and I believed her. She said you disappeared, and I wanted to help. I swear to you, all I wanted to do was help.”
“He’s telling the truth,” I heard someone say, and I looked to see Hailey approaching the family drama.
“Melody was a skilled liar and she said you left one day, never to return, and that I belonged to her. Uncle Lucian only gave her money to make sure I was taken care of. He didn’t know what was happening.” She paused and lowered her voice. “No one did.”
“And what about the girl, Lucian?” I inquired. “I know what I saw.”
“And what you saw wasn’t what you thought it was. I swear to you, on Mama’s name, I never hurt anyone, especially that girl. All I wanted to do was save her.”
I scoffed and felt Colton lean closer to the back of my head. He whispered, “I think he’s telling the truth. Maybe you should hear him out before you make any rash decisions.”
“Please, Mom,” Hailey pleaded, and I exhaled some of the rage filling me.
“Let’s get some fresh air so you can think,” Colton offered, and I saw him glance at a worried Lucian.
He took my free hand into his, and we walked past Lucian and the dwindling group of Death Hounds as we walked to the rollup door. The cool night air was pleasant, and I inhaled and exhaled deeply as I kept the gun in my hand. I didn’t expect any danger, but I couldn’t give it up just yet.
“Do you think he’s telling the truth? That . . . that he didn’t . . . hurt that girl,” I asked, and Colton turned me to face him.
“I know I should’ve said something about him sooner, but you were so pissed about him that I couldn’t say anything. But I’ve spoken with him, and I think he’s telling the truth.” He took a long pause before he spoke again, allowing me the chance to decide if I believed my brother or not. “Do you remember telling me about your first night with . . . him?” I nodded. “I think what you saw was Lucian getting the torch passed to him. A torch he didn’t want and was trying to extinguish. I think, and I may be wrong, that he did what you saw only to keep her from a worse fate.”
“How can you be sure it’s not a lie just to save his own ass?”
“Devlin and James have been looking for the girl, so we can ask her when they find her. If she doesn’t back up his story, you can kill him then. But for now, let’s not hurt anyone until we know they deserve it,” Colton explained.
I hugged myself close to him, holding the gun against his spine as some of the tension seeped out of me. Today was exhausting, but we still needed to deal with his crazy ex-wife and whoever it was with her.
Stepping back, I looked up at him and said, “I killed a man to help Carla and me escape.”
“I’ll tell Devlin and his men can do clean-up, but I’m gonna need you to tell me where they had you hidden.”
“We were on Avenue J in the Flats. The front door was red with three little windows along the top,” I told him, and he leaned over to kiss me softly.
“I’m so proud of you, darlin’. You saved the kids, you saved yourself, and you saved a girl who was lost and alone.” He pecked my lips again and said, “You really are a badass.”
I smiled a little but didn’t feel like a badass. I felt like someone had kicked my ass and the adrenaline was starting to wear off. Colton glanced over his shoulder, and I knew he needed to speak with Devlin about what happened in that house. I didn’t want to get in trouble for what I’d done, but it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
“Go talk to Devlin. I’m going to sit out here for a few minutes. I need a little time to process everything.”
“Will you be okay?” he asked, and I raised his gun up so he could see I was armed. He nodded and turned to jog back into the clubhouse.
The picnic pavilion was about twenty feet away, so I walked over and took a seat on top of one of the tables. Leaning my forearms on my knees, I let my head hang down as the gun dangled between my legs. It would be a while before I didn’t carry one.
Flashes of the past kept popping into my head and I started to wonder if I had been mistaken about what I saw. There wasn’t any force when Lucian did what he did to that girl, so I questioned if I was remembering things wrong or if my own personal trauma played a role in my mistake.
I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on around me until I heard the click of the hammer. Lifting my eyes, I saw Araneta standing in front of me, pointing a snub-nosed .38 at me. She looked high as the moon, and her hand trembled as she pointed the gun at me.
Silently, I slipped the safety off the gun in my hand as I sat up, keeping the weapon hidden between my legs in the dark.
