“When?”
“Tonight. Helicopter to Asheville in the this evening, meetings during the day tomorrow, back by evening.” He glances at something off-screen. “It’s just twenty-four hours, Parker. The boys can stay with Evelyn and Maria and Sienna. They’re safe here.”
I hesitate. Twenty-four hours away from Noah and Liam. Twenty-four hours leaving them after they were just traumatized.
“Parker?” Cal’s voice pulls me back. “You don’t have to. If you’re not comfortable leaving the boys?—”
“No, I—” I take a breath. “I want to. I want to be there.”
His smile is tired but genuine. “Good. We’ll send coordinates and timing to Marcus.”
“Okay.”
“Parker.” His voice softens. “We really do miss you and the boys. We’re so close to having everything.”
“Everything,” I agree quietly.
“I have to go. Jace is giving me the hurry-up look.” The camera shifts again slightly, and I hear Silas’s voice in the background saying something I can’t quite make out. “I’ll text you details. See you soon, angel.”
The call ends.
I stare at my phone for a long moment, my heart still racing, relief and anticipation warring in my chest.
They’re okay. Ryan and Aria are gone. This is over.
Mom appears beside me, settling back into her chair. “Good news?”
“They found them,” I say. “Ryan and Aria. It’s over.”
“Thank God.” She reaches over, squeezing my hand. “And?”
“And Charles is sending them to Asheville tonight for a territory meeting and he wants me there.” I look at her. “Is that—is it okay if I go? Just for a day? The boys?—”
“The boys will be fine with me and Maria and Sienna,” she says firmly. “Parker, you need this. You need to see them, talk to them, figure out what comes next. We’ve got the boys. Go.”
I nod, pulling up my texts to message Sienna.
The guys said Charles is sending them to Asheville for the mountain territory thing?
Her response comes almost immediately.
Yeah, quarterly check-in. Routine but important. Sometimes they send a team for the bigger territories—shows respect. Are you going?
They asked me to come along.
Good! You should see how those meetings work. When?
This evening. We’ should be back tomorrow night.
Perfect. We’ll handle the boys. They’ll have fun with their cousins. You go do what you need to do.
I set down my phone, looking out at the ocean where I can see Noah, Liam, Jimmy, and Lottie playing in the distance. Maria and Sienna are with them, supervising, laughing at something one of the kids said.
They’re safe. Happy. Protected.
Cal’s right. We’re so close to having everything I was terrified of losing, but I’m not afraid of losing this. Us. Our weird family.
Am I smiling?
