My eyes snap back to Colt, and I breathe through my anger. "She's seventeen, you piece of shit.You fucking preyed on my little sister while I was locked up? While she was alone? What kind of goddamn animal?—"
"Legion." Destiny's voice cuts through my rage. "I'm eighteen now." I look at her, but my aim stays true on Colt's forehead. "Why do you think I waited until today to come find you?" she continues, bouncing the baby gently when she starts to fuss. "I'm legal now. That part of the drama is over."
Eighteen now…
It takes me a moment to understand what she's really saying.
Eighteen now…
Today is her birthday.
And I forgot.
I've been so wrapped up in Savannah, in the club, in my own shit that I didn't even remember my own sister's birthday.
Hell, I didn't even go look for her. Didn't even ride down to the damn truck stop and look around.
The weight of my failure sits heavy on my shoulders. I was supposed to protect her. Keep her safe. Instead, I went to prison and left her alone, and an Ashby—a fucking Ashby—stepped in to take my place.
I look at the baby again. My niece. Conceived while I was still inside, counting days on a cinder block wall.
I want to hate this child. Want to see her as proof of everything I couldn't prevent.
But she's just a baby. Innocent. Perfect little fingers curling against the blanket. A Kane by blood, no matter what her last name is.
And despite everything, despite the gun in my hand and the rage in my chest, I feel something protective unfurl inside me at the sight of her tiny face.
"Why'd you run, Des?" My voice is quieter now, but I keep the gun steady on Colt. "Why'd you just disappear?"
She glances at Colt before answering. "Cash found out. About the baby. About us." Her hand tightens on the blanket. "He came to the trailer one night when you were inside. Said some things."
"What things?" These words fall out as rage.
"That no Kane was gonna dilute Ashby blood. That he'd make sure I never kept it." Her eyes harden, and there's my sister again, buried beneath the sundress. "Said he'd take care of it personally."
My finger twitches against the trigger. Colt must notice because he raises his hands slightly higher. "I stepped in. Got her out?—"
"You got herout?" I am nothing but demons now. "You got herout? You piece of shit! You knocked herup. How fucking old—" I do some quick math. Seventeen minus three years inside equals… rage, that’s what it equals. "Fourteen,” I say. She wasfourteen when I went in." I'm growling now. "She was a child and you?—"
"Child," Destiny sneers. "Stop it. I haven't been a child since Mama died when I was eight. You left me.” She’s the one growlin’ now. “Forthem.” She nods her head at the men behind me.
Fuck.
"You did time for them, Legion. Time you didn't even owe. Time they stole, not just from you, but fromme."
"Shut up, Destiny."
"Shut up, Destiny," she mocks back. "No, Legion. I will not shut up."
"Can I just explain," Colt says.
"Fuck off," I snarl. "No one's talking to you, Colt."
But he doesn't fuck off, and Destiny—who has never been afraid of me a single moment of her entire life—takes over. "We met at the library," she says, bouncing the baby when she fusses. "I was looking through college catalogs online. Community college stuff. Thinking maybe..." She trails off, that dream already fading. "Colt was having a meeting with the librarians. Something about organizing a show for Eleanor's photographs and…"
Eleanor.
The name hits me like a fist to the face. Unexpected. Eleanor Ashby with her camera always pointed at me. From the time I was small enough to fit in the viewfinder, she was there. Watching. Documenting.
