“We won’t tear up your land,” King promised.
Maggie closed her eyes and nodded, knowing we didn’t have a choice. Her little brother was out there too.
King pulled out his phone and started dividing people into groups. “The old ladies will stay here at the house with Maggie,Kat, and the kids in case Frankie and Nox come back on their own.”
Kat looked like she wanted to argue, but Sam put a hand on her shoulder. “We need someone here when they come back,” she said gently.
King continued barking orders, dividing up his men into quadrants. He looked at the others. “The rest of you, fan out on foot. Check every building, every shed, anywhere two kids might hide. Move out.”
“Come on, Derek, you’re with me,” Jack said, slapping a hand on my back.
Kat looked at me, panic showing in her eyes. “I’ll find her,” I promised, placing my hands on her shoulders. “I told you I’d burn the fucking world down for you both.” I kissed the top of her head and climbed into my truck with Jack in the passenger seat.
We headed toward the western tree line; the orchard stretched out in neat rows for what felt like miles. Beyond that was wild land, overgrown fields stretching flat and endless, places a couple of kids could hide for days if they wanted to.
We rode in silence for the first twenty minutes, scanning the landscape, calling out Frankie and Nox’s names.
Nothing.
“We need to talk,” Jack said, his voice cutting through the rumble of the engine as we drove across the flat landscape.
“We’re supposed to be looking for—”
“We can talk and look at the same time.” His jaw was set. “It’s time to come clean, Derek.”
I stared at him. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You need to tell them who you are,” Jack said. “That you’re Frankie’s biological father.”
My chest tightened. “I didn’t think you knew,” I said defensively. “You didn’t say anything.”
“I knew the moment they stepped into the clubhouse with Slyce,” Jack admitted, his voice hard. “As soon as we found out Kat and Frankie were in hiding, Sam and I hired Slyce to find her.”
The truck swerved slightly as I jerked the wheel. “You what?”
“We hired Slyce to—”
“I fucking heard you!” My hands gripped the steering wheel so tight my knuckles went white. “You had no right. No fucking right to go behind my back like that.”
“You told me you didn’t want to know!” Jack shot back.
“So you just decided to—”
“Yeah, I fucking did. I want my fucking family, Derek; the one I was denied for thirty fucking years. That means you and your daughter.” Jack turned in his seat to face me fully. “You think I didn’t see it? Every time someone mentioned kids, every time Charlie climbed up into your lap, every time you were reminded you had a kid out there, you think I didn’t see you flinch?”
I said nothing, my jaw locked tight.
“You wanted to know,” Jack continued, his voice dropping but losing none of its intensity. “You were desperate to know. But you were too fucking scared to admit it, even to yourself. So you hid behind that‘I don’t want to know’bullshit and pretended it was noble.”
“I was protecting her.”
“From what? From you?” Jack shook his head. “You’re not him, Derek.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.” Jack’s voice was firm. “Because I know you. I’ve watched you fight like hell to be better, to control your anger. You’re not that guy anymore. You’ve changed.”
“Have I?” I looked down at my hands clutching the steering wheel, still bruised from beating Zero. “Because it doesn’t feel like it.”
