I pulled up her number on my phone and dialed. I scaled the stairs, taking them two at a time, back to the second floor as it rang.
And rang.
And rang.
“She’s not here,” I told Jinx as I made a beeline for my office.
My heart was in my throat as fear clutched me.
I opened the door and saw it sitting on the desk.
“Shit,” I groaned.
The DNA test with Laikyn’s name on it was on the desk, the gold key still in the drawer’s lock.
“Son of a bitch!”
A soft knock sounded on my door. I turned to find Jinx standing there, his laptop in hand. He turned it so I could see the screen. He had one of the video cameras pulled up. He tapped a key, and it started to play. It showed Laikyn sitting at my desk, grinning as she went through my drawers. It was innocent enough. Right up until she found those keys.
“I should’ve taken the fucking keys. Goddammit.”
I didn’t need to see the rest. It was obvious by that single sheet of paper that had been left out for me to find that she knew what I’d done.
My phone buzzed.
— She’s at the house.
“Let’s go.”
The drive to the house took far too much time. Traffic was a bitch, as usual. Not to mention, the universe was out to fuck with me. No doubt, by the time we got there, Laikyn would be gone.
“How can you be so fucking calm?” I asked Jinx.
His head slowly turned, and I cut my gaze to him. Okay. So maybe he wasn’t calm. He merely wasn’t fidgeting.
“I know. It’s my fucking fault. I should’ve told her already.”
We had this exact conversation on Friday night after we got Laikyn to bed. Jinx and I sat outside for the longest time, talking—well, I talked, he texted—about how we wanted to handle this thing with her. We had agreed it was time to tell her the truth about her father. Jinx wanted to break it to her gently so we stood a chance of getting her to listen to reason.
So much for gently. I royally fucked this one up all on my own.
By the time we got to the house, I was sweating, and it wasn’t even hot. My breaths were labored, and my adrenaline was flooding my system.
Please don’t let her be gone.
I didn’t bother with the garage, parking the car in front of the house and following Jinx inside.
I came to an abrupt stop when I saw what he was looking at. Laikyn was sitting on the ground by the pool, her arms wrapped around Waldo. As soon as he heard us, he turned, and she sat up. She spared us only a glance before she turned away.
I approached slowly, Jinx right beside me. “Laikyn?”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Hear what?” It was a stupid question, but I needed to know where her head was at.
“I saw it. I knew you had an ulterior motive. I knew it, but I tried to convince myself it would be something silly. You’re both just like everyone else in my life. Always out to manipulate me.”
“If you’ll let me explain.”
