“I do. Very much,” I confirm, needing him to know it.
“She’s asked me not to let you in.” He watches me closely.
I do my best not to flinch through the jab straight to my gut. “What?”
His eyes flick between mine. “I need to know that if I let you in there, you won’t run scared. When she finds your weak spots and strikes, and she will, you’re gonna be strong enough to handle it. That whatever you feel for her is enough to withstand her fear.”
I slump against the wall, exhausted and now feeling like someone just kicked me in the chest with a cleat.
He rubs a hand over his scruffy jaw. “I love her. She’s my daughter in every way that matters. But she’s pushed every button, tried every trick, and found every vulnerability to see how long I’d last. She was just waiting for me to give up. I never will.” His gaze pierces mine again. “I have to know that you won’t either.”
He pauses while I try to understand what he wants from me.
“Cole.” His tone is direct yet gentle. “You’re young and have your whole life ahead of you. What I’m asking might not be something you’re prepared to answer, but she’s mine, and I’ll do anything to protect her from ever being hurt again. If you walk away, I won’t think less of you, and if you need time, I respect that, but you’re gonna have to decide.”
I rub my temples, knowing I have no choice but to be completely honest. “I love her, but. . .I don’t know how to dothat when I’m not sure she’ll let me.” My shoulders fall with the weight of that simple truth. “She’s been hurt, but when I don’t understand all the places that pain runs through and how deep, I can’t redirect it or help fill the holes.”
His eyes scan my face, long and hard, then he joins me, pressing his back into the wall. “Son, there isn’t a place within her that hasn’t been tortured beyond recognition. That woman in there is a miracle. There’s no other reason why she’s still here, still fighting, breathing.”
My chest erupts with an ache so deep it roams to every part of my body.
His head falls against the wall, and his voice softens. “I vowed never to break her trust, but I might be gambling with the rest of her life.”
He clears his throat over the hushed tones of machines and voices settling around us. “She was found at the bottom of a public restroom trash can. Born and dumped just after her first breath. Her little body was tossed and left to fend for herself before she even learned how to cry. That little spirit, abandoned, rejected. Thrown away only to be crushed or incinerated on the way to the landfill. She was only someone’s mistake, meant to be erased.”
I stare at the wall, unable to even fathom what he said. He must know, giving me a minute.
“The anger I could carry for that one thing would be enough to destroy me, but that anger wouldn’t help her. I’ve seen enough to understand that people do horrific things, things you and I will never be able to comprehend out of fear. Out of pain and shame, or simply not knowing any better.”
I stare at him, wondering who this man is.
He lets out a long, slow, shaky breath, and I feel his anguish float in the stagnant air.
“Thatwas her beginning. From there, she moved from home to home, being used and abused in every way imaginable. Eventually, she ran away and was lured into a world that preys on the lost and unwanted. They claimed her, put a price tag on her, and sold her to anyone willing to pay.”
He pushes away from the wall, rolling his neck.
I take short, steady breaths to keep from bending at the waist and hurling the coffee I sipped this morning.
“I found her on a yacht, drugged and barely breathing. A party favor for the wealthy, waiting to be discarded or transported down the coast to be sold. She was only thirteen.”
My jaw clenches so tight my teeth grind, my fists aching to get to every single person who—
I close my eyes, unsure I can handle hearing anymore.
Tracker continues. “Hope and I took her in, but she ran over and over again, trying to get back to the only life she knew. The only thing she understood. Drugs that offered her an alternate universe to temporarily leave this life behind. Each time I’d find her, she’d fight me, do everything she could to get me to leave her there. To continue to rot until there was nothing left of her.”
I sense him attempting to breathe. “It wasn’t until I showed her that she could fight back and had the power to change what was happening that she found a purpose for all the pain. She fought and found a shred of value when her self-worth was nothing more than what someone would pay for her.”
He runs a hand over his face. “Now, she’ll do anything to save those just like her. There isn’t anyone in all my years as a SEAL, and since, who can do what she does. Government agencies far and wide know her and what she can do.” I sense a gentle tilt to his lips. “She sees what no one else does. She knows where these kids are and how to get them out. They trust her.”
He pauses, shaking his head. “But eventually, she’ll kill herself trying to prove her worthiness. I can’t stand to watch that, and I’ll still do anything to save her.”
Her story about rescuing the two girls and Tracker having to carry her out flashes through my mind. Her torn flesh. I feel her warm blood oozing through my fingers.
He turns toward me again. “I knew your dad.”
My gaze rises to his.
