Chapter Four
Keegan
I ’ve imagined this day for so fucking long. But I didn’t think it’d happen like this. With Landry waltzing through the door carrying my baby in her arms. My baby. Christ, I have a kid. A perfect baby girl.
My heart already belongs to her. As soon as I looked into those tiny eyes, I fell in love with her. She looks just like Landry, but those eyes? Those are mine.
Landry’s words register, and a cold chill rips through me. “What did you just say?”
“My uncle sold me to an MC to settle his debts,” she repeats, trembling with fear. “I knew what they planned to do to me, so I ran before they could take me to their compound.”
“When was this?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah, it does,” I disagree, my eyes boring into her. She looks softer than she did in Colorado, and sweeter. Her hair is longer. Her breasts fuller. Her curves even more goddamn beautiful. I feel like an asshole for being turned on when the haunted look in her eyes is even more obvious than it was back then, but I can’t help it, either. She’s standing in front of me again, the way I’ve dreamed about every fucking day. “When, Landry?”
“T-two years ago,” she says. “Right before my nineteenth birthday.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
“You’ve been running for two years?”
She jerks her chin in a nod. “The day I met you, they found me. I planned to disappear in the crowd at the convention, but…”
“But I wouldn’t let you.” I squeeze my eyes closed, taking deep, even breaths as guilt slams into me. I was right about her running last year. Christ, I should have made her talk.
Maybe she would have been here with me if I had. Maybe she wouldn’t have gone through the pregnancy without me or given birth without me. How afraid was she when she realized she was completely on her own and pregnant with my kid? How scared has she been every day since then?
She’s so fucking strong, stronger than she realizes. She kept herself alive and protected our daughter, and she did it all alone. Grown men would have cracked, but not this delicate little flower. Not Landry. She just fucking did it.
“You didn’t know, Keegan.”
“They found you, didn’t they?” I ask, but I already know the answer. I need to hear it, though. Every damn detail. Maybe it’s guilt for not being there. Maybe it’s punishment for the other day, when I told Coby I met her in Silver Spoon Falls because I didn’t know how to fucking admit that I fell in love with someone whose name I didn’t even know. I don’t know. But if she lived it, I need to hear it.
She jerks her chin in a nod. “I went to get ice for my knee,” she whispers. “I heard them talking to one of the maids, asking about me. I was afraid they’d find us together if I stayed. I didn’t want them to hurt you. So I left you a note and r-ran.”
Realization dawns, making my stomach churn as bile crawls up my throat. “You let them catch you.”
She glances away, refusing to meet my gaze, but it’s confirmation enough. I rock back on my heels, my stomach in knots. Christ, she walked out of there, knowing they would catch her. And she did it to protect me.
I want to howl and rage at the thought, bend her over and spank her perfect ass until she promises never to do that again. All this fucking time, I’ve been pissed that she ran out on me. I’ve been hurt and moping, wondering if what I felt that day was one-sided. I’ve been worried, too, afraid that she was out there alone, still running, still skittish and afraid. And she was with those fuckers the entire time, trying to spare me.
After running for a year, she let them take her to save my life. I don’t even know how to begin processing that. How can I?
“What did they do to you?”
“Nothing.”
“Landry,” I growl.
Lily startles in my arms, letting out a soft wail.
I immediately pull her closer, cradling her tiny head in my hand as I lay her against my chest to rock her. She settles down instantly, burrowing into me like she knows I’m her daddy.
Jesus. I’m her daddy. I have a tiny, perfect daughter.
“How old is she?”
“Four months,” Landry whispers. “Her birthday is April 19 th . She was born at 2:08 in the afternoon.”
I swallow hard, clutching Lily a little tighter. I should have been there. It kills me that I wasn’t, that I didn’t even know her birthday or how old she is. I don’t know what she likes. Christ, I have so much to make up for with both of them.
“I managed to avoid being caught for a little while,” Landry says once Lily has calmed down again. “When I realized I was pregnant, I told them, hoping they’d s-spare me. But they wanted…” She shivers, her eyes wide and haunted as she wraps her arms around herself, almost like she’s trying to hold herself together. “One of their members and his old lady couldn’t have kids. They were going to t-take her from me once I gave birth.”
My hold on Lily tightens instinctively, fury churning through me. Hell will freeze over before they take our baby. I’ll kill every single one of the motherfuckers myself.
“Garrick kept me locked up so I couldn’t run, but no one hurt me. I think he was s-saving that for after…” She shivers again. “I escaped anyway. They weren’t taking our baby, Keegan. They’ll kill me before I let them take her.” Her eyes burn with conviction as the vow rolls from her lips.
And that worries the fuck out of me. Not because I don’t get it, I do. They’ll have to kill me, too, if they think they’re taking our daughter. But because she’s already risked everything to protect me. How much further will she go to protect Lily?
“I went back to Colorado to find you. I checked the tattoo shops, but no one could tell me anything.”
I’m not surprised. Aside from the Expo, I haven’t spent much time in Colorado. And I’d just accepted the job at Bleaker Street when we went to the Expo. She would have been shooting in the dark. And yet…she’s here now anyway.
“How’d you find me, sweetness?”
“The shirt I took,” she whispers. “I finally looked up the name of the shop at the library. There are only three shops in the United States with that name. When I found your website, I knew it was this one.” She meets my gaze, hers haunted. “You were right here all along.”
My brows furrow. “You were in Texas?”
She jerks her chin in a nod. “Outside of Dallas. It’s where the Sons of Loki, the MC, are, too.”
Jesus. She’s been in the same state this whole time, just hours away. She’s been in hell just a day’s drive away. And the goddamn Sons of Loki are the ones who dragged her there.
I’m familiar with them. It’s impossible to live in this state and not know who they are. The bastards are ruthless, violent pricks. They dabble in gun running, drug dealing, and human trafficking. If it’s illegal, they’ve got a hand in it. And they’re after my woman and our daughter.
“I t-thought you could t-take Lily, k-keep her safe.” More tears spill down Landry’s cheeks, the pain in her gaze threatening to break me wide open. “I know you don’t know her yet, but she n-needs you, Keegan. You have to keep her safe for me.”
Horror wells up from the depths of my soul.
“You plan to go back.”
“It’s the only way to keep them from finding her.”
Yeah, no. Fuck that. She isn’t going anywhere. They’ve already taken her from me once. They locked her up, terrorized her with the threat of taking our baby from her, and God only knows what else. They aren’t getting their hands on her again, not now or ever.
They aren’t getting Lily, either. That will never happen.
I don’t care what it takes, I’ll keep them both safe the way I should have a year ago. Anyone who comes for either of them will have to go through me.
But I can’t protect them alone. I need help.
“Come on,” I murmur, holding out my hand to her.
She eyes me nervously before slipping her hand into mine. And just like back then, I feel that touch all over, lighting me up like a livewire. It brings me back to life in a way I haven’t been since I woke up without her that day.
I pull her up against my side, pressing my nose to her hair. She still smells the same…still smells like mine. Christ, I’ve missed her. Every goddamn day, I’ve missed her.
For weeks, I barely ate. I barely slept. I spent every spare moment combing the internet, looking for any trace of her. I hired a private investigator to help me find her. Anything I could do to bring her back to me.
I didn’t care that we barely knew each other. I didn’t even fucking care that she gave me a fake name. I was pissed and missing her, and I just wanted her back in my arms. I wanted to know she was safe.
And the whole fucking time, she wasn’t. She was a prisoner, sold to an MC by her uncle. She needed me, and I wasn’t there. I failed her. I failed our daughter. And she still named her Lily, like the tattoo I inked into her skin, as if she wanted her to have some connection to me and the day we made her. That hurts in a way nothing ever has. She kept me close and held onto me, even when she was in hell.
Does she even realize that I fell for her that day? That I’ve been so fucking in love with her that nothing else has mattered?
Probably not, I decide, staring at her. I don’t think she’s ever known love. She’s known fear, survival, and pain, but never love.
I need to be careful with her and go slow, teach her how to let herself be loved the way she deserves…the way she’s always deserved. But she isn’t leaving again. Hell will freeze over before I let those motherfuckers get near her or our daughter.
“You’re safe now, Landry,” I murmur against her crown. “You and Lily are safe now, sweetness.”
She trembles against me, but she doesn’t say anything. I’m not sure if she believes me or not. But she will.