Chapter 17 David
DAVID
David was kissing Eve behind his cabin, and for the first time in almost three decades, he felt like maybe, just maybe, he could have something normal. Something good. Something that wasn’t about running and hiding and hunting ghosts.
Her lips were soft against his, her hands tangled in his hair, and—
“Aunt Eve! Aunt Eve!”
Lila’s voice shattered the moment.
David and Eve drew apart, both breathless.
Eve looked dazed, her lips swollen from kissing, her eyes soft in a way that made David’s chest ache.
“Aunt Eve!” Lila yelled again, closer now.
Eve turned, and Lila came stomping around the corner of the cabin, Brian right behind her.
Lila shoved something at David, her face flushed with anger.
“What is this?” she demanded.
“Lila!” Eve hissed, clearly shocked by the rudeness. He glanced at Brian, whose eyes were narrowed and pinned on David. “I’m talking to you...”
David took the object Lila had shoved at him, his fingers closing around it automatically. Anger flickered through him.
She’d been in his room. Rifling through his things.
Before he could say anything, lights filtered up the driveway, cutting through the trees. They were bright and blinding.
“Company!” Milly’s voice rang out from the front of the cabin. “It’s the kid!”
David’s eyebrows shot up.
The kid was here? He knew not to come here tonight.
He stepped around Lila, still holding the item that had been shoved angrily at him, and headed toward the driveway.
If the kid was here, breaking protocol, there was only one reason.
Trouble.
“Don’t just walk away from me!” Lila yelled, stomping after him.
“Lila, what on earth is going on?” Eve’s voice came from behind, confused and concerned.
Lila ignored her, rushing after David.
Dan and Milly appeared from around the side of the cabin, moving toward the driveway. Brian followed Lila.
David stopped at the edge of the cleared area as the car’s engine switched off. But the headlights stayed on, glaring bright enough to make him lift his hand to shield his eyes.
A figure stepped out of the driver’s side, silhouetted as a shadow against the lights.
“I’m sorry I had to break protocol,” the kid’s voice was tight.
“What are you doing here?” Eve, Lila, and Brian said almost in unison, recognition clear in their voices that they knew the driver.
David barely heard them.
His heart was pounding too loudly in his ears.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
He took a step forward, then another, moving closer to the car. Trying to see past the glare of the headlights.
Eve moved up beside him, Lila right behind her with Brian tagging along. Dan and Milly flanked them.
The passenger door opened.
A figure stepped out.
“What is going on?” A soft voice echoed across the space between them. “Is this where I’m supposed to be safe?” Her voice…
David’s breath caught in his throat as his heart seemed to stop. In fact, it felt as if the entire world suddenly stopped spinning. The figure moved forward, stepping out of the headlights’ direct glare.
David’s chest heaved, and then he felt like it had caved in. Like someone had reached inside and squeezed until he couldn’t breathe.
No. It couldn’t be!
He took another step forward without realizing it. Had to see. Had to—
She stepped fully into the softer light spilling from the cabin windows.
Their eyes met.
The world disappeared.
Those eyes. Green-gold. Framed by dark lashes. Wide with confusion and something else. Something that mirrored what was tearing through him.
That face. The curve of her cheek. The set of her jaw. The way her lips parted slightly as she stared back at him.
David suddenly couldn’t move. He couldn’t do anything but stare as twenty-eight years collapsed into nothing.
He was drowning. Drowning in recognition and disbelief, and something so huge and overwhelming he couldn’t name it.
His fingers went numb, and the item he was holding tumbled unnoticed from his hand.
Mia
Mia stepped out of the car, her legs shaky, her mind reeling from everything Nolan had said. He was taking her to a safe place. Not a cabin in the woods. Mia had seen movies that started like this. This felt more like a horror movie than a safe house, and who were all those people?
The headlights behind her were too bright, making it hard to see. She could make out figures ahead. Several people. Hear voices, overlapping, confused.
She moved forward, away from the blinding glare, squinting.
“What is going on?” Her own voice sounded strange in her ears. “Is this where I’m supposed to be safe?”
A man stepped forward out of the group of people. Two more steps. Then stopped.
Something slammed into Mia’s chest. Hard and sudden.
Her breath caught.
She couldn’t look away from him.
He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with dark hair threaded with silver. His face was half in shadow, half illuminated by the lights from the cabin behind him.
Why was her heart racing?
Why couldn’t she breathe?
Why did looking at him make her chest ache like something inside was breaking?
She’d never seen this man before in her life.
But those eyes. Even in the dim light, she could see them. The way he was staring at her.
Like he’d seen a ghost.
Like the world had ended.
Like—
Everything inside her screamed that she KNEW—
No.
That was impossible.
Impossible.
But her hands were shaking. Her throat was closing up. And she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his face.
From his eyes.
From the way he was looking at her like she was—
Like she was—
Then the world sped up, sound and motion crashing back in all at once.
“Mom?” Lila’s voice was high and scared.
Then her daughter’s arms were around her, nearly knocking her off balance.
“Lila,” Mia gasped, holding her daughter tight, but her eyes wouldn’t leave the man’s face.
He hadn’t moved. Hadn’t spoken. He was staring at her with an expression that made her want to run and scream and—
There was a sound of something hitting the ground.
A woman’s sharp intake of breath.
“David, you dropped...” Eve’s voice, somewhere to her left.
“Eve?” Mia was confused. Had Nolan somehow brought them here as well?
Mia saw Eve bend down, still partially blocking her view of the man. When Eve straightened, she was holding something. Her face had gone pale. Her hand was shaking as she stared at whatever she’d picked up.
“What is this?” Eve’s voice was barely above a whisper. She looked up at the man. “David?”
David? The name echoed through Mia’s head like someone had hit a gong near her ear.
Eve held the item out to him, but he didn’t move. Didn’t even seem to see it. He just stood staring at Mia as if he was transfixed.
Eve took a step closer, pushing the item toward him. “David, what is this?”
When he still didn’t respond, Eve turned, her eyes finding Mia’s. She moved forward, closing the distance, and Mia instinctively let go of Lila to reach for whatever Eve was holding.
It was a photograph. In a simple wooden frame.
Mia’s vision blurred as she looked down at it.
What was this? Her hand trembled as she held the frame.
Her head shot up, and her eyes met his again. “Who are you?” Her voice came out harsh, scared. “And why do you have a photo of my mother and me?”
Everyone had moved closer now. Lila beside her. Eve a step away. Brian and two other people she didn’t know formed a semicircle. And the man called David was standing directly across from her. He still hadn’t moved or said a word.
His face was pale with shock, and his eyes were exploding with a mixture of pain and guilt.
David
Shockwaves resounded through him when he saw Lila rush forward and cry, Mom.
Mom? That was Mia? Lila’s mother and the woman Eve called her niece?
His mind reeled, and his ears roared. He hadn’t even realized he’d dropped one of his most treasured possessions. He hardly heard Eve demand to know what was going on.
He’d barely heard Mia’s question, which now hung in the air as David stood rooted to the spot, staring at the woman in front of him, wondering if he was dreaming.
“Answer me!” Mia growled. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears, and her voice was hoarse with barely contained emotion. “Why do you have a photo of my mother and me?
When David finally found his voice, the words came from somewhere deep. From a place that had been locked away for twenty-eight years. “That’s a picture of my late wife, Nancy, and my daughter, Morgan.”
Mia
The world fractured.
Nancy.
Morgan.
The names crashed into her like physical blows.
“No.” The word tore from her throat. Tears filled her eyes, spilling over. Her chest heaved. She shook her head violently. “No. You’re a liar.” Her finger jabbed at the glass. “This is Mary Gray-Duncan and her daughter Mia Duncan.”
“No,” David said. His voice was low and hoarse. His eyes never left hers. “It’s Nancy and Morgan. My late wife and daughter.”
“No,” Mia yelled, her voice breaking.
Her hand moved without conscious thought. Reaching up. Pulling the chain and yanking the locket hanging from it free from beneath the top of her dress. The ruby caught the light and glinted like a star.
“I have the pendant on.” Her voice shook. “The same one around the little girl’s neck in this photo. See?” She held it up, her hand trembling so badly the locket swayed on its chain.
And as she said it, as she held up the proof—
Everything shattered.
The wall inside her mind that had held for twenty-eight years cracked.
Then exploded through her brain, memories crashing in like a flood.
Her mind reeled with images. One in particular rushed to the front. It was of a pink bike. The park. Circle Pond. There were trees. A path. Tyson is running beside her, his massive body keeping pace. Then terror shot through her as a man lunged from the trees.
Tyson’s bark turned vicious.
Her bike hit something, and suddenly she was flying through the air, screaming.
Daddy. Daddy! As she hit the water. She was choking and panicking, then strong arms pulled her free, pulling her close.
“I’ve got you, baby. You’re safe, my little Morgan. I’ve got you.”
That voice. Deep. Low. Hoarse.
Daddy.
The word echoed through her like thunder.
Daddy.
Her vision swam. Her knees buckled slightly.
She locked them. Forced herself to stand.
Forced herself to look at the man across from her.
At David.
At his eyes. The exact color she’d forgotten but somehow always remembered every time she looked in the mirror or at Lila.
Her eyes traveled over the breadth of his shoulders. The way his hands hung at his side like he wanted to reach for her but didn’t dare.
She looked at the face, she suddenly remembered from a thousand bedtimes and birthday mornings and afternoons at the pond and—
No.
This couldn’t be real.
Her father was gone. Had left them. Had disappeared.
But he was standing right in front of her.
Staring at her like she was the most precious thing in the world.
Like he’d been waiting twenty-eight years for this moment.
Like she was—
“Morgan,” she whispered. The name felt foreign on her tongue. Wrong. But also—
Also right.
Morgan. Listen to me, my little love. Daddy has to go away. But I will always be with you. This… this is my heart. Wear it always, my little angel, because it will keep you safe. I love you so much, my Morgan, always remember that.
Tears streamed down her cheeks unchecked as the memories kept coming. Her whole body trembled with emotion as she stared at the man in front of her. A stranger who wasn’t a stranger at all.
And she didn’t know if she wanted to run to him or run away.
“Morgan!” The word tore from David’s throat as his eyes misted.
“Daddy!” Mia sobbed. The next instance, she was swept into strong arms, and she collapsed against his chest, sobbing as they both sank to the ground, clinging to each other.