14. Cormac #2
“You should have called me the second you found him missing!”
Kieran and Brennan are on their feet now too.
“And what? Have you sit on a six-hour flight thinking your son is missing? Fuck, no. I had it under control. But jeez, Cormac. I think I’ve reached my limit here. Your kid needs you.”
“I know?—”
“And I’m not talking about in a couple of weeks. I’m talking about right now.”
I let out a breath as I look around and catch Ronan’s eye, letting him see in my face that I’m going to have to leave yet again.
“I’ll be there before Scout wakes up.” I hang up the call. “I have to go.”
Kieran frowns. “What’s going on?”
“I need to take the next flight out to LAX.”
Ronan pulls out his phone. “I’ll ring ahead and get you a seat. Go, Cormac.”
I perch on the edge of Scout’s bed, feeling a mixture of anger and relief as I watch him sleep.
Not anger at him, but at myself.
He snuck out because of me. It was nothing more than a cry for help. And the fact that he made it home in one piece is, quite frankly, a miracle.
“Daddy?” Scout murmurs.
I shift my body so that I’m lying down beside him and reach out to push his dark hair out of his eyes.
“Hey, bud.”
Scout blinks a few times before realization dawns on his face. He bolts upright in bed and launches himself at me, almost knocking me off the bed.
“You’re here!”
“I sure am.” I laugh, wrapping my arms around him and hugging him as tight as I can without hurting him.
“I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Well, Ray said you were a bit upset.”
“I missed you.” He doesn’t meet my eyes, though he has guilt written all over his face.
I don’t want to make him feel bad, but he also needs to know that what he did can never happen again.
“I know, bud. But that doesn’t mean you can just take off like that. Ray was worried sick. And so was I.”
“I didn’t mean to worry you or Ray,” he mumbles.
“Well, what did you expect to happen when he found your bed empty?”
“I dunno…”
I exhale slowly as I reach out to cup Scout’s face, brushing away his tears with my thumbs.
“That can’t happen ever again, you hear me? Never.”
“Okay.”
“Do you promise me?”
“I promise.”
“Good. Now, how about some breakfast? I’m starving and in the mood for chocolate chip pancakes.”
The mention of chocolate within five minutes of waking up is enough to dry Scout’s tears. He practically drags me down the stairs and into the kitchen where Ray is sitting at the small round table, drinking a cup of black coffee.
“What do you say to Ray?” I whisper in Scout’s ear.
Scout hangs his head. “Sorry, Ray.”
Ray, despite his full sleeves of tattoos and shaved head, which sports a few scars from his glory days, instantly melts as Scout throws his arms around his neck.
Ray ruffles Scout’s hair. “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that, kid?”
“Yeah, I know.” Scout sighs, and I swallow a laugh.
He looks at Ray under his lashes. “Do you want some pancakes?”
“Is that code for ‘I want pancakes’?”
“Maybe…” Scout grins, and Ray reluctantly gets to his feet.
I don’t miss the way he winces as he shifts all of his weight to his left knee.
“I’ve got this.” I clap Ray on the shoulder.
He gives me a grateful nod before disappearing down the hall toward his room.
It’s only been a few weeks since I last saw him, but somehow, the man looks older.
I always knew I was going to have to bring Scout home eventually, but it seems like my timeline has just been moved up.
Scout pouts. “Do you really have to go back?”
It’s not much past noon, but I have to make a quick stop before I can head to the airport to catch my three o’clock flight.
As much as I would love to stay for a few days and gorge myself on pancakes and play endless games of Mario Kart, I need to get back to New York. Even a day away from the office will cause havoc, and the sooner I can get things set up for Scout to move over there, the better.
I crouch down in front of Scout. “Yeah, bud. I do.”
“But I don’t want you to go.” Tears well in his eyes.
“I know.”
“Then why can’t you stay?”
“Because I need to make sure your new room is going to be ready.”
The edges of Scout’s mouth pull down into a frown. “My room is ready.”
“I mean, your room in New York.”
It takes a second for Scout to register what I’m saying, but then his eyes instantly light up. “I get to come to New York?”
“At the end of the month.”
“Do you pinky swear that I get to come?”
I hold out my pinky finger, and Scout wraps his own around it.
“I pinky swear.”
I can hardly bear to look out of the window as I pull out of the drive.
Seeing Scout stand on the doorstep with tears rolling down his cheeks as he waves goodbye is pain unlike any other. But I just have to remind myself that it’s not for much longer.
Before I head to the airport, I make a quick detour to a local florist to pick up a bouquet of white roses. Even if I’m only here for twelve hours, I always make it a priority to stop by the cemetery to drop off some flowers at Nadia’s grave.
I kneel and lean the fresh bouquet against the stone.
The last ones I left a few weeks ago are already rotting, the petals curling and browning, a reminder that I am the only one who ever bothers to come.
Not that I’d expect anything else from her family, considering her father is the one who put her in the ground with his own hands.
Adrian Smirnov is one of the most ruthless bratva kingpins the world has ever known.
He killed his own daughter for betraying him, and I have no doubt he would do the same to her son if he ever had the chance.
Because of that, the truth of his mother’s identity is mine alone, and it will stay that way.
My fingers brush the smooth stone. “I’ll keep him safe. No matter what.”