Chapter 59 Saint
Saint
Iwas wiping down the bar when the door opened.
I didn’t look up right away. The Last Stand Tavern was quiet this early—just the low hum of the fridge, the smell of coffee, and the creak of old wood settling into the morning.
Then I felt it.
That strange, unmistakable awareness that someone important had just walked into my life again.
I looked up—and everything in me went still.
Laney.
The woman I’d spent one night with a year ago stood just inside the door, pale, tense—and holding a baby.
Our eyes locked.
For a second, neither of us moved.
Then she took a step forward, and I saw her hands were shaking.
“Laney…” I set the rag down slowly. “I’ve tried to find you.”
She didn’t answer.
She crossed the room in quick, uneven steps and stopped in front of me.
“Saint,” she said, her voice breaking. “This is Emmy.”
She shifted the baby slightly, and the baby girl looked up at me.
Gray eyes.
My eyes.
My chest went hollow.
“She’s your daughter.”
The world tilted.
Sound cut out. Thought vanished.
All I could see was the tiny human in her arms—her impossibly small fingers, the soft curve of her cheek—and those eyes watching me like she already knew me.
“I need you to keep her safe,” Laney whispered.
I blinked. “What?”
“Take her. Please.” She held Emmy out toward me. “I don’t have time. He’s close.”
“Laney—what are you talking about?”
She pressed the baby into my arms before I could argue.
The weight of her—warm, real—hit me straight in the chest.
“Trigger!” I called hoarsely. “Cover the bar.”
He looked up, saw what I was holding, and froze.
“I’ll explain later,” I said, already guiding Laney toward the back hallway. “Come on.”
I held Emmy gently in my arms and turned back to Laney. “Now. You’re going to tell me what’s going on.”
“There isn’t time.” Her eyes kept darting to the windows. To the door. “I have to disappear again.”
“Like hell you do.”
“Saint—please—”
“Who is ‘he’?”
She swallowed. “My father’s family.”
I stared at her. “What?”
“My father was Italian. He had a wife. A son.” Her voice trembled. “They hated my mother. They hated me. When my mother got sick, my father brought us to Italy. His family hated us. After mom died, he died two weeks later. My parents never married, because he had a wife.”
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.
“She told me to leave.” Laney’s hands clenched into fists. “His wife. She said if I didn’t disappear, I would. Then she said her son would finish it.”
“Her son,” I repeated. “Your stepbrother.”
“He’s not my brother,” she snapped. “His name is Marco. And he’s been looking for me.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve seen his people. More than once.” She shook her head. “They started showing up right after… after the night we were together.”
My stomach tightened.
“You think he wants to kill you,” I said slowly. “And take the baby.”
“Yes.”
I looked down at Emmy.
“No one is taking her from you,” I said flatly. “Or from me.”
Laney’s breath hitched. “You don’t understand how much power they have.”
“Then I need to talk to him.”
Her eyes went wide. “No! You can’t—”
“Laney,” I said firmly. “Until I know what’s really happening, you’re staying here. Both of you.”
She shook her head. “You don’t know what you’re inviting into your town.”
“I do,” I said. “And they’re not walking out with my daughter.”
That word felt right.
Mine.
She sagged a little, like the fight went out of her all at once.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked quietly. “About her.”
She looked away. “Because you left before I even woke up.”
“I had a job. Alaska. You were still in the shower. I left my information.”
“I know.”
Silence stretched between us.
“Laney,” I said, softer now. “You’re not alone anymore.”
Before she could answer, Wolf walked in.
“Who do we have here?”
“Wolf, this is Laney Rossi,” I said. “And this—” I looked down at the baby in my arms. “—is my daughter. Emmy.”
Laney lifted her chin. “Someone is hunting me. I need Saint to keep my baby safe.”
Wolf’s expression hardened.
“Then you’re in the right place,” he said.
I looked at Laney.
“You’re not running anymore,” I told her.
And somewhere far away, someone who thought he was the hunter was already too late.