Page 17 of Hidden While In Sight

In their one-sided text conversations, Diego could barely get a picture from the kid, much less any typed out words. He ragged him a little, curious, but Naz didn’t rise to the bait, so Diego left him alone to get back to work.

As he walked back out to the driveway, some of Diego’s tension eased. There was something about working with parts and pieces that fit together for a particular purpose that he enjoyed. Not that it brought him happiness. It was more like it gave his mind something concrete to focus on to keep it from racing.

But movement out of the corner of his eye made his hands slow.

Connor Ashford was a skinny child, his elbows poking out from where he clutched his knees and lowered his head into them. He shook with his back to one of the bushes along his family’s driveway.

Diego had never seen either of the kids outside alone, and he expected the nanny to come collect the little boy quickly enough.

He tried his best to ignore the child, who was silent in his sniffling. He knew well enough what regret looked like. Hannah’s son was still young. He’d probably end up with regret much worse than his current frustration over wasting the short time he had had with his loving mother. Some kids had to learn the hard way not to look a gift horse in the mouth. The rich kid may have had shitty parents, but at least he had a decent roof over his head. Nice clothes. Food. Things could be a lot worse.

Diego hadn’t been much older than the boy when he was already out on the streets.

The thought annoyed him enough to turn his head toward the kid. “Hey, you. You’re on my property.”

Connor froze, his hands tightening around his little stick legs before he lifted his head.

Diego considered sending the boy scampering home. He blew out a breath as the idea made his gut ache, and he focused on twisting a bolt on the bike loose instead. “This side of the bushes is mine. There’s a fee for staying here.”

The boy looked confused. “Fee?”

“Yeah. Ain’t nothing free. Get your ass over here. Know anything about tools?”

Connor’s arms loosened as he rose to his feet. His eyes widened as he looked at the tools, and his cheeks turned pink. His small fingers brushed against his pants as he moved closer. “C-can I touch them?”

Diego scooted out from under the bike enough to sit up. He held the wrench in his hand out to the boy. “Sure. Just remember, they’re mine.”

Connor nodded. The tool was a little too heavy for him and nearly dropped to the ground when Diego let go. At the boy’s continued interest, Diego motioned him toward the toolbox, naming the ones he would need to finish the bike repair.

“Your fee is handing me what I ask for. Think you can do that?”

Connor nodded again, with more animation this time.

“All right, boy. Hand me a screwdriver then.”

Ashford’s son wasn’t dumb, even if he was a little hesitant, and he remembered what was what. He didn’t talk while they worked, but a calm came over the kid that Diego recognized. It always helped to get your mind off your problems.

It wasn’t like the kid didn’t have any problems, no matter how rich he was.

The panicked call of the kid’s name came later than Diego expected, and in a different voice.

“Connor!” Hannah shouted from their driveway.

Her son’s face looked happy, then twisted into guilt.

As his mother shouted his name again, his eyes slanted to Diego’s.

Diego forced himself to tighten the bolt he was working on. “Better answer her,” he told the kid.

Connor scrambled to his feet, took a breath, and called for his mother. His cheeks turned red from saying it, as if he didn’t get to say ‘Mom’ very often.

Hannah rushed over, her face for once not carefully blank but full of worry. She pulled her son tightly against her legs. “Ms. Clemmon said you were missing. You can’t sneak off like that. It’s not safe.”

“Not like he went far,” Diego murmured.

Hannah stiffened, as if seeing him for the first time, and the worry faded from her face until it was back to blank.

Connor wriggled free from her hold and bolted for their house.

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