Page 87 of Fate

“You never owe family. Get here fast. Dice is on Misty’s trail, but I need to be out there.”

“What happened? How did she escape?”

“Fucking bitch went out the bathroom window. We were quiet, man. Didn’t think she noticed us following her, but she must have. Dice took the back door of the rundown house she was renting, and I took the front. We broke in at the same time. I went straight to the room where I knew Cora was sleeping, and he went to Misty’s bedroom. During that time she slipped out the bathroom window, and she was smoke, man. Just fucking gone. Not sure how she pulled it off, but I look forward to findingout.”

“Jesus. I’m just glad you got Cora. I’m on myway.”

“Good. Out,” Eli says and hangsup.

I toss the cell phone on the shelf, pull out a pair of underwear and jeans, and put them on. I tell Kathleen everything. She agrees to stay home, knowing it is safer for her to be here than travel to Sin City and be anywhere near where Misty is hiding. Eli has Cora now, so who knows what the crazy lunatic is planning. I can’t believe she’d left our daughter behind when two unknown men had broken in. I thought she loved her more thanthat.

I finish getting dressed, grab my keys, call Chase to set up the pilot, and kiss my woman. I am off. I cannot wait a minute longer to hold my daughter. Kathleen had prepared a diaper bag with diapers, snacks, and clothes. She’d thought of everything. Even though Misty had cleared the house of the essentials, Kathleen had been steadily replacing everything. I think it kept her mind off the fact that Cora was gone. True to her word though, she always believed Elijah would bring her back. Thank fucking Christ for Kathleen. I know I am going to need her more than ever now that we’d be bringing home my daughter.

“Dah Dah!”Cora cries out, reaching for me the second her blue eyes meet mine. Her toothy smile is plastered on her face, and her eyes are alight with excitement.

I pull my girl against my chest and nuzzle her neck, her soft curls tickling my nose and chin. “Baby girl. My God, I’ve missed you.” Her baby-powder-and-lotion scent hits my nose, and I inhale it deep within my body and soul. A piece of my heart opens and fills with such joy, I’m not sure I can contain the sissy-assed response overwhelming me. I power through and blink away tears as intense emotion crawls up my throat. Instead, I just hug her harder and swallow it down. I’ll give in to it later once I’ve had a chance to process everything.

Cora smacks me on the cheeks, and I pull back to take herin.

“Dah Dah,” she says and lays a sloppy, openmouthed kiss right on my lips. I do not give a flying fuck. I kiss her back over and over until she giggles. Once I have my fill, she starts pointing behind me. “Eeeee.” She’s pointing her chubby finger atEli.

“That’s right, baby. He’s UncleE.”

The huge man smirks while putting on his shoulder holster, adding his weapons, and covering it all with a worn leather jacket.

“Get her home. Tell Maria I’ll call her when I can, yeah?”

I nod. “Yeah. I’ll call her from the plane. Eli, I…”

“Not a word. I know what this means. And one day, there will come a time when I call in a favor in return. Cool?”

It has to be said, Eli is the epitome of cool. It makes sense why Maria hero-worships the guy. He is one. And I finally got to experience a dose of it myself. Now Maria and I have something in common. Forever. Eli saved my daughter and is going after her crazy mother so we can put her behind bars. Yeah, he’s a goddamnedhero.

“We’re cool,” I finally say, getting my emotions under control and putting out myhand.

Eli shakes it hard, using his other arm to grip my shoulder and give a squeeze of what could only be considered camaraderie. Then he lifts a large hand, places it on my daughter’s head, and ruffles her blond curls. The word “Spicy” is tatted in blue ink running from the top of his wrist and ending in a loop of the “Y” at his index finger.

“Spicy?”

He glances down at his tattoo and grins. “Maria’s the spiciest thing I’ve ever tasted. Need a reminder of my wife when I’m out on the job. Something easy to see so I always know what kind of fire I’ve got to come hometo.”

I nod, realizing how deep this man’s emotions run. He may be a wall of muscle, with tatted-up arms and a scary growl—so different from his twin brother Tommy, who we lost three years ago—but he loves with intensity. Maria got herself the rightman.

“Bye, munchkin. Uncle E’s got work to do. Good times, girl,” he says and then turns and heads out thedoor.

“Eeeeeeeee,” Cora cries out and waves herhand.

He turns, grins at my girl, and winks. “Get herhome.”

“Will do. Besafe.”

“Always am, man. Got something important to come home to.” He grins and lifts two fingers in a quickwave.

“Yes, yes, you do,” I mumble, holding my girl close. “Let’s get you home, babygirl.”

Once I getCora settled on the plane and asleep on the couch next to me, I pull out my phone, planning to call Kathleen. But my phone rings in my hand from an unknown number.

Before I can say hello, someone is rattling off in my ear. “Dude, do you have your daughter?” says a voice sounding like a young teen’s.

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