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Silence.

This was exactly what he needed to get his mind to settle down.

He took another sip of his drink before setting it on the table next to him. When he leaned his head back, he closed his eyes and reflected on the day.

Life had gone fairly easy for him over the last few years. Business was great. He’d made some powerful connections having a few politicians and cops on his payroll. He also had more money than he could spend in a lifetime.

But over the last month, business had been kicking his ass. It wasn’t all bad, but it was getting harder to keep up.

Sure, after gliding through life, it was probably his turn to experience some chaos. That was the best way he could describe all that had been going on lately. He lifted his glass for another sip but stopped when his phone rang again.

When he didn’t pick it up, it signaled that he had a text message.

It could be important, he thought and stood to grab it from the coffee table. When he saw he’d missed several calls, a voice message, and a text from Elder, he called him back.

“Man, where the hell have you been?” Elder barked. “I’ve been trying to reach you.”

“I’ve been busy,” he said returning to his recliner. “What’s so important?”

“We have Parker Wilcox. We got him over an hour ago.”

“Okayyy,” Wolf said slowly. “Exactly what do you mean youhavehim? What have you done?”

“We snatched him up,” Elder said. “I have him in an abandoned warehouse, bound, and—”

“Have you lost your damn mind?” Wolf roared. “You kidnapped some guy who youthinklooks like mydeadson? At least tell me you idiots had your faces covered.”

Silence filled the line, and Wolf wanted to throw his glass across the room. Elder was smarter than this. Or at least he should’ve been, but apparently not.

“By your silence I’m assuming that’s ano. So let me make sure I have this right.” Wolf stood and started pacing. “You flew to Atlanta because of afeelingthat some guy was Junior. You snatch him off the street and tied him up so you could question him.

“What’s the plan for when you find out he’s not Junior? I shouldn’t have ever agreed to any of this nonsense. What are you going to do with him, seeing that he can identify you stupid jerks? What? You’re planning to kill an innocent man? We don’t need this type of bullshit right now!”

“It’s him,” Elder shouted. “I’m telling you he’s alive.”

“But he isn’t! You stupid—”

“Be careful, man,” Elder growled. “I just told your ass that your son is alive. Listen. To. Me. Junior is alive.”

Wolf stopped in the middle of the floor. His mind was going a million miles a minute as he tried to process what he was hearing.

“He’s alive,” Elder said again.

Wolf staggered and gripped the arm of the chair before sitting back down, shock radiating through his body. “How’s that possible?”

“I don’t know, but I think it has something to do with Luis. After you and I talked, I called him and Shred, but I only heard back from Shred. He said that night, he left Junior’sdeadbody with Luis for him to take care of.”

“What?” Wolf growled.

“Yeah, he said he got sick and was throwing up, and Luis told him to go home. That Junior was a lightweight, and that he’d be able to lift him into the incinerator. He said he’d handle it. Shred assumed he did.”

“But he wasn’t dead,” Wolf said more to himself, shocked by that revelation. “It’s been over fifteen years. If Shred is telling the truth, Luis had to know Junior was…is…alive.”

“Yeah, if only we could find him. He’s not answering his phone, and no one has seen him today. Also, no one is at his house. It’s like he’s disappeared. But we’re going to have to think about that later. I need to know what you want me to do about Junior. At some point, people around here are going to start looking for him. How do you want to handle this?”

Wolf stood and placed his hand on his chest. His heart was beating so hard, like it was trying to leap from his body. Still shocked, he tried to wrap his brain around the news. He believed Elder, but he wouldn’t fully believe him until he was able to look this Parker Wilcox in the eyes.

“Don’t touch him,” he said and headed down the hallway to his bedroom. “He’s mine.”

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