Page 26 of You're My Person - For Always

"You left," said Zane.

"I've been here..." Zora reached out and ran her hand along a flower bloom in the raised bed. "Twenty-five years."

Kingsley couldn't stop looking at her. His mother. A woman who'd left Gem Haven when he was four years old.

Never once had his dad mentioned she lived on the other side of the mountain.

Whenever he or Zane asked where their mother went, his dad got angry. It was easier to accept she wasn't coming back than it was to get answers out of their dad.

Zane stubbed out his cigarette on the thigh of his jeans and pocketed the butt. "I take it Dad knew you were here the whole time."

Kingsley inhaled swiftly. Of course, their dad knew. He was the one who put her in the cabin and gave her everything she needed to survive. She'd obviously made this place into a home. A home only half an hour from where her sons were raised and lived.

Zora stepped forward. "Ridge is the reason I'm here."

Zane held up his hand, stopping her from getting any closer. "Is there danger or not surrounding you?"

Zora frowned, swinging her hair over her shoulder. "I don't know what you mean. I've told Kingsley there is no reason to protect me or the cabin. I've only had a few people approach my home over the years and they were only curious. Hunters, I believe."

"Why the fuck would you stay here?" he blurted. "You left and never came back."

Zora flinched and wrapped her arms around her middle, cupping her elbows. "There's a lot you don't know."

"Fucking right," muttered Zane.

"I won't cause trouble for you. You don't even have to come here." Zora turned and hurried into the cabin, shutting the door behind her.

Kingsley stepped away, putting the cabin at his back. He wasn't sure how to feel. Once he had left his teen years, he never missed having his mom in his life, so having her near was more of a shock than anything.

"Let's get out of here." Zane strode toward the dirt bikes.

Kingsley looked over his shoulder at the cabin, but the door remained closed. There was still no recognition, only a weird sense that he'd seen her before. Now he knew why.

Chapter Twelve

Kenna

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Kenna lined up behind Kingsley. There were ten people, including two kids that looked as if they were around ten years old waiting to go into the visitor room at the prison.

Goosebumps broke out along her arms. She wished they'd let her keep the coat she'd worn on the trip to the prison. She hadn't expected it to be so cold and stark inside the building. If the normal prison holding cells were this depressing, she couldn't imagine what kind of life her dad had on death row.

Kingsley whispered, "They're opening the door. Just stay with me. Don't look at anyone but me, okay?"

It was hard not to gawk. She'd never been around hardened criminals before. When living in the group home, they were threatened with juvie every day. She had spent time in a detention center when a home wasn't available for her. But that place was nothing like an adult prison owned by the state.

She walked through the door. The odor hit her first. It smelled like unwashed bodies, mildew and...and Top Ramen. She swallowed hard but that only made her stomach turn.

Glued to Kingsley's side, she stared at the white and gray blocked linoleum. When he stopped, she lifted her gaze to him. He pulled out a chair. She sat down, afraid to look across the table. Afraid of seeing what prison does to a man.

She had no clue what Ridge Stafford looked like. All she could go by was the importance Kingsley put on his dad. He ran Gem Haven for his dad. He'd kept a secret from her for years for his dad.

That level of importance in his life meant she hated Ridge Stafford without even meeting him. But if he was the link to seeing her dad, she'd do whatever she needed to do to gain access to him.

"What the fuck are you thinking?" muttered a man.

She lifted her gaze. A big man with a shaved head and a bushy, long gray beard almost completely white aimed his dark eyes at her. Struck with fear, she froze.

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