Page 7 of Demon's Angel

“Kid got a dad?”

“Not that I know of,” I admit.

“Okay. I’ll do it now. Call you in a minute.”

He breaks the connection. I sit staring at the phone, willing him to ring back and tell me he was mistaken; there’s nothing wrong at all. I rap my fingers against the desk, then do it again. The waiting is driving me crazy, all concentration to resume my attack on the mountain of paperwork gone.

The phone rings.

“She’s given the kid up for a private adoption.”

“What the fuck? You gotta stop her.” This is not right.Private adoption?What checks has Violet made? Bad things can happen to kids palmed off onto a stranger. Anyone can pretend to be someone else nowadays. Adoption can mean a kid disappears, and not always with the right people.

“I told her I was the kid’s father. Woman didn’t want to draw attention or make a fuss. She wasn’t happy, but walked off and left him with me. She’s gone.”

The woman walked off? Believed Dan’s crazy story without evidence? Hell, he’s done right getting the kid away from her. Dan will deserve his fucking patch for pulling this off. Now my concern is getting Theo safe. “What transport have you got, Prospect?”

“Wills and I came in the truck.”

I think fast. “You bring the kid back to the compound. Any news on Violet?”

“Wills is following her. She’s heading for the parking lot. You want him to bring her back, too?”

I do, and tell him so. She’s got a fuckload of questions to answer.

“I’ll call him. Wills can drive her back in her car and we’ll get his bike later.” Dan’s voice is cold. “What kind of woman fuckin’ gives a baby up, Prez?”

I have no fucking idea. One thing I do know, unless it turns out there’s a fucking good reason, she’s not getting him back. I grow cold at the thought of how easily Dan got him away from the person taking him. If it had been legit, the woman would have put up a fight.

I end the call. Canon City’s about forty-five minutes from here. In three-quarters of an hour I’ll have a woman, who I’m fast starting to despise, in the compound, along with an innocent kid who it seems she intended to dump. All my promises to Nathan have flown out the window. What did either of us know about Violet? She was sixteen when Nathan died; in the years since she must have hardened and become a bitch. I recall the way she all but ignored her child when I’d met her a couple of days back; I shouldn’t have dismissed those warnings. It’s clear now: she wasn’t simply pleased he was asleep, she’d wanted nothing to do with him.

Thoughts tumble through my head. My mom was raped. My brother stepped up, married her, and brought me up as his own. No suggestion of abandoning me to an unknown fate. Violet? Christ, she dumps her kid, seeming not to care what the fuck will become of him.She hadn’t looked back.

Calm, Demon. Calm.Mo’s situation is probably very different. Violet’s got no man to support her. Maybe the kid’s dad died and she can’t cope. Much as I don’t know the woman Violet’s grown into, I don’t know her circumstances, or what could have driven her to do something so drastic.Or perhaps she’s just taking an easy way out.

Her kid is Nathan’s nephew. My promise to look after his sister must extend to her child.

That day when I met her? I should have acted on what I felt wasn’t right. At least I’ve got a chance to step up now. She can’t look after him? Then there’s a right way of going about it, and what Violet’s done today is definitely wrong.

Forty minutes now. I’ve got to make plans for the baby when he arrives. Someone will have to watch over him. The sweet butts? Hell, no. They wouldn’t have a clue what to do with a kid. Mo? Nah, not fair. She and Hellfire have paid their dues and are now getting their life back on track. They don’t need to have a little one in tow.

I open my office door and bellow, “Pal?”

“Prez?”

When he’s close enough for me to use a more normal voice, I ask, “Jayden around?”

“Yeah, she’s with Jeannie in the kitchen. Whadya need, Prez?”

“She helped with the kids in Tucson, didn’t she? Wants to work with kids?”

Pal looks surprised at the topic, but responds, “Yeah, she’s planning on being a nanny.”

“She know babies?” I ask hopefully.

“Prez,” Pal smirks, “you know what the Tucson chapter’s like. Can’t move for falling over the little rugrats. Yeah, Jay’s great with babies.”

Thank fuck.“Got a job for you and her, Pal.” I fill him in, my voice loud with anger.

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