Page 149 of Here and Now
Seems her putting it in a pot said it all.
She didn’t want that, she couldn’t give me more than just a small space to grow, and she outgrew the container we were in.
I kick the rocks in the back, watching them scatter around, hating how they mirror my thoughts.
Each memory that replays causes another tear at my soul. I let myself love her, telling myself that even if this happened, I would be grateful for the time we had.
She warned me. She told me that one day this eventuality would come and she’d have to choose Kai’s safety over her own wants and needs. Even knowing that, I can’t give her up.
I need to find her. I promised I would never stop searching, and I won’t.
Exhaling deeply, I look back at that tree in a pot, symbolic in so many ways.
Then my phone rings and I see Lachlan’s name.
“Hello?”
“I think I found her brother.”
“I’m on my way.”
Time to get some answers and find Penelope.
thirty-one
Miles
Lachlan insisted on riding with me to Virginia Beach. His father has connections within a SEAL team, and he reached out, gathering some information and calling us back to say that he thought he knew who Quinn was.
According to him, there is a Quinn Walker that might be Quinn Miller who works for a security company run by all former SEALs, with offices in California and Virginia. He is married and has a son, and Lachlan thought it could be him based on the other name I gave him—Liam.
Lachlan clears his throat as I stare out the window, counting trees. “You know we’ll find her, right?”
I nod. “I just don’t know in what state. If someone took her ...”
“Don’t go there. We’ll find Quinn, somehow, someway. If the guy my father found isn’t her brother, then maybe he knows of him. I thought Penelope’s last name was Walker?”
“That’s what she told me,” I say, and my voice sounds dead, even to me.
“Maybe there’s an explanation?”
“There is.”
She would’ve had to change her name several times to keep on the run. Penelope’s brother wouldn’t take any chances.
We go over a bridge-tunnel and come out on the other side of thewater, where there are large ships and more military members in a square mile than anywhere in the world.
“We’ll be at the security company location in about ten minutes. Do you have a plan?”
“Yes, find Quinn and find out where the fuck Penelope went, and then I bring her home to me.”
“That’s definitely one way,” Lachlan says and keeps driving.
We weave through the streets and pull up to what looks like an old factory. The brick building is inconspicuous and appears to be vacant.
“You’re sure it’s this one?” I ask with disbelief.
“Yeah, this is what my dad said.”
