Page 61 of Hawk
“No girl is better off without her mother, but I understand why you felt you needed to stay away.” He paused before he asked, “When are you meeting with her?”
“This afternoon.”
“So, she knows you’re here?”
I shook my head. “I wanted to see you first.”
“Why?” he asked.
I gave him a smirk, speaking from my heart. “I needed to know if I had to take care of you to keep her safe.”
“Have you made your mind up?”
I lifted one shoulder. “Not yet.”
Standing, he walked around the table and picked up a remote. Looking over his shoulder at me, he asked, “Can I show you something?”
“Go ahead,” I replied, waiting for him to do something stupid.
Shock filled me when he pressed a button and the wall of monitors behind me turned on. I swiveled in my chair and looked on as Devlin began to explain. The monitors seemed to show different places, each casting small boxes around people’s faces before moving to another. I didn’t understand what I was looking at.
“I created Callahan Cyber Security to become legitimate. I never wanted to be like Papa, and even though I’ve made decisions that resulted in death, I’ve never killed anyone without a justifiable reason. I wanted to take what I learned from the man he sold me to and turn it into something good. For the last decade, I’ve looked for and found people who were hurt, lost, and victimized. I grew the company to help more people and tapped into every resource I had to locate people in need of help.”
I turned my head when his voice grew closer and saw he was sitting in the chair next to me. He could have overpowered me and taken my weapon, but he didn’t even try. Maybe Colton was telling me the truth.
I looked back at the monitors as they began to change with each press of the button. “These are some of the people I reunited with their loved ones.” Pictures of missing posters and police reports showed on split screens with images of the people smiling. Free.
“You find lost people and bring them home.”
“And sometimes, I punish the people who took them.” He stopped speaking for a minute while the screens continued to change, showing a different person he’d rescued. His voice was soft when he spoke again. “When my wife, Elise, was sixteen, I found out her adoptive parents were abusing her. On the night I saved her, I discovered something horrible was taking place with other girls, and it took almost nine years for me to make it all right. In the end, at least five women were saved, eight pedophiles were dead, and the trail led us to Hailey.” His hand came down softly onto my shoulder as tears fell from my eyes. “Everything I’ve done has been to right the wrongs of our family. And every time I looked for someone, I was looking for you too. I lost you, and I’ve tried every day to bring you home to your family.”
I lowered my head and felt the weight of his words lift some of the pain from my shoulders. I wasn’t forgotten. I wasn’t thrown away. I was lost, and now, because of all the different connections, I was found.
“I’m . . . I’m . . .”
“Can I give my baby sister a hug?” he asked, and I turned the chair to see his blue eyes filled with tears.
I nodded, and he took the gun from me and placed it on the table before pulling me into a deep hug. I sobbed into his shoulder and felt like a piece of shit for thinking the worst about him. He wasn’t like Papa, and neither was I. I couldn’t say the same about Lucian, but that could be dealt with later, as long as he stayed away from me and my family.
“I’m sorry,” I cried as he rubbed his hand down my back. “I’m so sorry.”
“Shh, little angel. You’re home now and no one will ever hurt you again,” he promised, and I believed him.
He always called me ‘little angel’ when we were kids, and it felt good to have a part of the old us back, like before our father damaged us. Devlin released me and wiped under my eyes, removing the tears from my cheeks as I smiled at him through a watery gaze.
“I really am sorry I pointed a gun at you. And I feel bad about the way I was with . . . your brother,” I said with regret.
“He’s your brother now too.” I didn’t know how to respond, so I didn’t.
“I guess I should apologize to him.” I chuckled, and Devlin smiled at me.
“He’s used to it. Can I get you anything?”
“I don’t want to be any more of a bother than I’ve already been. And I can’t be away for much longer. Zeus needs me,” I explained, and he tilted his head and gave me a look of confusion. “Zeus is my dog and he’s asleep in my car downstairs. I don’t want to keep him cooped up for too long.”
“Can I walk down with you to get him? Then we can come upstairs so you can meet my wife and son. Elise has been wanting to meet you for years.”
“Really?” I asked, confused why anyone would want to meet me. I’m nothing special.
