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I look around at the stunning flowers. I can’t tell if they make her feel better or worse.

I’m desperate to make Tess feel better, even though I know in the end, nothing in the world could. “I don’t think he hates it here.”

She pulls in a big breath and looks out to her son and mine. “He does. It’s okay. I get it and so does Hank. Heck, it took a long time for us not to hate it here. What I do hate is that Micah carries that guilt. He won’t let it go. He changed after that. His whole trajectory shifted. He gave up his football dreams for the DEA.”

“He saved me.” This gets her attention, like I’ve pulled her out of a dark place. “He saved me and Chase. He’s very good at what he does.”

A sad smile touches her lips. “Don’t get me wrong, Evie. We’re proud of him. He could work up at the corner store, and we’d be proud. Because whatever he does, he does completely. This life wasn’t for him, and that’s okay. All I ever wanted was for my kids to be happy and productive members of this big, bad world and find a way to make it better.”

My emotions get the best of me. I didn’t think I could fall harder for Micah Emmett, but learning this piece of his puzzle does it. He loves his family deeply.

“He’s amazing,” I say on a whisper.

“He is,” she agrees unequivocally. “We’ve always known that. But he’s back—really back. And that’s a new development. Hank and I might be old, but we’re not blind. It took about two minutes to see that it’s all you.”

The side-by-side fires up, and we both look out. Chase is sitting on Micah’s lap steering.

And he’s doing a horrible job of it.

Chase veers toward a tree, and I let out a little yelp.

But I should have known better.

Micah grabs the wheel and wraps my son up in his arm of steel.

From the sounds of laughter we hear from both of them, they’re just fine.

“Yeah, my son is back. I’m sorry to say, it might not have to do only with you, Evie. That little guy has a way of forcing you to the light whether you want to be there or not.”

Tears pool in my eyes, and I don’t look at the woman next to me or try to make her feel better, no matter how happy I am for her and Hank that they see a little bit of their son that they lost so long ago.

I’m allowing myself a moment to be selfish.

Because I’m happy for me.

I haven’t felt this way in a long time.

* * *

Micah

“We can’t stay here forever,”I say in a low voice as I make my way upstairs. “The private jet goes wheels up the day after tomorrow. Evie wants to get back to her patients, and Chase starts school in a few weeks. I need to get back to Miami. The guilt is wearing on me that I’m not carrying my own weight on my own case.”

“Teddy Koening.”

I stop in the hallway before I hit the stairs. “Who’s that?”

“Your guy, Micah. The number one you were looking for. We got him coming out of a house tonight. We’ve got facial recognition on him. He was processed when he was eighteen for some shit vandalism charge. Now we just need to follow him. But he’s the one.”

I look through the back of the house into the dark night. “You’re sure?”

“Yep. We triangulated the area and found his phone. The wire should be live by tonight. Tim rushed it through with the judge. Give me another day to confirm, but I’m as sure as I’ve ever been.”

That says a lot.

I exhale. “Now I really need to get back.”

“Take it easy,” Brax says. “I’ve got you covered until the baby comes. That said, if my daughter doesn’t make an appearance soon, her mom might go crazy. Landyn made me clean behind the refrigerator last night, and it hasn’t even sat there for two months. Ask me how many times I’ve ever cleaned behind a refrigerator.”

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