A compassionate person would have seen a man who needed healing.

All I saw was an opportunity.

I didn’t realize I was charging until my father locked me in a chokehold. Sheldon stood in the corner appearing shocked and more than a little frightened. An accidental glance in the mirror next to the bed revealed just how savage and dangerous I must have appeared to her.

“Keep your head, son. He can’t hurt you.”

“But I can hurt him.”

What did this mean? Here lay Mitch, who barely looked able to walk much less kidnap or orchestrate a kidnapping.

“You’ve been keeping him here?” I roared. “You’re protecting this motherfucker?”

Sheldon’s gasp drew my gaze to her, but the sight of Mitch’s eyes open wide and staring at me stopped me.

“Oh, my God,” Sheldon cried. She bent over in half and used her arms to clutch at her stomach as she began to dry heave.

The primal desire to protect reared its misguided head, but I ignored my instincts and focused on the shit unraveling in front of me.

This situation had just graduated from bad to seriously fucked up. If Mitch didn’t have our daughter, then it could mean anyone with nothing to gain by keeping her alive was responsible.

The memory of the ransom note, even though it wasn’t much of one, was the only thing keeping me sane at this point. Kennedy had to still be alive. I just needed to figure out what the note meant.

“I’m not protecting him, but he is my brother. I didn’t have any other choice.”

“You always have a choice, John, or did you just forget he had my mother killed by his own son?”

“Believe me. I haven’t forgotten. I never forget. It’s all I can think about every minute of every day.”

“So how did you find him?”

“I didn’t. He came to me.”

“When?” I didn’t bother keeping the disgust from my voice. All the anger and hatred building quietly inside forced its way to the surface.

“About a year after you disappeared and Keiran left for college.”

“This is so fucked up.” I hadn’t realized I was pacing until I bumped into Sheldon. I peered down at her shivering form, but my heart was just as cold as my mood. “Move,” I barked down at her. Surprisingly, she moved without a word, but if looks could kill…

“Keenan, I need you to promise me one thing.”

“Are you serious? Why would I do that?”

“Because I’m asking you to. I know I have no right to ask you for anything, but I need you with me on this.”

“What?” I growled through my clenched teeth.

“Your brother. He, uh…” When John’s face paled, I knew. I fucking knew.

“Son of a bitch…” My gaze traveled back to Mitch, who continued to stare. “He doesn’t know he’s here, does he?”

“No, and if he ever finds out—”

“He’ll fucking slaughter this motherfucker.”

* * * * *

I promised John I wouldn’t tell Keiran where Mitch was, but what he didn’t know was that I had my own reasons. I’d finally found a way to get my pound of flesh from one Keiran Masters. I, like anyone, knew Mitch was the only demon Keiran had been unable to exorcise, and as long as he remained unfound, Keiran would never be able to lay those demons to rest.

Mitch would die soon anyway, and Keiran would be none the wiser. John would likely never tell Keiran of his part in keeping Mitch hidden for the last three years because Keiran wouldn’t see it as anything less than betrayal.

If I weren’t so set on a course for revenge fueled by hatred, I would have literally skipped from the facility.

After all Mitch had done, it was cancer that would kill him.

Even though the facility’s name indicated it was for cancer survivors, it also serviced patients who essentially came to die after every treatment and medical theory failed.

The ride back was filled with tension and silence. Sheldon and I had retreated into our own thoughts. She could have been a porcelain doll the way she sat all stiff and silent. Her eyes were trained forward as she stared mindlessly out the window.

“You need to stop sulking.”

What the fuck? Even to myself, I sounded like a heartless asshole, but it was too late to take it back. I decided to see where this would go.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re fucking sulking,” I repeated.

“This may be hard for you to grasp, but my three-year-old daughter has been missing for a week, and I just found out the only person who could have been a suspect had nothing to do with it. Mitch was a dream compared to the nightmare I’m living in at the moment.”

“I don’t think anything could possibly be worse than the unscrupulous greed of a man who once sold his own child for gambling money.”

“That didn’t help.”

“It wasn’t meant to.” I took the risk of taking my eyes off the road to face her. Her face was drawn tight and her fingernails dug into her jeans. I’d forgotten how good the pain of her nails digging into my back felt, but I promised myself I would have that feeling again soon.

“Keiran should have never brought you back.” She whispered it so low, had I not been playing close attention to her, I wouldn’t have heard it.

“No, he shouldn’t have, but he did, and I won’t be going anywhere, baby, so get used to me. I’m a different animal now… so don’t fuck with me.”

“What do you want from me?” Her voice had risen so high and unexpectedly that I swerved before quickly righting the car.

“I want you to tell me about her.”

“That’s it?” I could tell she wasn’t expecting my answer, and I didn’t miss the wariness in her voice. She had every need to be suspicious.

“For now.”

She was silent for a few heartbeats before finally asking, “What do you want to know?”

I blew out air in frustration because I really didn’t know. “Anything. What color are her eyes? What kind of food does she like? What’s her favorite color?”

“Well… she has my eyes and your hair. She likes anything that is covered in ice cream… even meat.” I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t fight the smile similar to the one Sheldon currently wore as she spoke about Kennedy.

“Her favorite color is blue. She hates anything to do with pink. She’s obsessed with the Ninja Turtles. Michelangelo is her favorite.”

“Did you teach her that?”

“What?”

“To like Mikey?”

“I know he’s your favorite, but no, I didn’t teach her about any of them. She naturally gravitated to him. I tried to get her into Dora, but she hates it.”

“That’s my girl.”

Sheldon stiffened at my statement, but I shrugged it off. The more she spoke of Kennedy, who I noticed she affectionately called Ken, the more I realized how alike my daughter and I was.

The realization further cemented Sheldon’s future. I could almost taste the pain I would cause her. My fingers gripped the steering wheel, the leather creaking under my hands as I imagined it was her throat.

My cock also stirred to life thinking about the moment I could begin to make her pay. I would make her pay more times than one before I ended it all.

“Keenan?” she called, breaking me from my fantasies.

“Yeah?”

“I have to find her soon. Kennedy’s condition is too delicate. I don’t know what they will do if she—” Sheldon choked on her words, and when she started to cry, my tension kicked into high gear.

“What do you mean? What condition?”

She took a deep breath, which seemed to calm her before continuing. “Since she was two, she’s suffered from seizures. The doctors haven’t been able to find a cause since she’s never suffered a brain injury.”

“Epilepsy?” When she nodded, I brought my fist down on the dash, cracking the surface and pressed down on the gas, speeding all the way back to Six Forks.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

VICK

“BOSS, THE CAR took off.”