Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 170(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 170(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
I’m giving her to you to protect. Even if I run with her, she’ll be in danger. From Dustin’s associates. Maybe even Dustin himself. Despite this rocky beginning, she deserves a happy, safe life. The kind of life I can’t give her now. Please give it to her, however you see fit.
You told me the last time we spoke you had no ill will toward me and that if I needed anything for the baby to tell you. I’m taking you at your word and coming to you with this now. You’re the only person I believe can keep her safe. From the people Dustin works for. From Dustin. From me.
I’ll never ask you for anything again and I’ll never come back and try to take her from you. Once this has passed, if I’m still alive, I’d like to talk with you. To see how she’s doing. If it’s too much for you to have a daughter on your own and you didn’t think it best to give her to social services, I’ll be happy to be her mother once again, but only if that’s your wish.
Please be what she needs since I can’t.
I’m so sorry, Virgil.
Pepper.
“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?” I crumpled the paper in my fist, anger washing through me. “What the shit’s goin’ on?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out. Starting with Church.” Sting raised his voice, calling out to two of our best trackers. “Walker. Shooter. Need the two of you to scout the area. Lookin’ for the woman who left the kid outside the gate. Doubt she’s gotten far. Find her. Bring her here.”
“You sure she’s even still in the area, Prez?” Shooter’s voice was quiet as he asked the question. “Might have dropped the kid and split.”
I immediately answered, not even having to think about it. “No. She’d never leave her kid unattended out in the open like that. She was watching from a distance. Close enough she could intervene if she needed to.”
Sting gave me a hard look. “You sure? Any woman who gives a baby away --”
“I’m fuckin’ sure.” My anger was spiking. This was such horseshit! “Pepper ain’t that kinda woman. That little girl was her entire world from the moment she found out she’d gotten knocked up. She’s got a good fuckin’ reason for what she’s doin’.”
“Good.” Sting nodded at Walker and Shooter. “Men, go hunting.”
The two men acknowledged Sting with a nod. Walker gently unwrapped the blanket from around the little girl and stepped outside. Glancing out the window, I saw him hold the blanket down to Dog so she could catch the scents it held. He was there for long moments before handing the blanket to a prospect to bring back to Iris. Then they were on the move. Walker’s dogs might not be bred for hunting people, but he’d trained a couple of them for search and rescue. Shooter was a sniper. His talents in hunting were just as good as Walker’s, and the man had a very keen eye for detail.
Fuck. My mind was a frenzy of activity. Several things stuck out to me while reading that fucking letter. First and foremost, Pepper was in trouble. She’d been my younger brother’s girl, but she was way the fuck too good, sweet, and innocent for him. I hadn’t objected to my brother being with Pepper so much as I’d objected to her being with him.
Second, there was no way she did anything to put that child in danger. It wasn’t in her makeup, no matter what had happened in her life. Not without a real fuckin’ good reason, and even then, it would mean the baby was in more danger with any other alternative.
Third, my brother was a piece of fucking shit. Always had been. Any trouble he’d gotten into at work was likely of his own making.
And lastly, Pepper knew me through her brother. I’d only had any direct contact with her a very few times, including that conversation she’d referred to in her letter which had taken place right after I brought her home from the hospital after having Cassandra. She didn’t really know me. For Pepper to leave her child in the hands of a virtual stranger meant she was so far in over her head she was desperate. Which meant this was a life-or-death situation.
She might not know me well, but I made it my business to know everything about her. Why? Because she was mine. Only reason I’d backed off and stepped away was because I wanted her happy. If Dustin made her happy, I’d been willing to let her go. And make no mistake, it was the only reason I let her go. Now I knew he’d fucked it up. Just like I’d known he would. Somehow, he’d managed to take someone as precious and wonderful as Pepper and lead her to this situation, whatever it was. When I found the motherfucker, there was a very real possibility I was going to kill him.