Gone (Deadly Secrets #2)(76)

Alec focused on Charlene once more. “When you see him again, you’re going to call me. Do you understand?”

Charlene nodded quickly. “’Kay, I will. But he ain’t comin’ back here.”

“How do you know?”

She pursed her lips as if she’d just realized she’d said too much.

Tightening his fingers once more on her throat, Alec said, “Talk.”

“H-he said he was leavin’ town. Said th-things are too hot for him now.”

“Where? Where is he going?”

“I don’t know.”

“Charle—”

“North, okay? He said he was goin’ north. He stole Bobby’s truck across the street and split. That’s all I know. I swear it. I swear that’s all I know.”

Alec knew she was no longer lying. He’d lived with her long enough to know when she was working him, and the last few minutes there’d been no manipulation in her words, only fear.

He released her. She stumbled forward but quickly righted herself and lurched for the trailer. The door slammed in her wake, and a click sounded on her flimsy lock.

Anger vibrated in Alec’s veins as he stood in the silence, staring at the peeling metal siding, his mind tripping back over Charlene’s words.

Moving children . . . Finding them homes . . . “Brats like you . . .”

Something soft touched his arm, jolting him out of the fast-forward replay. Raegan whispered, “Alec.”

“Brats like you . . .”

His pulse raced faster until it was a roar in his ears. Turning away from the trailer, he moved toward the mud path on the side of the trailer, those three words spinning like a tornado in his mind. He needed air. Needed to think. Needed—

“Alec, wait.”

Holy fucking shit. “Brats like you . . .”

Brats like him.

Shock gave way to disbelief, and finally, hysteria. Whipping out his cell phone, he checked the signal only to find nothing. “Dammit. No fucking signal.”

He needed to call the cops. Needed to call the FBI. Needed to get someone out here before Charlene realized what she’d just done and tried to run. Needed—

“Alec.” Raegan rushed in front of him, forcing him to slow his steps. Worry and fear swirled in her eyes. “Talk to me.”

There were no words. Closing his arms around her, he pulled her against him and buried his face in her hair as the hysteria inside him turned to a laugh he couldn’t contain.

“Alec.” Her hands stilled against his chest. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay? I’m better than okay. I’m fan-fucking-tastic.”

“I don’t underst—”

He knew she didn’t. He was acting like a lunatic, but he couldn’t help himself. The relief—the knowledge, the truth—was so sweet . . . “He’s not my father,” he said into her hair, holding her tighter. “You have no idea how that makes me feel. He’s not my real father. He’s nothing. He’s . . .” He closed his eyes and breathed what felt like his first liberated breath of air. “I’m free. I’m so fucking free.”

“Free?” Pushing back, she looked up at his face with confusion and disbelief. “You’re relieved? I thought you’d be upset. Your whole life has been—”

“My whole life has been a lie, and I’m so okay with that.” He framed her face with his hands. “All this time I thought . . .” Emotions tightened his throat, and he shook his head, fighting back the hitch in his voice. “But he’s not my father. I’m not related to him. Everything I’ve fucked up, I’ve fucked up all on my own. It’s not genetic. I’m not him. I’m never going to become him.”

“I never thought you were like him.”

God, he loved her. Loved her so damn much. Even when she’d just seen him at his worst, she was on his side. “Five minutes ago I proved the opposite.”

“Why? Because you grabbed Charlie? She’s lucky I didn’t get a hold of her. I was ready to rip her limbs off if she decided to clam up.”

Laughter rose in his chest again, and he closed his arms around her, holding her close once more, her heart racing just as fast as his. “I should have let you have a go at her from the beginning. Would have saved me some cash.”

“She’s a terrible human being,” Raegan said against him, the humor gone from her voice, “and you are nothing like her or John Gilbert. Nothing.”

Alec closed his eyes and just held her, knowing that wasn’t true. His quick temper, the drinking, and the internal struggle he still waged on a daily basis that he wasn’t good enough or smart enough or worthy enough were all things he’d gotten from Gilbert. They were things he was going to continue to fight. But at least now he knew it wasn’t a losing battle. He wasn’t going to become the man he hated more than any other.

A new emotion surged inside him. One he hadn’t felt before. One that gave him strength.

Hope.

“You know what else this means? Don’t you?” he asked, still holding Raegan against him. “It means she’s out there. It means Emma’s out there somewhere, and she’s alive. If he took me, if he took those other kids, it means she’s with another family right this minute.”