Chapter Ninety-Nine

Tears were running down Lena’s face by the time she hit the exit of the hospital. She didn’t want to cry in front of her daughter, but it was impossible to hold them in any longer.

She didn’t know what she’d expected. Maybe for him to ask her to stay? No. Why would he want her hanging around when he had his important job to get back to? She was just being ridiculous.

Besides, hadn’t she told herself a dozen times or more she couldn’t get involved with him because doing so could potentially put herself and her daughter in danger again? No way could she live through these last eight months again. And what if the relationship didn’t work out? Look what had happened with Justin’s family after living that kind of life. It wasn’t as though she and Dane knew each other well enough to be making such life-altering decisions.

She thought she’d prepared herself for this breakup. She’d known since the first time they kissed it was a temporary thing. Two people scared and desperate to feel something other than guilt and terror. They’d needed each other to get through the worst thing a parent could live through, and now that danger was past. Now they’d go back to being two normal people.

Well, a normal person and a U.S. Deputy Marshal on a covert task force.

So, why was this so much harder than when she and Brandon had split?

Swallowing down the lump in her throat, she took a deep breath, ready to face whatever came next. She had been through so much and come out intact.

She could do this, too.

“Mama, what’s wrong?”

She took her daughter’s hand. “Nothing, baby. I’m just sad I won’t get to see my friend anymore.”

“I’m sad I won’t get to see Molly and Hannah anymore, too.”

Lena frowned, then remembered the two little girls that had been taken from the house in Savannah. “I’ll bet. But it makes you feel better knowing they’re back with their mommy and daddy, right?”

Kenzie brightened. “Uh-huh.”

Then it should follow that Lena should feel better that Dane was going back to his family, of sorts, too, right?

They would take care of him.

She got Kenzie settled in the back seat and slid into the driver’s side as she fought the urge to stay in Long Beach so she could take care of him. It was more than just the urge to pay back a debt she felt she owed him.

Smiling at her phone, she tucked it in the console of the rental. She had his number, and he had hers. Maybe he would call.

She brushed away the tears and turned the car east.