Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT THEY CAME FOR MY SON
By the time I reached the residence, the security gate was open.
Too open.
I ran inside.
“Zara!”
No answer.
“Prince!”
Silence.
My heart stopped.
Then I heard glass breaking upstairs.
I ran toward the sound.
A man in black was carrying Prince.
Zara was on the floor.
I grabbed the man's shoulder.
He turned.
We fought.
He escaped through the balcony.
I chased him.
But he disappeared into the darkness.
I ran back to Zara.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“Prince.”
I found him under the bed.
Crying.
Alive.
I pulled him into my arms.
He buried his face against my chest.
“Daddy.”
I froze.
Zara stared at us.
Prince had never called me that before.
I held him tighter.
“I've got you.”
His little hands grabbed my shirt.
“Don't let them take me.”
“I won't.”
“I promise.”
Police arrived twenty minutes later.
Mina arrived with the DNA results.
I almost couldn't open them.
Zara stood beside me.
Prince was sleeping against my chest.
I unfolded the paper.
PATERNITY: 99.9999998%
I stared at the number.
My knees weakened.
He was mine.
My son.
The child I had missed for two years.
The child I had abandoned because I trusted a lie.
I looked at Zara.
“I’m his father.”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
I swallowed.
“I'm so sorry.”
She looked at me.
“I know.”
That forgiveness hurt more than anger.
Then Mina interrupted.
“Justin.”
“What?”
“The attacker left something.”
She handed me a small black envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
My father.
My mother.
Victor Hale.
And another person.
A young woman.
I stared.
My sister.
On the back:
YOU HAVE FORTY-EIGHT HOURS TO FIND HER.
Then another line:
OR PRINCE DISAPPEARS FOREVER.
I looked at Mina.
“Find my sister.”
“We will.”
I turned toward Zara.
“I'm not asking you to trust me.”
She looked at me.
“Good.”
“But I'm asking you to let me protect you.”
She was silent.
Then she looked at Prince.
“He needs his father.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
“And I need the truth.”
“You'll have it.”
She reached for my hand.
Not romantically.
Not yet.
But she held it.
May you like
And that was enough.
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