(Seattle, Washington 6 November 2026)
"Who lives here?" Will inquired, leaning forward to peer at the home across the street from where the vehicle had rolled to a stop, blue-green eyes alight with curiosity, even in spite of the uncertainty he could feel radiating from where Nick sat, hands still clenched around the steering wheel as though it were a life line, "Come on, Uncle Nick, you've got to give me something-"
"I'm not sure you'll feel the same way when I tell you the answer, kid."
"Why don't you try me?"
"Listen, Will, what we're doing here, it-it's not as simple as you're thinking," Nick cautioned, finally releasing his hold on the steering wheel, and dropping his hands into his lap instead, his palms smoothing against the fabric of his jeans for want of anything else to do, "You know those men your dad is working with? They're-they're dangerous."
"Anyone with half a brain knows that," Will quipped, aware of Nick's answering lift of a brow, and hurrying to amend the potential harshness in his words with a smile and a shrug, "Diana says that all the time."
"I think it's a little more complicated than even Diana knows."
"How?"
"Because of those men-because of what your father had to do to keep you, and Diana safe, I might have had to take some drastic steps of my own."
"Like what?"
"Like-like lying to some of the people I care about to protect someone else," Nick confessed, watching his companion's expression carefully, and hating the idea of replacing the lingering curiosity on those youthful features with something he suspected would be more akin to anger if he were to go on, "Lying and hurting other people because of it."
"What was the lie?"
"Will-"
"I mean, it's not like you're the first person to ever do it," Will mused, squirming around in the passenger seat, and regarding Nick with a skeptical glance before going on, "Diana and I do it for each other all the time."
"This is a bit different than that, Will. What I did-the people I lied to may never understand why."
"Maybe you could practice telling the truth on me. I could help."
"I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because, you're-you're one of the people I've been keeping in the dark, kid," Nick said, forcing himself to look at the startled expression that dawned on Will's features head-on, despite the invisible knife that seemed to twist in his gut at the thought of being the cause of that astonishment, himself, "So when I tell you what happened, it's not for practice."
"It's for real."
"It is."
"Okay," Will murmured, seeming to somehow steel himself for whatever it was that Nick had to say, and squaring his shoulders in a way that had his older companion frowning at the act, and how much it bore evidence to the maturity he had already gained, despite his youth, "Okay. Go ahead."
"You sure, bud?"
"Yeah. Rip off the band-aid. I'm ready."
Dragging a hand through his hair, and exhaling in a rush in the false hope that the act would somehow give him the courage to come clean about his betrayal of a young man he had always adored, Nick tried as best he could to prepare himself for whatever Will's reaction to the truth might be. As a cop, he had always been fairly confident in his ability to read the room, and adapt his plan of attack accordingly, depending on the situation, and the character of the person or people he faced. But now?
Now, he hardly felt himself qualified to be chaperoning the boy around, much less preparing to tell him the one thing that would change his life forever, whether he wanted it to or not.
"Okay. Rip off the band-aid," Nick repeated, dropping his gaze to the console between the two seats, and reaching down to fiddle with the empty travel mug placed therein, "You know Black Claw was after your mom, right?"
"Yeah. Dad says they wanted him to work for them, and used her to do it?"
"That's a part of it. But only a relatively small part. They also wanted her."
"Why?"
"That's something I still don't really know. What I do know is, your dad and I were both worried they would do something to get her on their side before either one of us could stop it."
"But they killed her," Will countered, a flicker of sadness passing over his features whether he wanted to avoid it or not, "So they-they didn't get what they wanted-"
"No, they didn't. But not-not because they killed her."
"I don't understand."
"They didn't get what they wanted because she's not dead. She just-she just had to go away."
"But-if she had to go away, why-does my dad know?"
"He doesn't."
"And she's really-she's alive?"
"She is, kid. I'm so, so sorry," Nick began, failing to entirely control his guilt at the myriad of emotions that flickered across his nephew's features, though the pain that twisted at his heart was momentarily waylaid as soon as he realized Will had turned and forced the passenger side door open in little to no time at all, "Hey-hey, wait a minute-"
"I need to see her."
"I know you do, kid, but there's something-"
"No! I need to see her now."
Though he reached across the console to make a grab for Will's arm before he could leave the vehicle entirely, Nick knew almost immediately that the gesture would be a futile one, a low groan escaping as he slid from the driver's seat and prepared to follow after him. In truth, he had not a clue how he was going to explain this particular debacle, especially as what Will still did not know was that his mother would have little to no recollection of his existence, at all. Not for the first time, he was brought to question the decision he had made ten years prior, whether or not he knew it had been perhaps the only sure-fire way of keeping his cousin safe. And although he was more than a little apprehensive at the thought of handling the fallout of what Will's impromptu appearance on his mother's doorstep would unleash, Nick knew his young nephew well enough to realize there was absolutely nothing he could to do stop him from his intended path, now.
Once again, he was forced to hold back a sigh as the boy's similarities to his father, and Lacie's own unique penchant for recklessness as well came to the forefront of his mind…
It would be a miracle if he escaped the impending encounter and the questions it would spark with his own sense of equilibrium intact.
…
Pacing the length of the upstairs hallway not far from the window in which she had seen the apparition of the young girl earlier that very day, Lacie continued to glance towards the glass panes as though she were almost hopeful that the figure would appear once again. She knew the desire was insane. That she should not be wishing for a hallucination, because that was so clearly what the young girl's appearance had to be. For her to believe in anything else would call to question everything she had ever known to be real.
She was not prepared to face the fact that everything she could remember about her life had clearly been a lie.
Maybe not a lie, she thought, her teeth digging into her lower lip as she heard what appeared to be the sounds of a car pulling into the driveway, her feet carrying her over towards the window so that she could peer out, and confirm her suspicions first hand. She spent a moment or two wondering exactly who she and Martin knew that would have brought a young boy along with them, her brow furrowing as she caught sight of the stormy expression on his face as he climbed out of the car, even from the significant distance that rested between them. But as soon as she saw the familiarity inherent in Nick's features as he stepped out from the other side of the car, and followed after the boy, Lacie would have been a fool to ignore the sudden twinge in her gut that said she knew precisely who that boy was, whether she could determine how, or not.
Just like with the girl that had appeared in the window, something about the boy tugged at a long forgotten memory she could not entirely place…
If only she knew how to bring that memory back to the surface.
Shaking her head in resignation as the boy disappeared from view, and the sound of the doorbell ringing reached her ears not long after, Lacie turned towards the stairwell and placed her left hand on the railing as she moved, the light from the lamp on the table nearby glinting off of the diamond on her finger as a result. For a moment, she was almost tempted to pause, some childish instinct doing its best to persuade her to retreat to the bedroom, rather than face whatever awaited her downstairs. But in spite of her lingering misgivings, she forced herself to continue moving forward, her teeth once again beginning to chew at her lower lip as the muted sound of Nick's voice, and Martin's reached her ears and she moved towards the landing at a faster pace.
Martin.
It had been apparent he knew of something she did not almost as soon as she had told him of the girl in the window, and although she did not want to consider it, a part of Lacie was starting to wonder if he had been keeping her in the dark all along.
In spite of the tremor that passed through her in response to the thought, Lacie did as best she could to simply remain in the present, her eyes meeting Martin's first, as she stepped into the hallway, before drifting to Nick, and finally, the boy that held so much intrigue for her, regardless of the fact that she did not know his name. As soon as his eyes met hers, it was as though she had been stunned to the spot, her breath stilling inside her chest while blue-green eyes held her own. Though she was not aware of it, Nick and Martin had suddenly stopped talking, their attention riveted upon the boy, and her own reaction to his presence like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. All she could see, in that moment, was the boy, his eyes appraising her for only a moment before she was faced with the reality of how he had suddenly thrown himself into her arms and wound his own about her waist.
"Mom…"
"I-what?" Lacie stammered, glancing from Nick to Martin with what was no doubt a startled expression upon her face, and finding herself rather more than a little surprised that despite her shock, she was somehow very unwilling to disentangle herself from the boy who held her in an almost vice-like grip, "What is-"
"We need to talk," Nick intervened, aware of the slight tightening of his cousin's jaw, and fighting against the disappointment that was near to overwhelming as he realized he was absolutely powerless to do anything to alleviate it at all, "You, Martin and I. There are-there are some things you need to know."
Time to rip off the band-aid, indeed...
…
"This is it," The man said, motioning to the two story home across the street, and placing his other hand on the gun balanced on one thigh in the same motion, "That's Burkhardt's car."
"Good enough for me. Let's move."
"No. Not yet. We bide our time. Do this right."
"Bonaparte wants them dead," The other man supplied, one hand lingering on the passenger side door, while he twisted at the waist to face his companion head on, "We're here to make that happen."
"That was before they had the boy with them."
"So he's collateral. Big deal."
"No. No 'big deal', you idiot. That's Sean Renard's son!" The driver exclaimed, aware that his companion did not appear concerned by his words at all, and yet choosing to persist, regardless, "He is not to be harmed."
"You really think Bonaparte gives a damn about some kid?"
"He gives a damn about the father of that kid, and keeping him on our side. We can't do that by murdering his son."
"Maybe it's time for Renard to learn a lesson," The second man pressed, glancing towards the door of the home in question, and chafing with impatience as no one made an appearance at all, "Maybe he's gotten too comfortable where he is."
"He's Bonaparte's favored son."
"Perhaps he shouldn't be."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that if he learns anything about what we're doing here, he's not exactly going to be playing for the same team anymore. He's a liability."
"The way you're talking, Pierce? So are you."
"I'm nothing of the sort," Pierce disagreed, his fingers curling into fists while anger caused his tone to turn brittle, and his eyes flashed a warning regardless of whether his companion would notice or not, "You're the one that's hesitating. We can end this, right now."
"We end this when I say we end it," The other man retorted, his own fingers curling around the weapon poised on his thigh, while his gaze snapped from Pierce's to the door of the home they observed in time to note that in the minutes since he had last looked, someone had managed to shut the door, prohibiting him from gaining any further insight into what went on inside, "We need to get them away from the boy. Away from each other. We need to make them vulnerable."
"And then what?" Pierce asked, still unable to ignore the urgent need he felt to do something, whether or not his companion felt the same desire, himself, "What do we do then?"
"We take them apart. We put a stop to their rebellion, and get the boy back to his father, and that's the end of it."
If they were to stop the inevitable uprising that Lacie Renard's return to Portland would spark, there could be no other way.
…
Hello there, darlings! And welcome (finally!) to a brand new chapter in Lanie's tale! (Or...one of them, lol). I am so, so sorry for the delay between the last chapter, and this one, as it was not ever my intent to leave you all hanging for so long! I do hope that you are all willing to forgive me, though, because as always, I have so, so many more plans for this story and everything that will happen in the very near future! And I really hope that I haven't lost any of you along the way!
As always, my heartfelt thanks go out to each and every one of you that has given this story the time of day thus far, and of course to last chapter's reviewer, ChiTown4ever for always being such a wonderful source of encouragement (or bad influences, depending on how you look at it). I truly do appreciate the support, and of course I cannot wait to hear what everyone thinks of this latest installment! I promise there *will* be more to come!
Until next time, angels…
MOMM