She felt her mother’s hand on hers and she hadn’t realized Iris had inched closer. “I know I’ve made some mistakes,” she was saying with a watery smile. “I know I wasn’t perfect. But your dad loved me anyway. Kennedy loved me anyway. I just pray that you can do the same.”

She wouldn’t lose control. And she couldn’t even fault her mother. She could, however, fault the man who was playing on her mother’s weakness. Deven eased her hand away from her mother to break the contact. “I need to talk to him,” she said. “Keith. I think he may know . . .” Deven had to stop herself from revealing more. She hadn’t told her mom about Kennedy. She didn’t even know if she planned to, yet. With everything else, how was Iris going to handle knowing the ugly truth about her youngest daughter, which could, or could not, have come from the influence of Keith, this man Iris had been in love with for so long? “Where is he?” Deven reiterated.

Iris dried her face before picking up the envelopes. She looked at the stack and pushed it her way. Deven read the address, frowning when the name of the prison glared back. Wilcox State. Paul had mentioned that was where Deuce spent some time. Benji had also mentioned because of Kennedy, her father had put her in touch with Deuce to find someone. Maybe it was time to pay a visit to the man that had ripped her family apart for over twenty-five years.

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-six

Deven had never been to a prison so she sure as hell didn’t know what to expect after making the two-hour drive. The building was surrounded by farmland on the outskirts of town and looked as intimidating as any building that housed the nation’s convicted murderers, robbers, and rapists. The two-story sandstone stood erect with its looming towers, all enclosed by a chain-link fence that extended skyward, like razors jutting up from the pits of Hell.

She was nervous as she pulled up to the only entrance and she knew exactly why. Holding her breath, Deven flashed the ID and waited while the security guard in the booth keyed in something on the computer. The nod and wave motioning for her to proceed had her releasing a breath. She’d gotten clever and taken a page out of her sister’s book for this visit. Deven eyed the driver’s license, well Kennedy’s driver’s license, that she had found at the apartment. She already knew she wouldn’t be on any kind of approved visitation list to see Keith. But of course, his daughter was. Kennedy wasn’t the only one who had tricks up her sleeve.