Chapter 1

 

Hawk Millard stuffed diapers into the diaper bag. He hated the pink, flowered bag, but he hadn’t had a chance to get anything that better suited him. It was all he could do to make sure Damian had diapers, clothes, something to eat, and a safe place to sleep. This baby thing had turned out to be much more complicated than he first expected.

 

He searched through the bag, thinking. An extra outfit, several diapers, his favorite binky, a clean bottle. What else would Damian need today for daycare? Hawk wasn’t sure how long he’d be tonight. He had a long list of cars to repossess and judging by the make and model of the cars, this might not be the easiest day on the job. The more someone paid—or in this case hadn’t paid—for a car, the more attached they tended to be and the more problems usually arose.

 

There was a time when he worked mostly at night, making repos much more peaceful. But having Damian to care for made that impossible. It was hard enough to find daycare that would work with his crazy schedule. The woman who watched Damian now ran a small daycare out of her home with just a few children, and she was flexible enough to be able to keep him overnight should the need arise. But she charged handsomely for it, and he hated to do that to Damian anyway.

 

Hawk zipped up the diaper bag and picked Damian up from his baby seat to get him loaded into the car carrier.

 

Many times in the last few months since he’d taken custody of Damian, Hawk had considered getting a more stable job with better hours. But he’d been a repo man for so long, it was really all he was good at. Most companies frowned upon felonies on a prospective employee’s record, but it just so happened that stealing cars was the one thing that might have made him one of the top repo men around. It paid well, too, but the hours could be difficult.

 

Falling into the repo business had been something of a miracle. He’d never been the type of kid who would be able to get good grades and go to college to do something “real” with his life, as his mother had wanted him to. Instead, Hawk struggled through school, got mixed up with the sort of people his mother had always warned him about. When she died, leaving him and his brother Hugh to fend for themselves while trying to live with their aunt and uncle and collection of cousins, Hawk dropped out of school. He became a full time criminal because that’s where the money was, and when he turned 18 he got a tiny apartment for him and Hugh to live in alone. Hugh finished high school, but joined Hawk on the streets soon after, stealing cars to pay the bills.

 

They’d been at it for years and hadn’t gotten into any major trouble. It only took a single day to change everything. One wrong move had changed every aspect of his life. Hawk had had his eye on a certain Ferrari. They were notoriously hard to steal, but Hawk had been at it so long, he hadn’t met a car he couldn’t break into. Except this particular Ferrari happened to belong to a repo man. Not only was the car alarmed, which Hawk had been able to override, but the garage it was kept in had been alarmed and booby trapped. When he started the car and tried to back out, the garage door shut and before long Hawk was eye-to-eye with a pissed off Butch.

 

After talking to him and admitting to being impressed with his talent, Butch had offered him a way to use his skill in a slightly more legal manner. He’d taught him everything he knew about being a repo man and brought him and Hugh on as employees. This simple change—going from stealing cars to legally removing them from their owners—took their lives off the streets. They made real money that could be proved and legally claimed. And that meant a nicer place to live. A nicer place meant less crime, better women, better everything.

 

Hawk had no desire to enter a new line of work, nor did he think for a second he’d get the same sort of break he had with Butch all those years ago. It’d been pure luck and Hawk had been grateful ever since. Working for Butch had opened up other options and now Hawk’s list of clients ranged from car dealerships to banks to the police. He’d find a way to deal with the hours and make it work for Damian’s sake. He needed a good paying job now more than ever. He would do whatever it took to make sure that his nephew had a good life. A life like he and Hugh should have had from the start.

 

Hawk bent down to Damian and made a silly face at him, then tickled his belly. Damian let out a little squeal. Hawk picked up the baby carrier and locked up the house. He opened the car door and connected Damian’s seat to its base. As he closed the door, he looked up at the house next door.

 

A large truck sat out front with a moving company logo painted in bright green on its side. Men walked in and out of the house and truck with boxes and furniture and other items. The house had been empty for some time now. The elderly woman who’d lived there had died and it had taken a while for her kids to go through the place and clean it out to get it ready for sale.

 

A woman stood just inside the garage. She caught his eye and waved. He held up his hand to wave back. That must be her, then. Good looking woman. He liked her short, dark hair and her small nose. No ring on her finger and no man around. Could she really be single and moving in next to him? He looked down the street, as if expecting another car to show up and for some guy to jump out and take her in his arms.

 

Hawk’s house and this house sat at the end of a long road. There weren’t any houses across the street since it was all woods. The closest house on his other side was several hundred feet away. He’d had this little section of the street all to himself for a long time. Whoever she was he hoped they wouldn’t mind hearing a baby cry.

 

Hawk glanced up at his own house before climbing into his car. Nothing too fancy. One story, three bedrooms, plenty of space. It was a decent house, just outside of the city and in a good neighborhood. The house his new neighbor was moving into was similar. Moderately priced and sized, but nowhere near the cheaper parts of the city.

 

He caught a glimpse of his motorcycle through the garage window. Hopefully this woman and whoever else moved in there wouldn’t mind the sound of a loud Harley, either. He rode with his MC every chance he got. That time had been limited since he got Damian, but he was a member of the Kings of Chaos motorcycle club, and there were plenty of old ladies around to help out and watch the baby so he could ride along with the boys.

 

He looked back in his rearview mirror at Damian, then the house next store.