Never Give You Up

by Shady Grace

  “I was.” Sam slipped his gun back into the waistband of his pants, trusting Terry not to shoot him.

  While Gabe broke his attacker’s neck, Terry and Sam stood face-to-face in the middle of the room. “Colton ordered me to return to base a couple of months ago, but I don’t think he knew how far she would go to get what she wanted. Even I didn’t know the extent of her greed until today. Your father would’ve given her anything. Money. Jewels. A house anywhere in the world. He asked me to watch over her, and to take care of her, and I mean I did everything she want—”

  Terry trembled with so much rage he almost pulled the trigger. “Please, spare me those details.”

  “Fine. Anyway, your father became suspicious of her when large sums of money went missing soon after your mother’s death. Turns out, Wanda—Daniella—was forming her own empire to take over yours. Then she was going to take out her own father. Colton was catching on to her.”

  Sam stepped closer and put his hand on Terry’s trembling shoulder. “I’m sorry how things happened, buddy, but I had to do what I had to do, and I feel responsible for your dad’s death too. He may have been a hard man to love, but he took care of all of us. Now let me finish my job and help you avenge him. You have no idea how long I’ve waited to kill that bitch without you shooting me first.”

  Terry released a hard, pent-up breath. Everything happened so fast he couldn’t get his mind around it. How Sam could sleep with Terry’s stepmother—even if he had been ordered to—went over the edge of reason. But that was the kind of man Sammy was. He’d do anything for the old man, no matter how insane the job would be. He had to give him credit for that. His father must have known Sam would do the job without fail. Even though Colton lost his life, at least the truth was out.

  He lowered his gun. “You had me fooled, Sam. I almost shot you.”

  Gabe stood up and dusted himself off. “Will you two shut up? We still have shit to do.”

  Mary. “We have to stop them before they reach the estate.”

  “I swear I didn’t know about that part,” Sam yelled as Terry shot out of the room and bolted up the stairs.

  He had his woman to save.

  Chapter 13

  Mary slunk in the back seat of the limo as it raced toward the McCoy Estate. Beside her, Wanda held up the mirror of her makeup powder and freshened her lipstick. She could be going out to a luncheon, the woman was so calm and cool that Mary shook her head in complete shock.

  What the fuck is wrong with these people?

  She eyed the small handgun peeking out of Wanda’s purse as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Wanda was dumb enough to allow Mary to be untied, which gave her an advantage. If she could manage to talk to her, and distract her, maybe she could get the gun.

  “Why are you doing this, Wanda? Why go to all this trouble?”

  The woman glanced at her with a bored expression on her face. Her right hand settled on top of the gun, makeup now forgotten. “Ugh. Good thing you’re cute, because you certainly are not smart. I told you already. They killed my brother.”

  Mary shook her head. “It’s more than that, and I’m not an idiot. If you’re going to have me killed, what harm can a few questions make? Humor me in my last hour.” She was really getting tired of all this drama and bullshit.

  Wanda sighed and settled more comfortably in her seat. “Very well. What else do you want to know?”

  Mary was careful not to look down at the gun, but she was ready to pounce when given the opportunity. “How old are you?”

  “Thirty-eight.”

  Only a few years older than me. “Do you have any children?”

  “No.” Her demeanor changed then, and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

  Mary knew immediately she had something to work with. “Do you want kids?”

  Wanda shrugged and looked out the window. Mary discreetly reached for the gun but Wanda turned her head and Mary stopped short. Wanda noticed the change in her demeanor and took her gun in hand.

  Mary pretended not to notice and forced her attention to the window. The beautiful landscape with its mansions and summer cottages whizzed by. She wanted that gun. She wouldn’t kill Wanda, but she would use it as a threat and a way to get out of this car. Killing a person was different than shooting an animal for its pelt and its meat. But in her heart she knew she would pull the trigger if given no other choice.

  They were almost there. Only a few miles away from the end of her chapter. She had to come up with something and save her baby.

  “With my luck I would have a daughter, and she would be worthless. Only boys get what they want in my culture.”

  “If I told you I was pregnant, would you let me go?”

  Wanda’s eyes widened. “What?”

  Mary blew out a shaky breath, not quite sure how to say it. She forced herself to look back out the window, and pretend there wasn’t a gun aiming at her. “I took a test this morning, right before you kidnapped me. I’ve been sick every morning for nearly a week now, but I hadn’t told anyone.” She glanced back at Wanda, her expression tight. “Terry doesn’t know he’s going to be a father. And you know what? I’d be happy if I found out I was going to have a girl.”

  Wanda’s eyes were still wide, maybe unsure if Mary was lying, or that female instinct to protect a child warred in her mind.

  Driven now, Mary kept going. “My husband, the one Terry killed, said I’d never be good enough because I couldn’t get pregnant. He said it was my fault, and then he’d hit me. So you see, Terry did a good thing by killing him.” She looked down and rubbed her flat stomach, in awe something could actually grow in there. Too bad it had to happen in this fucked-up situation. “I guess Tom was wrong.” Come on. Let your guard slip. That’s all I need. One little slip up from you.

  A slight smile curved Wanda’s lips. Her chin quivered. She reached out tentatively toward Mary’s stomach with her free hand. “Can I?”

  Mary nodded, and a look of wonder crossed Wanda’s beautiful face as she lightly rubbed her palm over Mary’s stomach. Her eyes shimmered.

  “I always wanted a baby of my own, but my first love was killed before we could marry. I aborted the child because I couldn’t handle it alone. I couldn’t bear to look at my baby’s face and see my dead lover.” Tears glistened in her eyes and slid down her cheeks. “My father is a bad man, just like Colton was. They only care for power, not of their wives or their children. Only power. When I married Colton he couldn’t give me a baby. He already had his family with his first wife.” She dried her tears with a handkerchief. She looked sad, but that didn’t change the person Wanda had become.

  “Then you’ll understand why I have to do it,” Mary said.

  “Do what?”

  In a desperate move, Mary smacked the gun out of Wanda’s hand. The weapon flew onto the opposite seat. Before Wanda could react, Mary grabbed the back of her head, and smashed her face into her knee. Wanda’s body fell unconscious to the limo floor. “That.”

  Mary grabbed the door handle, prepared to jump from the vehicle, but it was locked. Frantic, she looked around the back seat. Nothing was large or heavy enough to break the glass.

  There was only one option left.

  Mary grabbed the gun and slid forward, rapping hard on the middle window separating them from the driver. As the dark tinted window rolled down, she quickly jumped back and grabbed Wanda, jabbing the weapon against her neck.

  “Stop the car or the bitch is dead.”

  Still holding an unconscious Wanda, Mary jolted forward as the driver slammed on the breaks, and unlocked the doors.

  She had no time to waste. Mary shoved Wanda’s limp body toward the other seat and opened the door. There was no time to form a plan. She heard the man exit the vehicle with a curse as Mary made a mad dash straight for the bush, still holding the gun.

  She was free.

  Crouching behind a thick stand of red willows, she waited, not daring to make a sound, keeping a keen eye on t
he vehicle. The small handgun shook in her hand.

  Moments later, Wanda staggered from the limo looking like a disheveled and pissed off cat. The distinct smudge of mascara marred her usual perfect face. Her pristine bangs stood slightly on end as if whipped by a strong wind. She stared at the bushes, with a look to kill, right where Mary was hiding.

  “What do you want to do?” The driver asked. For some reason he seemed oddly familiar to Mary, but she’d met so many people lately, she couldn’t tell for sure.

  “There’s no time to go after her. Besides, the boys will be dead by now and Sam will make it look like they killed each other.”

  “And when he returns?”

  Wanda smoothed her bangs and grinned up at him. “The pigs can still have their dinner. I never intended to keep him anyway. Let’s go.”

  Mary released a wretched sob as the limo sped away. Terry. She fell to her knees in the grass and covered her teary face with her hands, haunted by Terry’s image. Now she was truly alone, and pregnant, stranded on the side of a road she wasn’t familiar with. She’d tried hard to be strong in the face of danger, but this was too much to bear.

  She lifted her face to the sky and thought of everything they’d shared in their short time together. He would want her to be strong, to move on and be safe. She could be safe in her little mountain house away from all this insanity.

  She could raise her baby. Far away from this insane world.

  I saw the bruises on his knuckles. I held his head under the water until he stopped shaking.

  Terry took the real monster away from her.

  He said he felt sorry for her, and that he’d never expected to care. She didn’t expect to care either. She didn’t want to fall in love with him. She didn’t plan to get pregnant.

  Nothing was the same anymore.

  Still hiding behind the bushes, she looked down each end of the road. A few vehicles passed in either direction, without a clue to what happened outside of their perfect little worlds. They were clueless to the lives of the others in the shadows. The bad ones. The criminal ones. The ones who were made into monsters without a choice.

  Tom had a choice—Terry did not.

  Her mind made up, Mary tossed her heels aside and headed toward the McCoy Estate, keeping tight to the trees with Wanda’s gun tucked into the waist of her skirt.

  Wanda was going to pay for what she did to her baby’s father.

  * * * *

  Terry, Gabe, and Sam entered the driveway to the McCoy estate with dust kicking up behind them. Terry held his breath when they found the limo parked by the front steps with two doors still open.

  Nobody was near the barn and his father’s prized beasts were all outside to play in their massive enclosure. Something wasn’t right. Where did they take Mary?

  The silence haunted Terry as Gabe shut off the engine. Not a single bird chirped from the trees. Not even a gust of wind swept over the grass. Every hair on Terry’s body pricked with uncertainty and fear that this could be another trap.

  “Where are they?” Terry scanned the yard. Nobody was around, not even the estate manager. Buck should be outside at this time of day, usually playing around with his numerous flowerbeds or mowing the lawn.

  “You two go around the house. As far as she knows, I’m still on her side,” Sam said, stepping out of the car. “I’ll go in alone.”

  Terry pulled him back. “What if she saw us with you already? When she sees we’re still alive, she’ll have you killed.”

  “It’s a chance I’m willing to take.” Without another word, Sam rushed up the front steps and entered the main house. Terry stared after him, suddenly ashamed of himself for doubting him. In his eyes, Sam was a true hero for putting his life on the line even after Terry threatened to shoot him.

  When the time was right, Terry vowed he’d make it up to him.

  He crept around the right side of the building as Gabe took the left.

  Memories of Wanda crept into Terry’s thoughts as he made his way around the house, Beretta cocked and ready. How could they not see she was a psychopath? His mother died because of this woman. The same woman who then tricked his father into marrying her. Not once did Terry ever have ill feelings for Wanda. Not once did they ever argue. He had been a fool for not seeing what his stepmother truly was.

  Regret was a terrible burden to bear, and he regretted many things. But maybe Mary was right. Maybe he could tame the monster he’d become and live like a normal man, as he’d always wanted. Live without all this chaos, and take care of a good, honest woman.

  He had few good memories in this house, but many bad. This estate meant nothing more than that to him. A piece of a memory.

  He glanced through the window into the parlor, his rapt gaze immediately landing on the body of the housekeeper. Blood pooled on the hardwood floors all around her. It was Cassandra, the young woman his father had apparently taken a shining to. Poor thing, she certainly didn’t deserve to die.

  The faint hum of a chopper resounded in the air. Terry looked up toward the north to find the family chopper slowly descending toward the helipad.

  Voices, barely audible over the whirring blades came from the front of the house. He retreated his steps, keeping tight to the wall and peered around the corner.

  Two men dragged Sam’s limp body toward the pigpen. He must have been knocked around hard to be unconscious, or maybe he had another wound on the front of his body Terry couldn’t see. Either way, he was in deep trouble as the pigs swarmed the fence in a frenzy. Terry had to stop them. Sam had willingly risked his life for him.

  It sickened Terry to see the wild hunger in their eyes. A hunger his father had created in those otherwise harmless beasts.

  He couldn’t tell if Sam was dead or only unconscious, but he couldn’t assume the worst. He inched his way closer and aimed his weapon toward one of the men dragging Sam. If he could get a clean shot off, he could buy Sam some time to save himself.

  Another movement caught his eye and he faltered. Wanda ran toward the chopper carrying two suitcases.

  Mary wasn’t anywhere in sight.

  Just as Terry stepped around the corner to go after her, something cold touched his temple.

  “Drop it, or you’re dead.”

  This can’t be real. He knew that voice all too well. This was getting worse by the minute. “Buck Johnson,” he said, and dropped his Beretta. “Let me guess. You were fucking her, too?”

  Terry stared after Sam and the two men. They were getting close to the pen and Sam still wasn’t moving.

  “I was always her favorite.” Buck shoved the gun harder against his temple. “Move it.”

  Terry walked slowly ahead of Buck, completely blown away by how insane this family had become. Power made people go crazy.

  “Where’s Mary?”

  Buck snickered and pushed against his back, making Terry stumble ahead. “If it makes you feel any better, she wasn’t with them. She’s dead in a ditch somewhere.” He leaned close and whispered in a menacing voice, “She’s dead because of you, Terry.”

  Terry’s blood ran cold. On raging impulse, he spun around and decked Buck before he realized what hit him. He stumbled back and gripped his bloody nose, but he still managed to hold his weapon. Shaking, Buck lifted the gun again and pointed it at Terry’s face.

  “You’re not gonna win this time, buddy.”

  Terry lifted his arms out to his sides. He didn’t care if Buck ended his life right now. “Go ahead. Put me out of my misery.”

  Buck laughed but didn’t take the bait. “Keep walking.” Terry continued toward the chopper with Buck right beside him. “There’s no such thing as love in this business, boy. You know better than that.”

  As they neared the chopper, Buck shouted to Wanda, “Look what I found.”

  She spun around. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw Terry, then she turned her attention to Sam being dragged to the pen. “Serves him right for betraying me,” she said loudly. “I wasn’t go
ing to keep him anyway.”

  “You’re going to get everything you deserve, Daniella.”

  She turned back to Terry, her smile like a snake about to strike. “Kill him, Bucky, honey. Then we can leave. We’ll return when the action dies down and get a clean-up crew.” She smiled in victory. “Just think, Terry, darling. Soon this house will be exactly as I envision.”

  Terry closed his eyes, ready for the darkness to take him. Maybe he’d see Mary and his mother there.

  He jerked as a shot cracked the air.

  When he opened his eyes there was no darkness. No white void. No Mary. Only Wanda, staring down at the ground next to his feet. He glanced down, his ears ringing from the shot, to see Buck lying there with a hole in his head, his eyes wide open.

  “Move!” Gabe shouted, clutching his bleeding arm. “Don’t let her leave!”

  Terry looked back at Wanda, his heart in his eyes. She had betrayed them all. She had destroyed everything that ever mattered to him. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t make himself reach for Buck’s gun and end her life. He didn’t know why, but maybe he was just tired of this same game, and maybe he couldn’t handle seeing the only other parent in his life die.

  She lifted her tear-streaked face from Buck’s dead body. He thought he saw pain in her eyes, pure fear, but it didn’t change anything. It wouldn’t change what she did to his mother, his father, and now Mary.

  Wanda proudly raised her chin and climbed into the chopper.

  Terry stood frozen to the ground as the chopper lifted off the pad and flew away.

  Nothing mattered to him anymore.

  Mary was already gone. The only peace in his life was gone.

  Gabe halted beside him, panting for air, and slugged Terry in the shoulder. He didn’t even feel it. “Why the fuck did you let her leave? She doesn’t deserve to live—”

  “She’ll wish she was dead when she realizes who’s flying our chopper.”

  Gabe shook his head, clearly pissed off that she’d gotten away. “I don’t understand. Who’s flying it?”