“Skye?” Tom’s voice called out.
She moved to the closed door that likely led to the bedroom. “Uncle Tom?”
“Come in. We need to talk.” His voice was raspy. Was he hurt? Had she woken him? Wasn’t he expecting her?
She opened the door and froze. She began to lift her gun, but Finn already had his aimed at her from the other side of the cramped room. Tom was sitting on the bed, with Finn standing beside him.
“Uh-uh-uh,” Finn said, his eyes glittering. “Don’t move.”
“Run, Skye,” Tom pleaded with her.
Finn pressed the barrel of his gun to her uncle’s head. “I suggest you stay.”
“Just turn and run,” Tom said. “I’m not worth it.”
Skye stood, rooted to the spot. She couldn’t watch another family member die, not here at the scene of so much death. Not because of anything she did. Not ever. Slowly, she laid her gun on the dresser and put her hands in the air.
Tom’s face crumpled.
Finn grinned. “Good girl. And because you’re being so cooperative, I’m going to give you a choice. You’re going to have a little something to eat or drink. Either way, the result will be the same.”
“Drugged?” she guessed.
“If you’d prefer, I could inject you with something, or force it down your throat.”
She swallowed hard. No way did she want him anywhere near her, though it might give her uncle a chance to run for safety.
As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, Finn snarled and jabbed the gun into Tom’s temple. “Eat, drink. Be merry. Or I’ll shoot dear old Uncle Tom.”
Dust motes danced in the air as the late morning sun slanted through the lace curtains in the ranch house’s kitchen. Jared doubted the décor was to Tom Hamilton’s taste, which meant they’d been Skye’s addition. The juxtaposition of her softer side and the tough side he’d experienced in the yard beyond, when she’d taken him to the ground during their sparring match, was an intoxicating blend.
He’d known how much being part of this search meant to her, and yet he’d asked her to sacrifice her own desires. And she had.
He tried dialing her phone and reached her voicemail again. He’d been trying for hours, to no avail, but the guard watching the house had said he’d seen her with his own eyes, and that she hadn’t left the house.
Still, worry had a grip on Jared’s gut. Was she angry with him and not answering? He sent her another text. Checking in. Let me know you’re okay.
He was still staring at the screen, willing a reply to appear, when Sheriff Anderson came in through the back door. The ranch house had become a central hub of activity as search parties looking for signs of Chelsea, Loretta, or Finn fanned out in every direction. It was an enormous endeavor, but thoroughness was key. He didn’t want to take the chance he’d miss a clue.
He’d also spent a few minutes in Skye’s bedroom. He was surprised by how much he missed her after only a few hours away. Or maybe he was feeling guilty he’d made her stay behind. Evidence of the clash within the woman, between bold and soft, was evident everywhere, from her paisley-print bedspread in soft apricot and turquoise to the dried flowers in a vase on the dresser whose top drawer was stuffed full of extra ammo.
He frowned down at his phone, but it refused to be intimidated and stubbornly remained quiet. His internal police radar twitched, sensing something was off. He tried to ignore it for several minutes, then gave up and dialed Dev.
“Do me a favor,” he said. “Contact the guard in front of my house and have him walk to the door again and make sure Skye’s okay. She’s not responding to my texts.”
“Trouble in paradise?” Dev asked.
“She wasn’t exactly happy about me asking her to stay behind.”
“Can’t say I blame her. Besides, from what you told me earlier, it doesn’t sound like you asked so much as guilted her. Very smooth, using her feelings for you.”
He snorted. “Skye doesn’t let her feelings get in the way of a job.” But something in his chest fluttered. Did she have feelings for him? He doubted she’d have cooperated so easily unless she cared. Skye Hamilton cared about him. He grinned, but it promptly faded. Had he manipulated her? God, he was no better than his mother had been.
“Just send someone around,” Jared barked, irritated with himself, and with Dev for pointing out the facts Jared obviously wanted to ignore.
“I will.”
“And text me when you hear she’s okay.”
Dev grumbled. “Remind me never to fall in love.”
Love? Was that what this was? He’d always imagined romantic love was manipulative and controlling, as his mother’s boyfriends had been. It abandoned you when you needed it most.
But this… This wasn’t some clawing need, but more of a wanting. Wanting to be with a woman when she wasn’t around, wanting to touch her when she was. Wanting to keep her safe.
Damn. Skye had snuck up on him again, this time finding her way into his heart.
“Skye? Wake up, damn it. Skye!”
She mumbled a nonsense response to her uncle’s repeated requests. It seemed all she was capable of. She couldn’t even lift her head. Damn, she could barely flutter her eyelids, which sent a sudden jolt of anxiety through her. She fought harder against the seduction of the black void.
“Come on, honey,” Tom persisted, the urgency in his tone breaking a little more through the haze. “You can do it.”
She tried to rub her sleepy face but couldn’t move her hands. Finally, she dragged her eyelids open and reality seeped in as she surveyed her surroundings—her lopsided surroundings. She was lying on her side on a thin mat that smelled of the dirt floor beneath it, her hands tied behind her back.
Zip ties, she thought, feeling the way they restrained her wrists but didn’t abrade her skin.
Slowly, she pushed into a sitting position and blinked away the dizziness as she focused on the room. A one-room shack with a bucket in the corner. She didn’t want to think about what that was for. Uncle Tom sat at the only furniture, a table and two chairs. His hands were also behind his back. Blood trickled from his temple. The sight of it shocked her brain further into focus.
“What’s going on?” She remembered the trailer where her parents’ house had once stood. Remembered drinking the bottle of water that had to have been drugged, to keep Finn from shooting her uncle. “Where’s Finn?”
Through the barred window she saw the tall trunks and green fringe of pine trees. Was she back in Arizona?
The tiny kitchenette and living area were one space, and the entire cabin couldn’t be more than a couple hundred square feet. A hunting cabin, she’d guess, probably used during elk hunting season. Was it used during the human hunts, too? She subdued a shudder as her uncle spoke again.
“We’re alone. For the moment.”
She glanced around but didn’t see anything that could be used as a weapon. There were only a couple of thin sleeping mats on the floor. She was on one of them. Had this been where Finn took Chelsea and Loretta? If so, where were they now? There were no cupboards to hide anything in.
“There are no weapons,” Tom said, catching her surveying their surroundings. “And nothing to cut us loose. I already spent the past couple hours looking.” Couple hours? “The bastard drugged you.” His eyes squeezed shut.
She jerked her chin toward his temple. “Does it hurt?”
“Not much. Just a headache.” Finn had probably used force, and likely threatened their lives, to get Tom to cooperate. He hung his head. “This is all my fault.”
“What? No, it’s mine. I’m the one who was looking for Finn. I’m the reason he attacked the ranch. I should have known he’d use you. He and Tristan… Didn’t you get my messages?”
He grimaced. “Yeah. Didn’t want to drag you further into my mess.”
“Your mess?” His self-blame didn’t make sense. She was able to scoot over to him across th
e dirt floor and pull herself up to the chair across from him. On the table lay a card. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears as she examined it. Clear tape ran across the center, reconnecting two halves of the king of diamonds. The top half had her uncle’s name and a date on it.
Her stomach clenched, threatening to rebel. “What’s this?”
He couldn’t seem to look at her. His face was so pale it was almost gray. Ashen. She now knew what the term meant, and all the fear that went with it.
But she already knew the answer. Somewhere, deep down, she’d known for the past few days. She was his redemption.
He drew in a shaky breath and looked at her as if finally seeing her. “I’m sorry, Skye. So sorry.”
“First, tell me where we are, if you know.” If Finn came back, she wanted as much pertinent information as possible to escape.
“We’re about fifteen minutes east of Three Fortunes. It used to be a part of the ranch. Sold it years ago.” He grimaced and looked around. “Never thought I’d see it again.”
“Did you sell it to Robert Stone?”
He sighed. “I needed the cash at the time. It basically paid for the barn renovation and Viper’s Pit.” He looked up at her sheepishly. “So, you know about the ranch?”
“About you two co-owning the ranch, along with some other guy, about a Redemption Club where cards symbolize debts, about nearly everything, I think.” Her gaze landed on the card that lay between them. The date scrawled on it was burned on her brain forever. “I know that card means something very bad.” Her brain did the math even as her heart didn’t want to go there. What did the Redemption Club have to do with the day her parents had died, and why was Tom’s name on the half-card? Finn and Ryan had to have been in grade school at that time, and probably hadn’t even met yet. “The king of diamonds says you know about the Redemption Club, too. Did you know Finn Tucker before today?”
“No. I thought it was all over when we disbanded the Club.”
The breath whooshed out of her. “We?”
“Redemption Club began over twenty years ago, before I had you in my life—at least full time, anyway. My brother—your father—wasn’t the only bad apple in the Hamilton barrel. I was into some nasty stuff back then, thought I was invincible. We all did.”
“Who?”
“Me, Stone, Wilson. We’d been friends in school. We were making money hand over fist doing not-so-legal things. That’s how we bought this ranch. But it was getting too dangerous, and we were nearly caught a couple times. By then, some of us had families who could be hurt by our activities, and Stone wanted to use most of his funds to start a legitimate business, so we agreed to shut the Club down. Now, this Finn guy comes along and has apparently discovered everything.”
“How could you have kept all of this from me? Did you think I wouldn’t understand?”
“You don’t understand,” he snapped. “How could you? I’m capable of horrible things. The Club was about trading services. People would come to us with all kinds of desires, everything from needing gambling money to wanting someone dead. They’d pay in money or in a promissory note to be repaid later.” He jerked his chin toward the table. “These cards. They signify debts. Promises to repay. Stone came up with the idea, came up with a system where we tore them in half. The person asking for the favor would keep the bottom half, signifying a debt to be repaid later. The top half had the debtor’s name and the date of the debt was incurred. Stone kept those. When the debt was repaid, the two halves were reunited. Redemption was achieved.”
“And the denominations? Do they have meaning?”
His lips twisted in a wry grin. “Numbers indicated lesser debts like borrowed money or harassment.”
“And face cards?”
“More serious debts. Murder, kidnapping, and the like.”
Darren’s card had been an eight, so most likely he’d owed a financial debt—the one that had purchased his trailer. Tristan’s had been a face card. He’d been more brutal, then, asking for something… worse. It made sense that he’d been the one to kill Mark Sheldon.
Her uncle’s card was a king.
“We had a ledger that lists everything, too,” Tom continued. “What services they’d requested, as well as who fulfilled it.” His gaze, filled with regret, met hers. “Finn probably read about how your parents drugged you, and decided to use it against you. I’m sure he must have the ledger. Stone had it last, had promised to destroy it.”
“Why would that have been recorded there?” But she already knew. Her stomach flopped like a dying fish.
“The person petitioning for a service has to provide justification.” He swallowed. “I listed why your parents deserved to be dead.”
Anger and disbelief warred with the blessed numbness that wanted to take over. He’d contracted her parents’ deaths, left her an orphan, and then brushed it under the rug as if nothing had ever happened. She suddenly felt nauseous, thinking about how she’d blamed herself during her childhood years, and how her savior had killed his own brother and sister-in-law. It was twisted. Sick. Even if it had saved her from a life of misery.
Seeing the moment she realized the truth, Tom scowled. “I told you I wasn’t worth the trouble. I’m not a good person.”
“The old you, maybe. The Tom I know has been hard on me at times, and taught me difficult lessons, but it was always out of love.” At least, she’d thought it was. “Wasn’t it?”
“And necessity. But after what I’ve done, I could never let myself get fully close to you, to really love you. You deserve better.”
“You gave me better. Even when you were holding back, you were better than what I had.” But she’d always blamed herself for what happened, believed herself unworthy of love. They’d both held back, afraid to love fully. “Stone was the invisible enemy you were constantly preparing me to battle, the reason you never wanted me to stray far from the ranch.”
“Yes.”
Anger and fear amped up the adrenaline, simulating a workout in Viper’s Pit. She embraced it, coaxed it to its full force, because it made her feel alive. “You always said that a soldier’s best weapon was knowing his enemy. How could you leave this out of my education? You always thought Stone would come for me. Why? What do you owe them?” Her gaze fell on the reunited halves of the card. “How did you achieve your redemption?”
“I killed someone Robert Stone wanted dead.”
“Then you should have been even, right? You’d already earned redemption?”
“It wasn’t that easy. He thinks you saw him, that night at your parents’ house, before it went up in flames.”
Her jaw dropped. “Stone was one of the men that night?” She searched her memory, but the men had become faceless in her mind.
“He found out you were in the tree. I convinced him you didn’t remember anything, and that I could keep you on Three Fortunes with me, out of the way.”
“So when I popped up recently, he got worried.”
“Especially since someone was blackmailing him. He thought it might be you.”
“So he tried to have you kick me off the ranch.” A humorless smile tugged at her lips.
“But you kept investigating, so he demanded more.”
“What did he want?”
Waves of worry buckled his forehead and his eyes filled with tears. She’d never seen him cry. “I gave them you.”
“Me?”
“Stone must have suspected I might hide out at the trailer. Finn tracked me down, took my phone and texted you. But I won’t let him harm you. They may have used me to get you here, but I’ve protected you all these years and I won’t stop now.”
She glanced at the card again before scanning his face. He definitely wasn’t the Tom she’d seen a couple days ago, before the ranch had been attacked. But he was the only person who loved her unconditionally. He was her family. Or so she’d thought.
Tom’s pain-filled eyes met hers. “I did what w
as necessary to keep us alive.”
She’d suspected living under the radar had something to do with that night. His reluctance to talk about the past had only reinforced it. The six-year-old Skye had blamed herself for what happened that night. Hiding in the tree, wishing the worst upon her parents. And then the worst had happened.
But the twenty-six-year-old Skye knew better. She didn’t have that kind of control over the world or the people in it. She only had control over her own actions. Still, the survivor’s guilt she’d lived with for years lurked like a blemish on her conscience, a scar that could never be fully erased. A taint on all of her relationships, shaping how she interacted with others, with Jared. God, she’d been afraid for nothing. It hadn’t been her. The bars of the cage around her heart loosened.
Tom sighed. “Stone promised to leave you alone, to let us live in peace on the ranch that the three of us had bought, as long as you didn’t dig into the past. He made me promise to keep you on the ranch, to make sure you never talked about that night.”
“I don’t remember their faces. I was up in a tree.” She only recalled two men coming to see her parents about business.
“Which is the only reason they let you live.”
“Who are they? Both Stone and Wilson had something to do with this?”
Tom’s tortured gaze met hers. “That’s how Redemption Club works, the beauty of it. You don’t have to do your own dirty work, so you have an alibi.”
She was breathing heavily now, trying to absorb the shocks that were coming at her like fists. The blows hit her one after the other, relentlessly.
Tom stopped beside her chair. “They may have used us against each other to get us here, but they don’t have a weapon to hold against you anymore. I’m not worth the bullet they’d use to shoot me, so when Finn comes back, you run and don’t look back.”
Her insides felt battered and bruised, but he was still her uncle, her only flesh and blood. They’d figure this out. He’d make recompense to the people he’d hurt, he’d redeem himself—without doing anything else that skirted the law. “We’ll get out of this together. And then we’ll get Stone.”
Stacking the Deck (Redemption Club Book 1) Page 25