by Cora Kenborn
“It was you,” I stammered. “In Luis’s apartment—it was you. What did I do to you to deserve this?”
I didn’t expect an answer, but I guess arrogance was its own worst enemy.
He let out an amused chuckle, seemingly pleased with himself. “I knew about you and Mateo years ago. Pussy is pussy, so I let him have his fun with you.” Walking a slow gait toward me, I held my breath as he gripped the chair’s armrests and leaned down. “Until you convinced him to turn his back on his own. Then I had to do some pussy damage control.”
More pieces fell into place. “You had him arrested.”
“I’m flattered you think I wield that much power, but it was a group effort.” Stepping back, he shrugged. “I could’ve killed him. I was soft back then.”
“He trusted you!” I screamed.
His look of validation came with annoyance. “What part of I could’ve killed him did you not hear, puta? And how did I get repaid for my mercy? I got left in this piece of shit town while he lived the life of a god.”
I jumped as he fisted his hands and hit the wall.
Crooking a finger, he tapped it against his temple. “But I always think ahead. I plan. I watch. I see. And when something benefits me, I take it.”
“Did my mother benefit you?” I hissed, tired of his self-congratulatory rant.
“Ah, yes. Our little home video. I assume that’s what your phone call was about?” He leaned against the wall and laughed as I scowled. “Years ago, she asked for help getting rid of some dead weight, so I requested payment—an insurance policy, so to speak. Between you and me, I think she enjoyed it more than she wants to admit.”
“Shut up!” Spots filled my vision, and my head swam as a whimper floated up from the floor.
“Sarah,” I whispered. “She’s innocent.”
Pushing off the wall, Emilio stood over her. “That bitch stole from me—shit I’d kept for years to cover my ass. Then I went through her phone and found out she was Hector Diaz’s side piece.” I winced as he pulled his foot back and kicked her in the ribs. “Whore.”
My heart broke as Sarah collapsed again. I wanted to help her, but my mind was too focused on one thing.
“Where’s my daughter?” I shrieked.
He clucked his tongue and pulled his phone from his pocket. “It’s showtime.”
Showtime could’ve meant anything. Since he had an obvious love for preserving moments on film, maybe he was calling someone to capture my death for his future viewing pleasure.
He smiled as the person on the other end of the call answered. “It’s not quite three o’clock, but the meeting has started.”
A new wave of nausea churned my stomach.
Three o’clock.
I told my mother to meet me at three o’clock.
I focused on breathing and not the clock, so I had no idea if it’d been five or fifty minutes by the time the quiet knock finally came. Emilio opened it, stepping aside as my mother walked in, all business in a tailored cream-colored suit, heels, and pearls.
She stood just inside the doorway with her phone in her hand, her face expressionless. Even after all she’d done, some part of me still held out hope that the woman who gave birth to me still existed.
“Mother,” I begged, never taking my eyes off her. “Help me.”
Ignoring me, she turned toward Emilio. “Have you retrieved our stolen package?”
“Yes, and I’ve hidden her in a secure location.” Anger flared in Emilio’s eyes, and he kicked Sarah again. “This one followed me and tried to stop me. As you can see, she failed.”
My mother offered Sarah only a passing glance before turning her attention toward her phone. “Wonderful.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I yelled, jerking on my restraints again.
She glanced up, “Am I supposed to be shamed by a murdering whore?”
“It takes one to know one,” I shot back with ice in my voice. “You think I don’t know you set Daddy up? Alex called in the tip that the Carreras were moving shipments. What a coincidence Daddy was the only one to show up. Coincidences like that don’t just happen, Mother. Especially to ones whose wives were fucking important business men.”
“Watch your mouth,” she hissed.
“You knew Finn hurt me.”
“A wife stands by her husband.”
“A mother protects her child!” I yelled.
She smiled. “A woman ensures her own survival.”
“You have no idea how much.” I stared at her, letting the unsaid warning hang in the air. I should’ve left it at that, but the need for other answers gnawed at me. “Why do you want to hurt an innocent little girl?”
She laughed, and I felt it all the way to my soul. “I honestly had no idea the little bitch existed, so you can thank your brother for that. Obviously, running for governor with an illegitimate cartel grandchild wouldn’t have boded well for me.” Her indifference slipped, and she glared at me. “Then you had to fuck everything up by killing that moron boyfriend of yours.”
“Why involve Alex?”
“So many questions,” she groaned. “This is why you’re here—your damn need to know everything. “I never trusted him,” she said, tossing a hand in Emilio’s direction. “And since I owned the good agent, I used him to ensure this one didn’t double-cross me.”
Keep her talking, Leighton. Just keep her talking and maybe someone will come.
“So why bother putting Stella in protective custody?”
“That wasn’t my idea. Although it was a brilliant move to intimidating you into infiltrating the cartel just to save his own ass.” She paused and leaned her hip against the door. “Poor bastard never realized I was one step ahead of him the whole time—of everyone, really.”
Emilio piped up. “What the hell does that mean?”
Smiling, she moved away from the doorway and flipped her phone around. A live broadcast streamed across her screen and right in the dead center was Emilio’s mugshot.
“What the fuck?” he shouted, lunging for the phone.
She laughed, pulling it away from him. “Did you think you were ever in charge? Getting rid of the brat would’ve been simple, but this is so much better. Think of the media coverage—the outrage and sympathy you’ve caused.” As the excitement in her eyes calmed, she offered me a twisted sympathetic smile. “I never wished you harm, Leighton. However, you’ve forced my hand.”
“I’m your family!”
She held my gaze for a moment. “So was your father.”
As she turned to leave, Emilio’s voice stopped her. “Hold up, bitch. I did my part. I found the kid and stopped her, but Cortes walked free. Where’s my revenge?”
All my mother did was shrug. “I can’t help that my son has pull. I certainly didn’t anticipate my daughter would marry that Mexican. I should’ve known better.”
“I agree.” Pulling a gun from his waistband, he aimed it at her chest.
My mother had the balls to look irritated. “Are we really doing this?”
“That’s up to you.”
“If you insist.” Reaching into her suit pocket, she pulled out her own gun. In Emilio’s shock, he didn’t react quickly enough, and my mother landed an impressive shot right between his eyes. “I guess he forgot I was a cop’s wife for fifteen years,” she offered with a wink.
I couldn’t speak. Emilio lay dead on the floor, shot by my own mother. This couldn’t be happening.
I must have closed my eyes because they opened the minute I felt her cold fingers on my skin. I choked out a sob as she jerked the gold pendant off my neck and dropped it in her pocket.
“You won’t be needing this,” she said, turning to walk away.
Stopping near the door, she dug inside her purse and pulled out a book of matches and a bottle of nail polish remover. After dumping the entire bottle of liquid around the only exit, she stepped over the mess and paused in the doorway.
“Oh, and you hung up before I could a
nswer your question. You’re right. It is time to cut the crap and be who we are. Well said, darling.”
As she struck a match and tossed it behind her, I screamed for the only thing that mattered. “Where’s my baby, you bitch?”
The door closed, sucking all the air out with it. Still, I screamed the same words over and over as Sarah groaned on the floor beside me. Opening her eyes, she gurgled, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
“The circle of life...”
“What? What the hell does that mean?” I screamed, jerking so hard on my restraints the chair tipped over and sent me sprawling onto my side.
A whoosh preceded an explosion, sending up a cloud of smoke that filled my lungs and burned my eyes.
Sarah glanced at the flames, a sad smile on her lips just before she passed out again. “Twinkle, twinkle, little star.”
Forty-Two
Mateo
Picking up his phone, I threw it across the table, watching it as it skidded off the edge and bounced onto the floor. “I don’t care. Call somebody else.”
“There’s no one left to call, Mateo.” Brody sat at the table with his head in his hands, staring at his phone. “We’ve called everyone. Every soldier, sicario, and falcon is out looking for them right now. All we can do is wait.”
I had no idea how he could be so calm. Not only had I told him what Bright found out about Atwood and his father, I showed him the video of his mother and the man who had his sister. Still, he sat here acting like we’d been defeated.
Grabbing my keys off the table, I barreled across the apartment. Just as I reached the door, a shadow stepped in front of me.
“Detente!” Stop.
“Get out of my way, Val.”
A flicker of emotion crossed his face before the boss in him took over. “What do you think driving around town like some idiota is going to do?”
“I can’t stay here and do nothing. What if it were Eden?”
“Harcourt,” he yelled across the room, motioning Brody out of his chair. “Pull your shit together. We’re chasing a rat.”
Retrieving his phone, Brody fell in line behind us, and just as he closed the door to his apartment, it rang.
“It’s my mother,” he said, staring at the screen.
Val dipped his chin. “Answer it.”
“Mom?” he asked, our eyes locking, “what’s wrong?” Lines deepened in his forehead as I heard a frantic voice filter through the line. “Wait, calm down. I can’t understand you. Who’s hurt?”
He didn’t have to say her name. I saw it in his face.
Leighton.
“Fire?” His vacant eyes sharpened with one word. “Mom, leave your phone on. I can track it.” Disconnecting the call, he ran down the stairs bypassing both Val and me.
Ten minutes into driving north on I-69, I couldn’t take it anymore. As Val texted all available nearby soldiers to meet up with us, I lost it.
“What the hell is going on, Harcourt?”
His hand tightened around his phone as his eyes remained glued to the dot on the GPS map we were tracking. “I don’t know exactly. My mother was hysterical. From what I could get out of her, Leighton called her and said to meet her off Lauder Road. When she got there, it was on fire.”
“But she got out, right?”
Brody didn’t answer. He just kept staring at that damn red dot. I hated that dot.
“Brody,” I exploded, slamming my fist against the headrest, “where the fuck is Leighton?”
Still nothing.
“Brody!”
Slamming his fist into the dashboard, he turned around, his face ravaged. “She didn’t make it out, all right?”
Denial was a funny thing. Sometimes it drove a man to the darkest depths of depravity, and sometimes it propelled him into blissful ignorance.
Right now, I chose ignorance.
Because in ignorance, my angel still walked the earth.
Brody was the first one out of the car. His footing wasn’t stable, and if I gave half a shit to be near Lilith Donovan, I could’ve had her facedown with a bullet in her brain before he closed his door. But I didn’t. I knew she’d put on a show first.
Ignorance still fueled me. Leighton was alive, and until I knew differently, no one would convince me otherwise.
Lilith lay sprawled out in the middle of a deserted field like farm roadkill. Val was the first one to notice and point out the plume of smoke rising above the trees. Without a word, I headed back to the Land Rover when he stopped me with a hard arm across my chest.
“We have men who are closer.” Pressing a button on his phone, he instantly connected with one. “There’s a fire on the Grayson property.” He held my gaze. “Get everyone out—dead or alive.”
As his last words hung in the air, I turned toward Brody. I had to hand it to him; he played the concerned son role so well, I almost bought it.
Squatting beside Lilith, he called her name repeatedly. “Mom? Mom? Mom!” She finally stopped moaning long enough to reach for him, but Brody tensed and pulled back. “Where’s Leighton?”
Flailing her arm, she pointed diagonally to the right. “I couldn’t save her. He turned my baby girl into a monster,” she howled, rolling around again. “Then he killed her.”
I’d had enough. “Who killed her?”
“Emilio Reyes!”
“What are you saying?” Brody asked. “Leighton would never hurt anyone. And what does Emilio have to do with all this?” He was baiting her—trying to push her buttons into slipping the noose around her own neck.
“You,” she accused, pointing a shaking finger at me. “You brainwashed her. You brought her into your sick world, and he got in her head. You turned her against her own family.”
“Mom, stop!”
“Don’t believe me? She called me and lured me here. You can hear her for yourself.” Pulling her phone out of the pocket of her pantsuit, she cued up the message and put it on speaker.
“Hello?”
“I think we can help each other. I’m not as stupid as you think I am, but that’s okay, neither are you. It’s time to cut the crap and be who we are, don’t you think?”
“But...”
“I said, cut the crap. I know everything. Meet me at three o’clock. I’ll text you the address.”
“And you went?” he asked. “Why not call the police?”
“She’s my daughter, Brody! There was no time. If there was one last chance to save her from them, don’t you think I’d try? Plus, I had to tell her that I’d found out that...”
“What?”
“The San Marcos PD couldn’t get in touch with Leighton, so they called me. Your grandparents were murdered, and your niece is missing.”
My heart seized then slammed against my chest until I thought it would explode.
Stella...
“Isn’t it obvious what’s happened?” she continued. “Our family has been their target since your father’s death. Emilio Reyes tried to use Leighton against me. Now she’s gone, and...” Letting out another wail, she managed to squeeze out a few tears. “God knows if little Della will ever be found.”
I clenched my teeth. “Stella.”
She popped an eye open. “Of course, Stella.”
I would go insane if I thought about losing my wife and daughter right now. Brody was one question away from splintering, so I had to take control.
Focus on Leighton now. Find Stella after. Kill everyone later.
“Did you see her?” I asked, stepping in between them. “You don’t have a scratch on you, Mayor Donovan.”
“If I could’ve gotten in the door, don’t you think I would’ve?” she hissed. “I suppose something didn’t go as planned. When I got there, the whole house was already in flames.” I bit my tongue as she wiped invisible tears. “I couldn’t save her.”
I felt robotic. I saw the smoke, but I refused to believe it. Maybe the need for her to be okay had filled me with such rage there wasn’t room for acceptanc
e.
“No!” Brody finally shouted. “You’re wrong.”
Climbing to her knees, Lilith reached into her pocket, pulling out a thin gold chain stained with dark brown splotches. “I found this outside.”
As soon as Brody took it from her, the gold “L” slipped between his fingers, and his tortured wail drowned out the sound of two SUVs pulling up. Glancing over my shoulder, I watched four of our men walk up to Val, their expressions somber.
Val wasted no time. “Casualties?”
“We lost three men going in. No one’s called the fire department. This far out, people just assume it’s just a brush fire.”
“Not us, idiota,” he muttered.
The soldier nodded. “Three charred bodies.”
“It seems we have an extra player in this game.” Val noted with interest.
I wasn’t interested in games. I only wanted answers, but nothing made sense. Years ago, I’d warned Leighton about this place. I even brought her out here just to warn her to stay away from it. She sure as hell wouldn’t come here voluntarily—especially with Emilio.
I couldn’t make myself believe she was in that house.
“I told her where to go if she was ever in trouble,” Brody whispered to himself. “Why didn’t she call me?”
Closing the distance between us, I bent down. “What did you just say?”
Brody glanced up, still gripping the pendent. “We had a deal. If she was ever in trouble, she was supposed to go to my apartment and wait for me. She promised me.”
The ice in my chest melted and blood pumped through my veins again. What I felt made sense. All I had to do was trust it.
“Yeah. Yeah, she did.”
When I first got out of the car, there were just a few drops. Now, the bottom dropped out of the sky, blowing sheets of rain sideways and stinging my face. I didn’t mind. The weather matched my mood—reckless and chaotic.
It was dark, and if I didn’t know these woods as well as I did, some random hiker would probably find me in a few weeks, half-eaten by wild animals. Lucky for me, I’d combed these trails so many times, I could do it blindfolded. I didn’t though.