“Quinn, sit down and we can talk this out. You’re an adult now, we couldn’t very much explain this to you when you were twelve.”
Agitated and confused, Quinn roughly swipes at the hurt running down her face. “No. You had your chance. You’ve had years to explain. I just … I don’t even know. I can’t be here right now.”
“Wait—” I start but she doesn’t listen.
And the woman who quickly became my friend, who is Trig’s sister, and also my cousin, turns and runs from the room we’re left standing in—shocked and surprised.
A door slams from somewhere deep in the manor.
Tommie turns to her husband in a panic. “Do something!”
But before he does, he turns to both Trig and me. “Leave our daughter alone. She doesn’t need you, she has us. She was happy and content—do not seek her out.”
Wow. This man really does not know the Montgomerys.
And it seems he doesn’t know Trig either because he expresses my thoughts exactly. “If you think I’m going to let my sister walk the earth and not be a part of her life, you’re out of your mind. You did this and my mother did this. It might’ve been in the best interest for a child, but she’s an adult. You don’t get to make those choices for her and you damn well don’t get to make them for me or the Montgomerys.”
And with that, we’re out the door of the estate faster than any butler could’ve kicked us out, if they had one.
* * *
Trig
I disconnect my call with Pettit, filling him in on the latest drama but told him to hold off telling Kipp and Hattie for now. Everything we know is based on the letters and journals of dead women.
Speeding through the streets of Highland Park to head north, I glance at Ellie, who’s frantically typing away on her phone. “What do you know about her? Where would she go?”
“I don’t know.” Ellie’s almost frantic, as much in shock as I was yesterday when I read through my mother’s memories learning I have a sister. “She told me she didn’t graduate from college, let alone go to Yale. Hell, I don’t even know which way is up.” Her hand lands on my forearm and I look back to her. “But if there’s one thing I know for sure, Trig, it’s that she just wanted to know me. I know I was played by Chloe and Robert’s parents had it out for me, but I don’t believe Quinn has an evil bone in her body.”
I look back to the highway where I enter the tollway to head home until we can figure out where to look for my sister. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree. That wasn’t the face or temperament of anyone with pent-up resentment. If she’s the sole beneficiary of the doctors, she doesn’t need a dime from your family. No offense, but they make the Montgomerys look like Barretts.”
I roll my eyes. “That’s a bit of a stretch, but as much as I hate what you’re saying, I think you’re right. Dammit, she’s not answering my texts.”
“Call her,” I demand. “We don’t know where she would go. Keep calling her and texting until she answers.”
“I can’t believe Silvie had a baby—with your dad. My father is going to go crazy—he loved his little sister with everything he had. He couldn’t save her, as much as he tried. To know that he has a niece that could have been in our lives,” she pauses and I reach over to take her hand. “This is nuts, Trig. Too much. We have to find her.”
“We will, angel. Keep calling. She’ll answer eventually.”
We’re almost home when Ellie’s phone bings with a text through the silent space.
Ellie turns to me full of hope. “It’s her. She says she’s sorry and she wants to talk to me.” She looks back to her phone and reads before sending off a quick text. “She said she doesn’t want me to think that she meant any harm by not telling me who she was. She just wanted to get to know me first. I’m telling her to come to our house so we can talk.”
I veer off the highway. “Good. I feel bad for her but she can’t get curious about our father. We need to make sure she knows she cannot trust Ray Barrett. I can’t imagine what he’d do if he found out his biological daughter was worth what she is. But he’s casing their house. I don’t know how he would’ve figured out Quinn is his, but it’s too much of a coincidence to assume anything else. She needs to protect herself from him.”
“She’s on her way and will meet us at the house.” Ellie leans back and shakes her head. “She said she isn’t far and has been driving around not knowing where to go.”
My phone rings and it’s Pettit. “Hey, I know you’ve been busy at the Toussaints and probably haven’t been watching your dad’s tracker, but he hasn’t budged since this morning. I know it’s a Sunday, but he’s been home ever since circling the doctors’ house. Unless he’s nursing one hell of a hangover, that’s not like him.”
I glance over at Ellie as I turn into the neighborhood with sprawling lots and wooded trees that couldn’t be more different than the mansion we just left but will always feel like home. “No, that’s not like him. Have you seen any action on the property from the cameras?”
“Your uncle’s car pulled out earlier around five o’clock, but that’s it. We haven’t seen any other movement since.”
Shit. I look at the clock as I pull into the garage. It’s almost ten.
I kill my engine and shut the garage door. Ellie jumps out, calling over her shoulder, “I’m going to go in and wait for her.”
I nod and sit in the car to finish my call. “Ellie got hold of Quinn. She’s upset but she’s on her way to the house. I gotta be honest, I’ve hardly paid any attention to Quinn when I’m at the studio. Everything’s been crazy with Ellie, it’s hard to see anything else when she’s around.”
“I get that. From what I’ve seen of Quinn, she’s quiet but friendly. I’m sure she was doing her best to fly under the radar. But fuck me, after this and the babysitter, make sure I run a background check on anyone who wants to work for Ellie Montgomery in the future. This would have been out in the open instead of getting this far.”
“Don’t worry, I will. Look, I’ve gotta go. Ellie’s in waiting for Quinn and I’m anxious to get to know the sister I didn’t know I had until yesterday.”
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Jen’s almost beside herself wanting to know everything there is about their long-lost cousin. Just wanted to give you the heads up that your dad either has the flu or he’s on a Netflix binge. I’m getting nothing but literal fucking crickets on those closed-circuit feeds. He hasn’t even walked outside for a smoke,” he adds.
“I’ll keep an eye on it. Talk to you tomorrow.” I press the engine button and grab my wallet. When I drop my stuff on the kitchen counter and wade through the boxes and furniture that is our combined lives, the front door is standing open. Frowning, I move through to the front porch and a white car is parked in the driveway.
“Ellie?” I yell into the darkness and jog to the car but when I get to the driver’s side, the door is standing open and there’s a purse on the ground I don’t recognize. Tearing through it, it’s exactly what I feared. Rino Toussaint—her driver’s license and a slew of credit cards to prove it.
“Ellie! Quinn!” I yell as I look down the street where something reflects in the dark from the dim, lonely street light. Shit. My insides twist when I get close and bend to pick it up.
Ellie’s phone, in a million fucking pieces, tossed to the street.
“Fuck!”
32
A Puzzle
Settin’ the truth free isn’t always liberatin’. Sometimes it’s toxic.
Ellie
Shit.
It happened in a blink. One moment I had Quinn in an embrace, reassuring her we were fine, and even though I didn’t totally understand why she kept her identity a secret, that it didn’t matter. That the truth is freeing and we needed to get beyond the secrets. She was crying and her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, but I made her look at me and promise she wouldn’t run off again. Because we not only shared Montgomery blood, we had Faye in common and I kn
ew that if Faye had a hand in raising her, she was good to the bone, just like Trig.
Her wounded, icy eyes were guarded, but she nodded.
I was about to take her inside when my world was flipped and shaken and turned inside-out.
An old sedan came out of nowhere and screeched to a stop. When I saw who it was, I grabbed Quinn’s arm and ran—or I tried to. She was confused and turned into a deer in the headlights.
They got to us both—Ray and his brother. I screamed and fought and scraped at Trig’s father, the past coming back in a rush—what are nightmares for most people were a reality for me. I was thrown into the trunk and Quinn was easily tossed in after me, but not before he wrestled my phone away and all I heard was glass shattering on concrete.
“Ellie?” Quinn weeps next to me where we’re packed in tight with debris and foul trash. “What are we going to do?”
We’ve been driving forever and I’ve given up on screaming. My voice is hoarse and my abdomen is killing me from where they tackled me before throwing us in the trunk.
“I don’t know.” I clear my froggy throat and try to calm my speeding heart. “Right now, we don’t have many choices. My ribs are killing me. Feel around and see if there’s anything sharp. Do you have your phone? They threw mine out.”
“No, it was in my purse.”
Shit. I try not to think about where we’re going or how far we might be from civilization. Or Trig. He’s got to be going crazy.
“I’m sorry,” she cries. “You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me.”
“Stop. It’s not you. It’s a long story and I’ll explain when we get out of this mess—and we will get out of this mess. But Ray Barrett hates me. My statements to the police helped send him to prison.” I try not to think about the restraining order he’s breaking along with kidnapping us. If he’s willing to resort to this while on parole, it doesn’t bode well for our outcome. My voice hitches, deceiving me. “We need to stay calm and be smart. There’re two of us—being kidnapped with a friend is better than being kidnapped alone, right?”
Quinn continues to cry.
I wince in pain when the smooth ride turns bumpy—gravel pings and jumps, biting the metal of the old car we were thrown in. When we lurch to a stop, the pain is unbearable.
“Ellie,” she whispers through the dark.
“Did you find anything?” I ask.
Her hand finds my arm and it slides down, pressing a cool piece of metal into my palm. It feels sharp … ish. It’s better than nothing and I slide it into my front pocket. Loud talking turns to yelling.
“Holy shit, they’re arguing.” I lower my voice, yet it’s no less determined. “Whatever we do, we’ll wait and find the right time. We’ll get out of this. You’re not just a Montgomery, you’re a Barrett. I have a son and just got the love of my life back. And I’m pretty sure my period is late. There’s no way I’m going to let Ray Barrett ruin my life a second time. Do you understand me? We have to get out of this.”
I let go of her wrist, not realizing just how tightly I was gripping her. She mumbles what better be an okay because I need her to be strong. And at this point, I have to assume no one knows where we are. Of course, Ray couldn’t kidnap us in his truck that has a tracker on it.
The yelling gets louder and then, finally, we catch a breath of fresh air. It’s easy to work up a sweat on warm Texas nights, so when the trunk finally opens, I don’t realize how hot I am for my fear.
“Well, I lucked the fuck out.” Through the moonlight, I see the man responsible for my life falling apart ten years ago. “All I wanted was her.” Ray motions to Quinn, who’s pressed up against my side and quivering like a virginal bride on her wedding night before looking back to me. “And I get ya, too. The forbidden one my boy couldn’t keep his hands off of. The one who came nosin’ around where she didn’t belong, got herself hurt, and then blabbed. Fuckin’ got me tossed in the slammer for a dime.”
“Trig will be here any minute,” I lie. “He’s got a tracker on you.”
Ray clicks his tongue and reaches in, grabbing my arm and yanking. It’s all I can do not to writhe with pain but I refuse to give him the satisfaction. His brother reaches for Quinn and she cries out immediately at his viciousness.
“Careful with my daughter.” Ray’s words slither out of his mouth, as venomous as a starved snake in the desert. He stands straighter and goes on. “I just met her and we need to get acquainted.”
Ray’s grip on my bicep tightens, jerking me as he pushes. I barely right myself before falling into Quinn and she grasps at me to help me up.
“What the fuck have you done?”
Another voice breaks through the stagnant, muggy night. I swing my head around and can’t believe what I’m seeing.
I’ve hated him for ten years. Actually, even before that. Hell, I hate him almost as much as I hate Ray Barrett. The man who stands before me sat next to me in the hospital and explained in detail what would happen to Trig if I didn’t cooperate. At the young age of eighteen, he scared the daylights out of me and I believed every word he said. He was a fearmonger—using his power and disgusting old-man creepiness to get me to retract the only alibi Trig had.
It appears life hasn’t been any kinder to him than he was to me so long ago.
I know for a fact he stepped down because of a scandal. My mother and her friends have gossiped about it the same way they talk about bad pie at a funeral luncheon.
“You think I want them on my property, Barrett?” Logan yells. “We’ve been over this. I don’t want anything to do with them or you.”
“Ya owe me, motherfucker. Ya know ya do. They fucking threw me in the clink for a decade. I took the fall to cover your ass.”
Quinn and I cling to each other as best we can. Because I lost my flip-flops when they threw me in the trunk, I’m fidgeting, the gravel might as well be rusty nails on my bare feet.
“Like hell you did,” the sheriff bites back. Ron Logan holds a finger up and sweat beads his lined, never-ending forehead. “We had a fucking agreement. I don’t run your DNA, you shut the fuck up about me working the lab with you. You went to prison for cookin’ crank, not murder. You’re fuckin’ welcome, cocksucker, otherwise you’d be rotting away for life with the evidence I got. DNA does not fucking lie. I don’t need these bitches on my property. I told you that the other day. How many times did you get fucked while you were inside? Prison made you dense.”
Murder?
“Shut your hole, bitch-ass. I told ya the heat was on and I needed to use your land. We were partners, once-upon-a-fucking-nightmare, before ya started kissin’ Kipp Montgomery’s ass. And don’t get me started about my DNA ‘cause ya were right there with me when Silvie threatened to go to Kipp about us selling when we didn’t believe her about the damn baby. Said she gave it up, then she changed her mind—she wasn’t making a lick of sense. The way she fought you, there’s no way your skin wasn’t under Silvie’s nails, too.”
“Difference between you and me?” Logan drawls. “I know what makes a case and what doesn’t. She might’ve gotten clean, but I shot her up to make her look like the skank she was. Why do you think I volunteered to dump her body? And my DNA isn’t in the system. No way could I be linked to Silvie Montgomery.”
“Doesn’t matter now,” Ray goes on. “I’ve got debts to pay that’ll cost me a fuckin’ mint. These two are rich and are the only ones I know worth a ransom.”
“Who’s she?” Logan tosses a glance toward my office manager.
Ray looks to Quinn and an evil smile creeps over his face. I wonder how he could be responsible for giving Trig, and now Quinn, life. “My daughter who was stolen from me. All these years I thought Silvie was lyin’. She told me she had our baby after she came back, but I thought she was just fightin’ for her life. Told me she left it on my doorstep ‘cause she was weak and couldn’t deal. That woman couldn’t handle her sugar block. It was a puzzle, but once I laid eyes on this one coming and going from Ellie�
�s building, I followed her one night, ‘cause why the fuck not? She’s pretty. Didn’t take long once I saw where she lived. It was easy—that’s where Faye worked and I know she even moved in with them. It all goes back to Faye. Look at her.” He motions to Quinn who whimpers. “No doubt she’s mine.”
I try not to wince as history unfolds at our feet. But the more they talk in front of us, the more I fear for our future if we can’t make it out of here on our own. They make no bones about hiding anything, which means they don’t plan on letting us out of here alive.
I’m not sure if Quinn picks up on this tidbit of critical information, but she holds me close and I’m more determined than ever to get us out of here. She deserves to get to know her family—Trig and the Montgomerys. And even though she was stolen away as an infant, her parents seem like good people, in a felonish sort of way.
Quinn’s fear radiates into my body. I dare them to try and rip her grip from my arm—it’s just that tight.
The ex-sheriff looks like he wants to take Ray down for trespassing, but not in a legal way.
And Ray Barrett…
The man responsible for Trig’s and my greatest loss—one I pray we’ll never experience again—sniggers.
A challenge … fuck.
One we do not need to be in the middle of.
33
Half-Cocked
If I’m witness to anything, it’s that timing can be life-changing.
Trig
From the timestamp on the video surveillance, I should only be fifteen minutes behind them.
“You’re sure there’s no movement on my father’s property?” I ask, speeding down a highway faster than I should be on this dark, quiet Sunday night.
Broken Halo: The Montgomery Series, Book 2 Page 28