Tiger Mom (Killer Moms Book 4)

by Eve Langlais

  Was it revenge? Mae wouldn’t have called her mother petty, and yet, she’d read the stories. Knew how divorce made some people crazy. Mother had tried to avoid that by running away. It explained her paranoia.

  But it didn’t give her an excuse.

  Mae wanted to meet her daddy. Which was why, in that bathroom, that same night, she’d sent him a message, an online search netting her a surprising email address.

  She didn’t expect a reply, and yet it came within the hour.

  Dearest daughter, it fills me with immense joy to hear from you. Please, let us not waste any time and meet at once. Your choice of location and time. Bring your mother if you wish. Let us end this terrible separation. Your ever-loving father. Ronin.

  It was a more perfect reply than she’d expected. Saying all the right things. Eloquent. Eager.

  It filled Mae with hope. And fear. What if her father was disappointed when he met her? Then she felt guilt. Because she’d done something her mother wouldn’t like.

  How to tell her? Maybe she wouldn’t tell her quite yet. She could communicate with her father, meet with him, take his measure, and ease the transition. Show her mother that she had nothing to fear.

  Mae and Lin would never abandon her.

  So, she felt quite confident in making arrangements to meet him in a public place. After all, there were people around. They could easily call for help.

  Then again, why would she need aid? This was her father.

  He’d been so happy that she wanted to meet. Claimed he was hopping on a plane at that very moment so he wouldn’t be late to meet them.

  A little too eager? Everything had moved faster than expected. Too fast. And now that Mae sat in a pizza shop, an old one in need of new paint, waiting for him to arrive, she couldn’t help but eye the door and wonder if perhaps she’d made a mistake.

  Then it was too late.

  He came from behind, the murmur in the shop dying being her only warning. She noticed the four other people inside paying attention to a spot behind her.

  As if in a dream, Mae pivoted on her stool and saw him.

  Taller than expected. Handsome, even if the pictures didn’t hint at the gray feathering his temples. His suit neat and unwrinkled. His expression smiling. “Hello. I am Ronin. You must be Mae and Lin. My daughters.” He held open his arms.

  Lin threw herself off the stool to hug him. Mae moved more slowly. She couldn’t explain her trepidation. This was what she’d wanted.

  She eyed the door. Then the still-silent restaurant. Why did they all watch her father as if waiting for something?

  “You don’t greet your father?” The words sounded pleasant enough, and yet a glance at his face showed that his eyes were tight.

  Angry? Or was that sorrow at her seeming rejection?

  “Father.” She sketched him a short bow before hugging him, Lin moving aside to make room for her twin.

  There was none of the warm comfort she got from her mother or Aunt Joanna. Even Ted, for that matter.

  Blame it on her nerves. She’d done it. Found her father. Good or bad, there was no turning back now.

  Conversation in the pizza shop resumed as Father led them to a booth instead of the stools. It placed them in the window bordering the sidewalk, which made Mae fidget. What if her mother and Ted came strolling down this street and saw them?

  Her father noticed. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” Which was a lie. Hadn’t her family had enough of those? “Mom doesn’t know we came to see you.”

  “Probably for the best, given her decision to keep us separated.” The words emerged tight and clipped.

  “I’m sure she had a reason,” Lin softly stated.

  “There is no possible reason for a father to be kept from his children.”

  Mae almost objected. She could think of plenty of reasons, none of them very nice. Was their father that kind of man? The kind who hurt his family? She was beginning to wonder because, despite his apparent pleasant demeanor, she couldn’t help but feel that he hid something.

  He bought them each a Coke float, a glass of fizzing dark pop with a scoop of ice cream on top. He asked them a few mundane questions about their health and their upbringing. But it was when he asked about how they’d gotten to the island that Mae began to feel uncomfortable. Not so Lin.

  “We’re on a cruise.”

  “Really?” Ronin leaned forward. “And what’s the name of your ship?”

  “Princess something or other,” Mae muttered, which described a good three or four vessels. But not theirs.

  When Lin opened her mouth to correct Mae, she kicked her under the table, even as she smiled sweetly at their father. “We really should get back to the ship. We can’t be late.” Not for the departure, at least. Too late, she kind of wished she’d spent more time emailing her dad. He wasn’t at all how she’d imagined. Not to mention, Mom would be so mad when she found out what Mae had done.

  “You’re not finishing the cruise,” Ronin stated.

  “Why not?” Lin asked, which was good because it saved Mae the trouble.

  The smile on his lips held no warmth. “Because we’re going home.”

  Lin still didn’t understand. “Our house burned down.”

  “I know. I was the one who had the fire set.” His grin widened. “Your home is now with me. Wherever I go. You go. Daughters.”

  The claim didn’t inspire a warm and fuzzy feeling. “We live with Mom,” Mae mumbled softly.

  “Not anymore. I’ve missed out on ten years of your lives. That changes today.”

  “You can’t just decide that. Custody agreements are made in courts, by a judge.”

  “Maybe in your country. But we’re not in the United States. As your father, I am claiming you, as is my right.”

  Staring at him, Mae began to grasp her error in contacting him. What have I done?

  Lin began to shake her head wildly. “I don’t want to live with you. I want Mom.”

  “Then you’d better hope she chooses to return to me,” Ronin said with a cruel twist of his lips.

  Enough was enough. “I think this was a mistake.” Grabbing Lin’s hand, Mae hauled her sister as she dove out of the booth. They were young. Fast. If they could keep out of his reach, they’d make it to the ship where it was safe. Mom would protect them.

  The plan might have succeeded, only the two people sitting by the table at the door stood and blocked her way. When Mae whirled, she noted that the other two customers were also on their feet, flanking their father.

  A chiding click emerged from him as he approached. “How disappointing. And to think we were having such a pleasant reunion.”

  “You can’t keep us.”

  “On the contrary. I can, and I will. And if I dangle you just right, I bet I’ll snare your mother, too.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The twins weren’t in their room, and a quick check of the public areas didn’t show them anywhere else either.

  Macey was freaking, and Ted couldn’t blame her. “He’s taken them.”

  “You can’t be sure.”

  “It’s Ronin. I can feel it.”

  Looking around the tidy room, Ted didn’t entirely agree. “How did he get past Joanna?”

  “Drugged her, obviously.”

  “Why don’t we wake her and find out?”

  Macey had just the thing, a shot that, when injected, caused Joanna to open her eyes wide and gasp. “What the hell?”

  “You tell me! Where are the girls?”

  “What do you mean, they’re right…” Joanna’s voice trailed off as she took in the room and their faces. “Oh, shit. Those brats. They drugged me.”

  “Mae and Lin?” Macey scoffed. “They wouldn’t.”

  “Don’t be so sure. I knew something was up. Remember how I told you the girls weren’t sick? I was right. The moment you were gone, they were pacing the room. Acting nervous and secretive. Lin especially. Lots of whispering going on.”

>   “And you didn’t think to ask them why?” Macey crossed her arms.

  Joanna was having none of it. “Of course, I asked. They gave me some crap answer.”

  “This is my fault. I never should have left,” Macey huffed.

  “We can’t automatically assume they’re in trouble. They’re curious young ladies, could be they wanted to go exploring without an adult.”

  “They wouldn’t dare.”

  Joanna snorted. “Now, you’re being naïve.”

  “What are you suggesting? That my girls drugged you so they could wander off on their own. That’s ludicrous.”

  “Is it really?” Joanna pointed to a bottle of juice on the nightstand. “I assume that’s how they drugged me. One minute, I was popping stomach pills and chugging the juice they gave me to wash it down. The next, you were waking me up.”

  “You don’t know they drugged it. Could be someone else planted it.”

  Ted blinked at her. “You really don’t want to believe it.” He glanced at Joanna, who shrugged.

  “She’s blind where they’re concerned.”

  “I know my girls,” Macey snapped. “They wouldn’t do something like this.”

  “Unless they had a good reason,” Ted offered. “Let’s pretend for a moment that they did put Joanna to sleep. Why? Where did they want to go that they figured we’d say no to?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. Ask her. She was the one with them before it happened.” Macey glared.

  “Don’t look at me,” Joanna stated. “I was outsmarted by a pair of ten-year-olds.”

  In Joanna’s defense, they were pretty fucking smart.

  “All this arguing isn’t helping to find them. We need a plan.”

  Chances were they’d gone on an adventure, and they’d come back when they were good and done. However, they were attractive ten-year-olds. Too pretty. Without an adult to watch over them.

  “They must have left a clue.” Ted glanced at Joanna. “Were they on their tablets at all?”

  “Yeah. Reading.”

  “I turned off their Wi-Fi,” Macey remarked. “I wanted to make sure they didn’t accidentally broadcast our location.”

  “Have you forgotten what you told me about Mae?”

  It took a bit before Macey’s expression changed as she had her lightbulb moment. “She won the junior female hacking tournament last year. But that was for kid stuff.”

  “And?”

  Macey scrambled over the bed and snared the tablet from the nightstand. Locked. And after five wrong attempts, it flashed a permanent user locked out notification.

  “Dammit.” Macey flung it aside and eyed Lin’s device.

  “Before you start playing with it, maybe we should try something else.”

  “Like?” she snapped. She rubbed her worried brow. “Sorry. I know I’m being a bitch, but I can’t help it. Something is wrong. I can feel it.”

  “Then let’s slow down so we don’t fuck this up. Because I assume you don’t know Lin’s password.”

  “No. It’s not a word, though. It’s a shape.” She showed him the grid with the nine points.

  “Can I have it for a second?” He held the tablet up and tilted it, trying to get a feel for the marks on the screen. While tapping left a distinct print, sliding a finger in a pattern often enough might just leave a mark. “I need a pen and paper.”

  In seconds, he had both and drew what he thought Lin might be using as a symbol. It looked like the letter G.

  “I think this might be her symbol to get in.”

  “Try it.” Macey hugged herself as he tried it, first drawing it from the top.

  Failed. Then he did it in reverse from the bottom.

  Failed.

  “Let me try.” Macey grabbed it and tried. Third fail. Two more, and they were done.

  She glanced at the notebook on the nightstand, Lin’s journal of thoughts. Written in big black letters was: Do not open. Go away. Macey redid the G but added a flourish at the end, just like the letter on the cover of the journal.

  “I’m in!” she crowed. But her elation quickly faded as they began to read the conversation between the girls.

  Ted kept reading when Macey turned away, stifling a sob with a fist in her mouth.

  They painted a disturbing picture. The girls had learned about their father. Knew that Macey had lied, and Mae at least was pissed about it. An asshole would have said, “told you so.” But he wasn’t about to kick her when she was down. She knew she’d fucked up. Now, they had to fix things. I appeared as if the girls had made arrangements to meet their father. Problem was, their correspondence didn’t say where. Just a time, already past.

  Honk.

  The boat gave a warning blare, the first one that said, “get your ass moving!” because the ship was about to leave port.

  Macey’s eyes widened. “We can’t leave. What if they’re on the island?”

  “They could be on the ship, too,” Joanna argued. “Doesn’t say anything about their meeting place.”

  It didn’t, but it would be harder for Ronin to sneak aboard. And if they were on shore, the danger was much greater. “Macey and I will stay on the island to look. Joanna, you search the ship, top to bottom.”

  There was no time to grab luggage. They sprinted back to the loading area, seeing people rushing up the gangplank harried along by cruise staff.

  As they ran off the boat, sprinting down the gangplank, some of the crew tried to stop them. But Macey pushed past them. She’d gone into full-blown panic mode.

  Had the girls truly gone to meet their father?

  Please don’t let the man kill them to make their mother pay for her alleged sins. Ted had seen that kind of thing too often. Sometimes by men he’d known in his military days. A few women succumbed, too. The mind liked to play tricks on those suffering from PTSD and mental stress.

  Poor Macey’s anxiety manifested especially hard when it came to her children. This had to be killing her.

  Spilling onto the island, they raced away from the port. But, eventually, they had to slow since they didn’t know where to go next.

  Macey appeared to realize that as she wailed. “They could be anywhere.”

  Ding.

  The chime on her phone took them both by surprise.

  She held it out. “It’s from Mae. She says to meet her and Lin at a pizza shop.” There was an address attached. It also said to come alone.

  As if Ted would allow that to happen. “Let’s go.”

  He held her hand as the GPS map led them through the streets to one sitting on an incline. At the top of the hill, they could see the sign for the restaurant.

  Ted yanked her in between two buildings.

  “What are you doing?” She pulled free.

  “We can’t go rushing in.”

  “I need to find my girls.”

  “What if Ronin is in there?”

  Her lips thinned, and she lifted the skirt of her dress to show the harness on her thigh. “Then I guess I’ll finally be a real widow.”

  “Are you really going to shoot Ronin in front of your daughters and witnesses? Because that’s a surefire way of ensuring that you lose them permanently.”

  “Mother would spring me.”

  “If you’re not killed first by the cops. We should split up. Ronin doesn’t know me, so I could go through the front while you infiltrate the back.”

  “The message said to come alone.”

  “Because it’s a trap.”

  “I know it is, but I can’t take a chance. Not with my girls.”

  “What’s your plan, then?”

  Macey put a hand on his chest. “Stay here.”

  “No way. I’m coming with you.”

  She shook her head. “If Ronin even suspects that you and I are together, he’ll kill you.”

  “Do you really think I’m going to just let you walk in there where that bastard can harm you?”

  “Ronin might harm me, but he won’t kill me. His pride will
demand satisfaction.”

  He stared at her. “Do you seriously think I’m going to let anyone hurt you?”

  “You have to let me go alone. I need to get to my girls.”

  “He might kill you.”

  “Possibly. But I doubt it.” She glanced over her shoulder at the opening to the alley, and only yards away, the restaurant. “I always knew this day would come.”

  “You can’t just give up.”

  “I’m not. But at the same time, there is no other choice. I need to be the one to go.”

  “Macey—"

  She stepped close and cupped his cheeks. “You make me wish I’d said yes in high school when you asked me out.”

  “Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye?”

  Her lips turned down. “Because even if I manage to escape with the girls, I’ll never be free.”

  “I want to be with you.”

  “Me, too.”

  She kissed him. Her mouth tasted of strawberries, slick and sweet. It was a kiss of farewell.

  He licked his lips, savoring her flavor. His tongue went numb, and his eyes blinked slowly as he watched her wiping her mouth with a rag and then reapplying some gloss. “Counter-agent,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  He wanted to speak, but everything was heavy. “What. You. Do?” he asked as he felt his knees buckling.

  “I’m saving your life.”

  “No.” A word whispered against the thick falling slumber. His eyes shut. When they opened again, it was night. He appeared to be in the same alley, now stripped naked. On the plus side, he still possessed all of his organs.

  On the negative…

  Macey was gone.

  As were the girls.

  Because he’d failed. Failed to protect.

  The realization riled the demon that lived inside his head. The one that made him do bad things.

  Bad. Bad. Things. For a moment, as he stumbled naked from the alley, his gaze slewed to a tavern, the noise of it spilling onto the street, promising alcohol to dull his senses. He could probably find some drugs too and make his misery vanish for a moment.

  But where would that leave Macey and the twins?