Three months later…

“Congratulations on your second win, Lily.” Chuck Anders, owner of the AFC, held his hand out for me to take.

I was rubbing a towel over my face when he approached, so he took me by surprise. I’m sure my eyes were the size of saucers. “Mr. Anders,” I said, wrapping the towel around my neck.

“Please, call me, Chuck.”

“Okay, Chuck. You decided to see how the other team plays?” Of course, I was referring to him being at a Spartacus fight. “Wasn’t there an AFC fight in St. Louis this weekend?”

“A little birdie told me you were on the main card. I had to see what all the fuss was about.”

His words made me laugh. I liked his sense of humor. “And?”

“And I want to talk with you soon.”

“I’m sure Julian told you the last time I stepped foot into the AFC business office, it didn’t go as planned?”

He nodded. “He did. That’s been taken care of.”

I couldn’t tell him to choose his words wisely. After all I experienced over the last several months with my parents and the supposed ties with organized crime, taken care of seemed a bit harsh. “I hope she’s okay,” I teased.

“What? Oh yeah, she’s just looking for another job now.”

“That’s good,” I said, pulling the towel from my neck and sitting down on a chair. We were in the back area of the arena. I was on the way to my locker room when Chuck stopped me. “Since you know Julian personally, should he call you directly to set up a time?”

“Lily,” he said, touching my shoulder. “I’m not here because of Julian. It’s an outlying factor, but it’s all you. That fight tonight was amazing.”

“Sure, I get it. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

“Sometimes it helps.” Right as Chuck was about to say something else, a man walked up and stood next to my chair. “Listen.” He smiled. “Just have Julian call me and we will talk soon.”

“Sounds good.” I waited until Chuck was out of sight. Then I stood to face the mystery guy. “Can I help you?”

“I have a message,” the guy said in a deep baritone voice.

It took me a moment to register, and then I realized I knew him. The guy had a baseball cap on, but I could tell he was bald. It was the man from the storage unit. The one walking out of the main office with a briefcase. I felt a little worried and glanced around. Julian, Charlie, and Brooks were standing about ten feet away, laughing about something. At least I wasn’t alone.

“Message?”

“From your mother.”

“You do realize my mother is in jail, right?”

“Well, things may be different now.” His eyes darted side to side like he was checking to see who was around before continuing. “She’s safe.”

My lawyer had called after my mom was sentenced to life in prison and no chance of parole. That was two months and ten days ago to be exact. Since Mom confessed, the sentencing took place quicker than expected. Once a week, I was given a report on my mom and how she was doing in jail. The last report I received was six days ago.

Wait, if it was six days ago, that means I was due to receive a phone call tomorrow. My body went ridged, and I glanced back over toward Julian. He had a smile on his face as he looked over. We devised a signal so we knew when the other was in trouble or needed help. I gave the signal.

The guy cleared his throat. “She said the list is complete.”

“What? Um—”

“Hey, babe.” Julian wrapped his arms about my waist. “Is this a fan of yours?”

The guy looked at Julian and then back at me. “Great fight.” He held out his hand.

I hesitated but decided to take it. “Thank you.” I watched the mystery guy walk away. He didn’t have on a tailored suit this time. Instead, to fit in at the event, he wore khaki slacks, a dark blue polo shirt, and brown loafers. His baseball cap didn’t fit into the equation at all.

“Did you know him?” Julian pulled my body closer.

“No, he just wanted to randomly chat about the fight.”

I felt bad lying to Julian. Yet, I needed to find out if what the guy was telling me was true. Did my mom really escape from prison?

And what the fuck, the list was complete. So that meant there were five bodies somewhere. Why would my mom feel the need to finish the list? It just didn’t make sense.

My hope was I could stay far away from the fray.

All I wanted to do was fight, and she knew that.

My phone connected and I heard my lawyers voice on the other end. “I was going to check in with you tomorrow?” Matt said, lightly chuckling. “Everything okay?”

“Well, I should be asking that question?” I said, leaning against the brick wall outside Julian’s house. “How is Mom doing this week?”

“The report hasn’t arrived yet from the warden.”

“Wait, do you go weekly and see her or not?”

He paused for a beat. “Lily, did someone talk to you.”

“Should they?”

“Listen, I go see your mom once a month and then get a report the rest of the month from the warden.”

I pushed off the side of the house. “What is the date of your last visit?”

“What is this about?”

“Just give me a fucking date?”

“The twentieth.”

It had been three weeks since he last talked to my mom. I needed to find out when she escaped. Either way, she had more than enough time to escape and kill five people. I was so stupid to entrust my lawyer with weekly check-ins. Running my hand through my hair, I let my body fall to the ground. “You’re fired, Matt.” I hit end on my phone and threw it toward the rose garden.

“Not a fan of roses anymore?” Charlie teased stepping around the side of the house.

“What? Oh. Right now, I’m not a fan of much.”

She sat down beside me. “Yeah, want to talk about it?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

Charlie rolled her eyes. “Really?”

She was known as the best secret keeper on the planet. “That was a dumb question.”

“Clearly,” she said, nudging my shoulder.

I let out a deep sigh. “Mom’s free.”

She jumped up. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“Shhhhh,” I said, grabbing her wrist to pull her back down. “Way to keep a secret, C.”

“Sorry,” she whispered. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” I proceeded to share all that transpired all the way up to firing Matt. “If she is smart, she’s long gone by now.” A part of me worried she would show up and try to be a part of my life still. Then I realized that was crazy since she was wanted by the law.

“Jesus,” she breathed. “Could this story get anymore crazy?” I gave her a look, and we both started to laugh. We weren’t laughing because we thought this was all funny. We were laughing because we both truly thought it was completely ridiculous. “So what now?”

“I have no idea.”

“You need to tell Julian.”

“I will.”

“When?”

“Soon.”