In the face of fear once more, I battled with the natural instinct to falter and the foreign need to fight. Keiran had sat and watched us go with a grave look in his eyes. When Greg’s back was turned, I pushed aside the hurt and took one last look at him. He smiled a sad smile that didn’t reach his eyes and mouthed, ‘I love you.’

My mouth fell open with the realization that it had all been bullshit.

An act.

I was too wrapped up in the hurtful words he spoke to see the truth. I replayed the conversation between him and Greg and the look he gave me just before Greg snatched me away from the table.

What had he really been trying to say?

Greg ended the visit before he could say more. I knew he was going to kill me, and there was nothing I could do about it. 

“I’m stuck behind bars. I can’t fight so you do what you have to do. You’ll win.”

It clicked.

It all fucking clicked.

He wanted me to fight back.

I had to win—for him, me and for what may be our future. I absently slid my hand across my belly, temporarily forgetting the detachment I had forced myself to feel.

“Your boyfriend fucked up bad. Either that was complete bullshit or you are one deluded chick to believe he is in love with you. I almost felt sorry for you.” I was brought back to reality by his gruff voice and rough handling as he pulled us across the street.

This was my cue.

My first stand for survival.

“I—I just don’t understand. I thought he loved me.”

“Chick’s always think it’s love.”

I sniffled to showcase my woe while silently wondering if he knew he was too old to still refer to women as chicks.

“All those years wasted thinking we had something special. I’d never been anything more than his whore.”

“Maybe killing you will be doing you a favor,” he stated as he pushed me against the car and yanked my hands behind me. With them hidden, he secured the zip tie once more and shoved me inside his musty car, but not before pushing his groin against my ass. I revolted at the feel of him harden.

Keep it together.

Be distraught.

“Please let me go. I’m not important to him. Can’t you see I’ve suffered enough?”

“I’m sorry, darling, but I have to be sure he’s not trying to pull the wool over my eyes.” He didn’t put the bag back over my head and when he started the car and drove off, he pulled out his gun and rested it on his thigh closest to the door. I eyed it and wondered at my chances of getting to it and not killing us both in the process.

He drove us nearly an hour out of town and into the middle of nowhere. I wasn’t familiar with the area, but I did recognize the terror pooling in my stomach. He made a sudden right when the blood flow from my veins to my head ceased. After only a short distance, he finally stopped.

“This is the end of the line, girly.” He reached for his gun, and I searched my brain for a way out.

“Wait!” I held out my hands to ward him off.

“No stalling,” he grinned and pointed the gun at my head.

“He has money!” The hammer clicked.

“You’re lying.”

“You know who his father is. Their family has money.”

“Mitch was broke. He couldn’t pay for the hit on his brother so…”

“But their family isn’t. Keiran and his brother inherited a large fortune when they turned twenty-one. His brother keeps a safe and I know the code.”

“How much are we talking about?”

“A hundred grand.” I let the lie roll off my tongue and hoped he believed me.

He whistled and chortled, “That’s a lot of cash. Do you think I’m stupid?”

Not only are you stupid but you’re greedy, too. “N—no of course not. It’s true, and if it’s not, you can kill me on the spot.” He didn’t reply and the silence unnerved me, but when he pulled the gun away, I released the breath I’d been holding.

“If you’re lying, I intend to do just that.”

 

* * *

He didn’t drive straight to Six Forks, cutting my victory celebration at not dying sooner than later short. It wasn’t until we arrived at a small, white two-story house that I realized why.

A little boy with dark hair was angrily yanking on the chain of his bike with a scowl as Greg pulled me from the car. I watched him curiously. Something about him seemed familiar. He didn’t look up, but I knew he was aware of us because he stopped yanking on the chain. He kept his head low but his breathing deepened with short angry breaths.

Greg ignored him completely, pulling me to the front door and knocking. I looked around for neighbors or anyone who could help.

“Don’t try anything or I will shoot you on the spot.”

The door opened and an older man with a rough looking mustache and bald head answered. He searched my face with disinterest before turning drunken eyes to my kidnapper.

“This her?” he slurred. He was definitely drunk.

“Yeah.” He shoved me inside without warning causing me to stumble to the floor. “She says there’s money and a shit ton of it.”

“How much?”

“Hundred grand. What do you think?”

“She’s lying.” My heart felt as if it were thrown into overdrive at his answer. I could feel them both watching me. “Laurie says he paid her fifty just to lie in court. I think we can get more.”

He must have been Robert, Laurie’s husband.

“Shit. You might be right.” I didn’t have time to process the new information. I felt a boot on my ribs that he used to shove me off my knees and gain my attention. He looked down at me with clenched teeth when I looked up. “I want everything that’s in that safe.”

“It’s not as if I can stop you,” I retorted.

“She’s got a mouth on her. Reminds me of Laurie before I beat it out of her.” My fists clenched at the hidden threat, but it wasn’t only me upset by it. Greg’s nostrils flared at the mention of Laurie and the abuse she had suffered. I almost snorted. It wasn’t as if he was a crusader against women’s abuse.

“Uncle Greg?” The soft, familiar voice of the little girl standing at the bottom of the staircase brought us all out of the moment.

Cassie.

She looked terrified as she faced her father who drunkenly scowled down at her. “I thought I told you to stay in the room.”

“I heard voices.”

“That’s because grown-ups are talking, now get,” he ordered too viciously to be speaking to a ten-year-old.

She turned to go, but then her gaze landed on me, sealing her fate. Recognition brought hope, moving her forward while I wished her away.

“Lake? Did you come to take us home now?”

“I said get,” her father roared and slapped her. She cried out as she fell to the floor, but she never even looked at him. Her gaze remained fixed on me as she silently pled for help just before she ran to the back.

“What the fuck, brother? She’s a kid—your kid. You shouldn’t be hurting them.”

Robert turned angry eyes on his brother. Resentment and distrust burned brightly in his dark brown eyes. “I can do whatever the fuck I want to them. They’re mine.” He paused and I could practically see the evil glow through his eyes. “That goes for their mother, too.”

“Until you kill her,” Greg shot back with equal disdain. The wheels in my head started turning as they prepared for battle.

“Maybe then you’ll stop believing she’ll ever be yours. She’ll never be yours. I’ll kill her first. “

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Robert poked him in his chest and drunkenly swayed. “I’m talking about you believing that Laurie is yours. She doesn’t love you, little brother, and she never will. She’s mine.”

“Really? Have you asked her lately how she feels or have you just been beating her so you can scare her into staying.”

That was an opening. I inhaled, released, and decided to take it.

“I think I can answer that.” They both redirected their attention to me.

“What do you know about it?”

“It’s simple. She’s in love with Greg and has been for at least four years.” I looked between them, waiting for the blow to settle.

“She said that?” Greg asked.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Robert spat.

I decided to focus on Robert. He would be the one to save my life. “I know that Maddie isn’t yours.” I turned on the younger brother and challenged him with my stare. “Is she, Greg?”

“You little bitch. I will kill you right here. Money be damn—”

A drunken fist thrown across his jaw stopped him from finishing. The force sent him to the floor with a hard thud. “Is that true?” Robert roared.

“You don’t deserve her. She loves me,” Greg yelled back. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. The scene was like two little boys fighting over a toy. If this played well, neither of them would see her again anyway.

They squared off again, allowing me to rise to my feet unnoticed. Greg still had a surprisingly steady grip on his gun, which he held by his side.

“She’s a whore fucking two brothers and you believed she’s in love with you?”

“What you and she had died a long time ago when you couldn’t consume anything that didn’t come in a liquor bottle.”

“No. It died the day you shoved your cock inside my wife.” They charged again and clashed, toppling the furniture and breaking anything in their path. It was the perfect opening I needed to run, but then I heard the faint sound of crying travel down the stairs and reminded myself that this was for them, too. I couldn’t leave them.

Robert sent another blow to Greg’s face, surprisingly holding his own in his drunken state. I looked around and realized I was close to the kitchen entrance. The kitchen had knives. A knife meant protection. I inched into the kitchen and tore open every drawer I could reach until I located the jackpot. Finding the biggest one, I snatched it and returned in time to see Robert gain control and snatch the gun from his brother who looked badly beaten.

Yes. I silently pleaded with him to let the rage consume him. When he hesitated too long, I hid the knife under my shirt and searched for the perfect catalyst until the evil thought formulated.

“Robert,” I called softly to avoid spooking him. “You need to do it. He’ll just take the money, the girls… Laurie. He’ll steal it all and leave you behind. He even gloated about it when I told him about the money.”

“She’s not going anywhere.”

I schooled my face and lowered my voice further until I oozed sympathy. “But she has to.” He watched and waited for the answer. After I survived this, I would question how far I’d gone and probably even mourn the lost part of my conscience, but right now, I was in survival mode. “He plans to kill you once you help him get the money. Why do you think he came here instead of straight to the money? I’m one girl. He didn’t need help.” I may have possessed half their strength making me no match physically, but I had the ability to mind fuck them until they defeated each other.

“That’s a lie,” Greg shouted.

“When you’re dead, they are planning to elope so they can spend the rest of their lives together living with all the riches you ever wanted. Isn’t that why you turned to alcohol?” I baited, remembering what Keiran had told me about him. “Laurie told me so when she told me she’s pregnant…with Greg’s baby.” I lowered my gaze with sympathy and said, “I’m sorry, Robert, but I’m afraid you’re already out of the picture.”

Just shoot him already.

“Not if he’s dead.” He pulled the trigger, sending a bullet into Greg’s prone body.

I worked for it, but I hadn’t prepared for it.

The shock of what I’d done paralyzed me, but then the girl’s scream echoed from the upper level so I made my move.

His back was turned, so I plunged the knife straight down the back of his neck and because I wasn’t taking chances, I stabbed him deep a second time. He was dead before he hit the floor. The knife fell from my hands as I took a step back and studied him for signs of life. What disturbed me the most was that I didn’t feel any different.

Movement from a few feet away snatched my attention from the guy I knew was dead to the guy I thought was dead.

“I need a hospital,” he groaned while clutching his stomach.

“Why would I do that?”

“You’re not a killer,” he seethed.

“Your dead brother a few feet away regrettably argues.”

“That was a clever move, bitch. Now take me to the hospital.”

“I didn’t have reason to kill him, but I have more than enough reasons to kill you.” I stepped over his dead brother and picked up the gun. Pointing it at him, I cocked my head. “So why wouldn’t I?”

“Because I can help your boyfriend.”

“How?”

“I’ll turn myself in and confess to his father’s murder.”

“Why would you do that? Do you fear death so much?”

“I won’t get life. I can be out in time to see my baby graduate from college.” He looked so hopeful. It was too bad really.

“What baby?” I asked coldly. I held his gaze until he visibly began to sweat or maybe it was the stress from his organs shutting down.

“But you said—”

“I said a lot of things. Only some of them were true.”

“You bitch!” He moved in a pitiful attempt to lunge for me, so I shot his leg and shoulder. He collapsed back against the floor, staining the carpet further with his new wound. He looked as if he was barely breathing so I ran upstairs to find the girls.

I searched every room until I found them huddled together in the bathtub. My heart ached for them knowing they would suffer later through bad memories and nightmares. Sadly, it wasn’t over for them.

Maddie wailed into her sister’s shoulder at the sight of the gun, and I cursed my stupidity for not hiding it.

“Lake, what’s happening? Where are my daddy and Uncle Greg?” Cassie sobbed.

“Sweetie, everything is going to be okay, but I need you girls to be very brave and come downstairs with me.”

“We can’t. My daddy will get mad.”

“I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” I held out the hand that wasn’t holding the gun and waited for her to make a decision. I exhaled relief when she finally took my hand and helped her sister up. “Now I want you to close your eyes—both of you—and keep them shut. Hold tight to Maddie’s hand and don’t let go, okay?”

They both nodded and closed their eyes. I led them out and down the stairs. Greg lay there with his eyes closed, but as we passed, his eyes popped open. “Keep your eyes closed, girls. Almost there.” I pointed the gun at his head and silently dared him to move.

I opened the door and led them safely outside. The little boy from before stood on the porch clutching a bat.

“Ar–are you okay?” he asked, but it wasn’t directed at me. His gaze was on Cassie. She looked as surprised as I did when she nodded. I was studying his handsome features and mentally calculating all the hearts he would break one day when it suddenly dawned on me… this was Cassie’s Ryan. I was further stumped when he took her hand from mine and pulled her close to him. He then looked up at me and hardened his tone. “What happened?”

It took me a few tries to form words. “Ryan, I need you to do me a favor.” He quickly recovered from the surprise of me knowing his name. “I need you to look after them. Get them as far away from this house as possible. Is there a neighbor who can look after you?”

He hesitantly nodded and said, “Mrs. Peterson already called the cops. We can wait with her.”

“Good.” I watched them leave before opening Greg’s car door and fishing out my phone. I sent up a prayer before turning on the screen and nearly fell to my knees at the saved voice recording notification.

It worked.

The recording lasted a couple of hours before an incoming call interrupted the recording. There were missed calls from Keenan, Sheldon, Willow, and my aunt. I pushed them to the back of my mind once again and headed for the house once more. I still had to finish this.

I drew the gun again and entered the house. Greg had managed to sit himself up against the wall.

“If you don’t help me now, you’ll seal his fate. He’ll rot and die in prison!”

“I sealed his future before you shot my friend.”

I kept the gun trained on him and lifted my phone. I hit record letting our conversation and his confession play out as well as his plan to blackmail Keiran by using me. His angry face contorted with rage as he continued to spew threats.

“See you in hell, Greg.”

I left him inside with his dead brother and sat on the porch to wait for the cavalry.