Chapter 26
Huffs and gasps filled the space, defining the element of confusion and disbelief that rested on the shoulders of everyone in the room. Megan closed her eyes, soaking it all in, pondering her next move. She didn’t want to hurt these people, defraud them of anything they had built together in the past year or so. She was a perfect contradiction of everything real, everything made up.
The person she was with them, completely real—the person she was in general, a complete fraud. She was entirely made up and whoever the world needed her to be to survive and stay hidden.
“Come again dear? I know I haven’t had enough of this here drink of mine to be a little hoo-hoo
in the head, and I’m pretty sure you didn’t fill your mug…have I done lost my mind?” Gran questioned, grabbing Evie’s arm, eyes wide with concern. “It finally happened. Oh, honey, it’s time for the home, isn’t it?”
The group snickered at Lou Shaw’s panic, lightening the mood and the blow Meg had just dealt them. Megan was certain it was intentional and Lou’s way of helping her through her hardship because that woman was sharp as a tack. That’s just who Lou Shaw was, everyone’s “Granny Lou.”
Everly rolled her eyes at the old woman’s dramatics, putting a hand over hers and said, “Calm down. We aren’t that lucky, old girl!”
“There you go again! Who ya callin’ old?!” Gran shot back, suddenly lucid and of sound mind, apparently.
Megan took a deep breath and dug deep for the courage she desperately needed to finish her confession.
“C’mon Princess, out with it. Who the hell are you, and what is it to us?” Jessie asked with a snarky tone. Megan expected this, disappointment, skepticism, and mistrust. She only hoped that when and if this ever ended, forgiveness would follow.
“I’m Trinity Prescott…well, I was. I am from New York. I had a ridiculously pampered life that I’ve learned lacked meaning and purpose until now…” She admitted her dislike for who she had once been. She wasn’t a bad person, just someone who had been in need of real
importance and meaning in her life. “About a year ago, my life forever changed when I was left to take care of Jax. That’s when I became me, well, Megan.”
“Okay, so when your sister died, you changed your name and moved? That’s it?” Sam asked, confused by the seriousness if this was nothing but a name change and relocation.
Megan let out a deep breath. She knew they deserved to know everything, and she was tip-toeing around the elephant in the room. It was time to get real and deliver hard truths.
“About that, my sister…” she began with her head tilted down, looking at everyone through her thick lashes, gauging how much she should or could say now, “…is alive and well and on the run, too.”
The silence her admission granted was deafening.
“Like I said, I am from New York. We grew up wanting for nothing. Our lives were quite privileged,” she began. “I guess you could say we were professional socialites
. Lydia and I were at every major event or fundraiser, coast to coast, that anyone who was anyone would attend. That was my life, superficial as it gets, it turns out.” She took a moment to gather her thoughts and process what she had just admitted to her friends, saying it out loud for the first time.
“Are you okay? Do you want me or Blake to finish?” Colton asked, recognizing the pain it was causing her.
She looked at him as if for the first time, realizing just how amazing this man was. She had lied to him as much or more than the others. He had so much more invested, more to lose than anyone else, especially given his own past. Here he was, worried about her. He loved her so much that he could set it all aside and still care about how difficult this was for her?
He really was her dream come true, and she hoped that when this was all over, they still had a chance at a happily ever after to fight for. She smiled and nodded, holding back the tears his benevolence provoked, and finished her story.
“We had been running into the same crowds, over and over, at the various events, including one man in particular, Esteban Ricardo Valdez. He was from Miami, a major real estate tycoon and land developer type. Lots of money, lots of power, and could charm the pants off a snake.”
“He fell for Lydee, hard. They fell for each other, really. I was never a fan of his, couldn’t put my finger on why. They eventually married, Lydee moved to Miami and I rarely saw her or heard from her after that.” Sadness laced her words as she remembered what it felt like, losing her sister to Esteban. Her best friend and partner in everything was just gone one day.
“She was happy. He gave her a life of luxury beyond imagination, but eventually, the newlywed phase wore off. He was working all the time, and he became distant but very controlling. I rarely heard from her, saw her even less. Things got better again when she became pregnant with Jax. He was overjoyed to have a boy. But again, the baby was born, the newness wore off, and he became obsessed with work again.”
“I took a trip to Florida to visit, meet my new nephew. I saw Esteban only a handful of times, in passing, over the course of a two week stay. There were people, mostly men, in and out of their home at all hours of the night. I slept with my door locked it was so uncomfortable. My sister had become a shell of herself, her eyes vacant of joy. She would throw herself at him, begging to be noticed. It broke my heart to leave her like that, but Esteban wouldn’t let her come with me for a visit home.” She perused the faces that were clinging to her every word.
The looks of shock and surprise stung a bit because she hadn’t told them the real shock and awe yet. Digging deep for the confidence she needed, she began her big finale. This would be the true test of friendship, the deciding factor between run or stay.
“After I left, I only knew what little she told me in the few conversations we were allowed. In fact, I’m certain those conversations weren’t allowed, and she found a way to call without him knowing.”
“Then one night, well after midnight, there was a frantic knock at my door. When I looked through the peep hole, Lydia was standing there. I quickly unlocked the door to let her and the baby in, but when I opened the door, they weren’t alone. There was a behemoth of a man who followed her in. He moved past me and began searching my house, checking windows and closing curtains,” she said as if annoyed by the giant’s actions.
“Lydee was a mess. It took the better part of an hour to calm her down, and even then…she was speechless. The angry giant had to speak for her. His name is Declan O’Reilly,” she said, looking directly at Carigan.
The room became still as all eyes shifted to her at the mention of her eldest brother, who was as big of a mystery as Blake was to all of them when it came to his background. It was well known that Declan and Blake were some form of ex-military with shadowy pasts that could never quite be defined. Blake was no longer involved at that level, perfectly content with serving and protecting McKenzie Ridge.
Declan was another story. He was still in deep, so deep that mention of his name brought a new level of seriousness and even fear to the story unfolding. It also brought Carigan’s raw emotions to the surface.
“My brother?” Carigan whispered, eyes glistening at the thought of him and what it meant if Megan was involved with him. “He’s been gone for years. No one has heard from him other than a few random cards letting us know he was okay. Oh, Megan, you’re hiding, aren’t you? My brother hid you here! He knew you’d be safe, that we’d watch over you and Jax.” A subtle smile stretched across her face, knowing he brought her to them. With all of his resources, he trusted them with Megan and Jax.
“Holy shit, Princess. You’re in some deep crap, aren’t you? You just might be a little bad ass after all,” Jessie said with approval and perhaps a little joy. She was a bit twisted that way.
“Declan told me he had been working undercover as Esteban’s hired muscle and driver, mostly for Lydia. That’s why he was so familiar. I remembered him from my visit.
“Lydee’s confidence was shot, but she was desperate to make her marriage work. So, one night, she made reservations at a Miami hot spot, got dressed up and went to his office building. When she got there, it was obvious there were several people there, based on the cars in the parking lot. Afraid that she was interrupting a meeting, she had decided to leave until her insecurities got the better of her, and she went inside to see if he was with a woman.
“He wasn’t in his office, though. Nobody was.” Megan stopped and found her way back to the present.
The ugliness of what occurred that night was festering in her stomach and trying to wretch its way up. The thought of her sister so desperate, fused with what she would stumble upon, brought on an unimaginable pain and even guilt she had yet to explore.
Talking about this for the first time was good, a burden she wouldn’t have to carry so deep anymore, but it forced her to stop and look at what had happened in the hours leading up to her life forever changing. Something she had neglected to do until now, it had been too overwhelming to do alone.
“Something had caught Lydee’s attention, a commotion of sorts, so she followed the sound. She began to hear voices the further she got away from the offices and closer to an area that was under some sort of construction. A remodel or something. She heard tools, power tools, followed by yelling and even screaming.
“She continued to follow it and found her husband. He was cold, had dark empty eyes, evil. She had never seen him like this. Angry, sure, but never this. He was someone she hadn’t met before.
“There was a man lying on the floor and blood everywhere, she said. Another man was standing before Esteban, crying and had wet himself. His men were crowding the room. She didn’t understand what was happening. Who was this man? How could he stand there and not do anything?
“Then it happened…Esteban raised his hand, holding a gun, and shot the man on the floor.” Gasps of shock interrupted her story. Jaws were dropped, eyes wide, and tears streaking faces. It wasn’t until she stopped that she realized her own tears.
“This sounds like something out of a movie, things that you don’t believe happen in real life. Her husband? I just can’t imagine,” Sam said, wiping her tears.
“It startled her. I mean who wouldn’t have been scared? She made a noise just loud enough to make eye contact with one of Esteban’s men. He heard her, saw her even. She turned and ran…she left, didn’t look back. She went straight to the police station. She hadn’t been there long when in walked the man who saw her. She was afraid Esteban sent him to get her, but he hadn’t. It was Declan.” More sighs and sounds of shock interrupted as they took in what had just been said. Declan had been working for Esteban, but undercover. She needed to clarify his role, if for no other reason than for Carigan’s sake.
“Declan had been undercover over a year, trying to bring Esteban down. When he saw Lydee, he went after her. The local PD was corrupt. Esteban had people paid off everywhere. She was now a key witness to countless crimes, and if she told a soul, her days were numbered. Dec got her out of there and put her and Jax in protective custody. They showed up at my place hours later. The only way Lydee would go into hiding was if Jax was safe, far from her, and I was safe, not to be used as a means to get to her and Jax if he found out we were alive.”
Evie chimed in, losing the path Megan was leading them down a bit and asked, “What do you mean ‘if he found out you were alive’?” her fingers doing air quotes around Megs repeated words.
“He thinks we’re all dead. Lydee left a note saying she was coming to visit me, that she brought Jason to drive them and keep them safe,” Meg answered.
“So, Jason is really Declan, my brother?” Carigan asked.
“Yes, Jason is Declan. They think he’s dead, too,” she whispered, trying to lighten the blow to Carigan that her brother is assumed dead to a big part of his world.
Blake stepped in and took over. It was evident Megan was exhausted, rehashing a horrible past and speaking her truth. The details he could handle. Reading his friend’s body language as he did, Colton knew she was done, for now, and pulled her into his arms and just let her cry. It’s what she needed to do to clear her mind and cleanse her soul. After a year of carrying this weight all on her own, she was free. She was no longer hiding out in the open amongst her friends. She was free to be herself, let them in…let him in. She just wanted to keep them safe.
“Here’s the deal…Esteban is a really bad, fucking dude. He’s tied to the Cartels, even double crossing each, pitting them against each other while he swoops in and does his own thing. The fact that he does that openly, without fear, speaks volumes to how deep his ties go and the pockets he’s in. He has been untouchable until now. His wife’s testimony was the final nail in the coffin, but then he went underground.” Blake delivered the facts, no fluff, no emotion, just hard truths.
“He played it like a grieving widower, but we suspect he didn’t buy the whole death thing. As far as the world knew, Lydia Prescott-Valdez was killed in a car crash while visiting her sister. Also deceased, sister, Trinity…” He gestured to Megan, indicating her role.
“Also deceased, the couple’s infant son and the family driver. That’s how they pulled O’Reilly out from cover. They think he’s dead, but he’s really Prescott’s handler while she’s in witness protection.”
Morgan stood and pulled out a newspaper, held in a clear, plastic, evidence bag, and passed it around the room. “This paper showed up on Meg’s porch a few days ago. This is what the world heard, but who put it on her porch all these months later?” she questioned, although the answer was obvious.
“That was on my porch? When? How?” Megan’s panic returned. They had been at her house, on her front porch, so close to Jax and her.
“I found it when I went to grab the suitcase for Portland. I took it and Dec’s number to Blake before we left. I’m sorry… I knew something was wrong, but finding those two things? He needed to be involved,” Colton said apologetically but matter-of-factly.
Megan stared at him, searching for reasons to be upset with him for keeping something so important from her, but she couldn’t. He did exactly as he said he would, protected her and Jax. He knew she’d run if she knew, and he couldn’t protect her if she did. Her shock and subtle sense of betrayal quickly dissipated when pride and love overshadowed both. She gave him a sweet smile, revealing a true understanding and appreciation.
“So, wrap all this up and put a pretty bow on it, boy. What does all of this mean? What do we need to do to keep her and the baby hidden?” Granny Lou asked. “I got me a .38 special. Pack it in that there bag all the time. You all should be packin’ heat, too. This is some bad news headed our way. We gotta shoot them where they stand…get their asses first!” she said, throwing her fist in the air for dramatic effect.
Evie rolled her eyes at her half-buzzed Gran and said, “Hand it over,” holding her hand out. “The purse, old lady…hand it over. It better not be loaded this time.”
“Sweet Jesus in the morning, what good is a gun if it ain’t loaded, Everly Louise? I declare you young people think some hoodlum will wait patiently while you find your bullets to load it before he attacks. They’re called bad guys for a reason, and it ain’t ’cause they got manners!” she finished with a shake of her head, pulling her purse a little closer with her foot.
“Wait, your middle name is…Louise?” Jessie asked with a snicker.
“And what’s wrong with the name Louise, Jessica Mable Clarke?”
“Not a friggin’ thing, Granny, especially when you’re locked and loaded over there. Well played, old woman!” Jessie conceded, hand up in front of her.
“Mable? Really?” Blake asked with a look of disgust. Given Jessie’s tempered, foul mouthed nature, anyone would find a name like “Razorback” or “Drill Bit” perfectly acceptable, but Mable?
“I’m afraid it’s already here,” Megan said, getting back to business. “I saw a man in front of the shop a few nights ago before our meeting.
“The night you got shit faced?” Jessie asked.
“Yes, Jessie, the night I got shit faced,” she answered with a snarky tone. “I couldn’t place him, even thought he was familiar. He was in Portland today, twenty feet from us as we were leaving. I knew exactly who he was then – one of Esteban’s men. He found us at the mall on our way out of town, which means he likely followed us the entire trip.”
“That’s why you were leaving,” Colton said as a statement rather than a question.