I struggled to breathe. It might kill me, but I knew Carly would understand me choosing Haley over her. I could get to her in time. She was all of two feet away. I could–
“Dad.”
The voice was as loud as a bullhorn and Mitchell froze. He opened his mouth, then closed it.
“Dad, it’s me. It’s...it’s Dale, Dad. I need to talk to you. Don’t do anything stupid now. I’m coming up.”
***
It had been nearly a year since I’d seen Dale and time hadn’t been kind to him.
When he came through the door, he looked at me, at Ridley, then at Carly and the young girl who was still sitting on the chair, clutching at the cushion with fingers that had long since gone white.
When Mitchell looked away from us to his son, I dared to take one small step closer to Haley. From the corner of my eye, I saw Ridley doing the same, moving the smallest itch closer to Carly.
But she was inching closer to me. Shit. I turned my head and glared at her.
Stay, I mouthed. It twisted my heart to do it, but I knew I couldn’t protect them both. I could only hope that what I’d seen in Ridley’s eyes was real, that he would protect Carly.
She narrowed her eyes.
Please.
Her shoulders slumped, but she stopped moving.
“What are you doing here, boy?” Mitchell asked.
Dale spread out his hands. “You’re here and you’re acting crazy. Where else would I be?”
“Crazy!” Mitchell spat on the ground. “I’m doing what should have already been done. I’m making that piece of shit pay. He should pay for what he did and you know it! If you hadn’t been so chickenshit, you would’ve done it yourself!”
“He should pay.” Dale didn’t even look at me as he leaned closer to his dad. “Matter of fact, I heard talk that he’s going back in, Dad. They’re revoking his parole.”
I knew Dale was lying but I had no problem playing along with it.
Mitchell wheeled his head around and stared at me for a second before looking back at his son. He shook his head. “You’re just saying that. They went and got soft on criminals. All this reform bullshit. They let him make a deal and now he’s out here fucking movie stars and getting rich–”
“Dad.” Dale put a hand on his chest. “On my honor. He’s going back in.”
“That’s a damn lie!” I shouted, hoping Mitchell would take my argument as proof.
Dale shot me a dark look. His eyes were full of hate, but I could see a glimmer of something else there. Fear. Fear of losing his father because of this.
“You wish it was, you...” He glanced at the kid and then grimaced. “I can’t say what you are with a kid around. And Dad, come on, she’s a kid. Let me take her out of here. Or let the woman leave with her. You don’t need them.”
Mitchell went to rub at his mouth. “I grabbed the girl because she’s his. You know he had a kid?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I knew.”
“You knew?!” Mitchell grabbed his son’s arm. “All that talk you had about making him suffer, and you knew he had a kid? I had to find out through that son of a bitch!” He jerked a finger back at Ridley.
“She’s just a kid, Dad,” Dale said quietly. He looked at her then. “It doesn’t matter what he did, not when it comes to her. She’s a little girl.”
“She’s his kid!”
Dale stepped between them, cutting off his father’s view of Haley. “She’s not. The woman who gave birth to that kid dumped him, took off, wouldn’t have anything to do with him. Hell, the little girl won’t even look at him. I bet he doesn’t even know her name. Come on, Dad. Don’t do this. Let’s get the girls out of here. That ditz over there, the little kid. Then we can figure out how to handle Cantrell.”
I never thought I’d be grateful to Dale Mitchell, but I was. I knew he wanted to save his father, not me, but I didn’t care. As long as Haley and Carly were safe, I’d take whatever came next.
“Fine.” Mitchell scowled. “But after that, we’re going to make him pay.”
Dale nodded and I wondered if he was finally going to cross that line from harassment into violence. I didn’t let myself think about it though.
I picked up Haley as Carly got to her feet. If it was the only chance I’d ever have to hold my daughter, I’d make sure I remembered it. I breathed in the scent of her hair – she smelled like bubble gum – and I fought the urge to cuddle her close, keeping the contact as impersonal as I could.
“Take her,” I said, keeping my voice brusque as I pushed her into Carly’s arms.
“I’m not leaving you.” Carly’s voice shook and I could see she was still unsteady, fighting off the effect of the drugs.
“You are.” I practically growled it. Then lower, I whispered, “Please. Get her safe.”
I chanced a glance up the hill, with my eyes only.
She swallowed, then managed a nod, and even a half-smile for me as she lowered Haley to the ground. “You have to walk, honey. I can’t carry you unless we both want to fall down.”
I didn’t think I’d ever loved her more than I did at that moment. And I didn’t dare tell her, either. Better Mitchell think Carly was just some crush or fling. He couldn’t know how much she meant to me.
“Shut the door.”
The cold, hard muzzle of the gun nudged hard against my ribs and I took my time closing the door, keeping my body between him and them, hoping to keep him from seeing even a single strand of blonde hair.
A split second before the door was aligned with the door jam, a hand slammed my face against the solid oak and I tasted blood. It took all my self-control not to spin around and try to beat the shit out of Mitchell.
“You got any idea how many times I’ve thought about getting my hands on you, boy?” Mitchell snarled in my ear. “How many times I’ve thought about beating you bloody? Tearing you apart, piece by piece, by piece?”
“Dad.”
“Shut up!” Mitchell’s voice was a bellow in my ear, one I had no problem hearing despite the roar of blood in my ears and the pounding that had taken up residence.
I grunted, or tried to, as he slammed the gun against the back of my neck. Pain shot up my skull and down my spine. I forced myself to think, to use my head instead of my fists.
“Those stupid bitches are gone now, right? That’s all you were...”
The gun wedged against the back of my neck eased and I sucked in air. The heavy weight of Mitchell’s body pinning me to the door fell away and I half-turned, half-staggered away, falling against the corner as I took in the scene in front of me. Blood splattered hot down my chest. My nose was probably broken again, but that was the least of my concerns.
Detective Dale Mitchell was holding a baby Glock on his dad.
Fuck me.
I spit some blood onto the floor, but didn’t say anything as I watched the scene play out in front of me.
“You need to put that thing down, son,” Mitchell said softly. “You know you ain’t going to use that on me.”
“Two civilians in here, Dad.” Dale shook his head. “And you had a kid in here, Dad. You kidnapped a little girl, for fuck’s sake. You think I can just let that slide?”
“Kid’s gone. It’s just us now. Civilians, right?” He snorted and threw a glance at Ridley. “You think that man there is some injured party here? He’s the one who helped me find that...”
Ridley looked away.
“He isn’t going to side with you here, Dad. He’s out.”
“I say when he’s out!” Mitchell spun, his eyes landing on me.
There I was, wearing nothing more than the damn boxer briefs I’d pulled on that morning, and the damn microphone they’d shoved in my ear, and I had a gun pointed at me. There wasn’t anybody in the world who had more reason to hate me than these three men, and two of them had guns. I wasn’t sure things could’ve gotten any worse.