“What is going on?” William asked.
“I can’t let you do it. I wasted my life waiting for him to come back, and now you’re going to leave me to be happy. Fuck that. You'll be dead before I let that happen,” Tracy said.
“We came when Tracy called us asking to meet us at the club. It seems she came to the club under false pretences. She offered your boys a drink that was laced with some kind of sleeping drug. She then aimed a gun at us. I don’t want to be shot at,” Paul said. The oldest Steer brother sounded bored with the whole situation. William didn’t blame him.
Tracy was screwing up everyone’s life. His heart was pounding as she aimed that gun at her daughter.
“The stupid bastards thought I wanted to wait around to apologise to her. I offered them a drink, and they took it like the weak bastards they are,” Tracy said. “I realised how weak and pathetic the letter I sent looked. I knew I had to do something.”
“The letter was sent by you? Why would you try to kill your own daughter?” William asked.
“Why not? She took everything away from me. My life, him, so I fucking hate her. I should have killed her when I gave birth. That bastard would never touch me even when I showed him the fucking truth.” Tracy screamed each and every word. William heard her voice going hoarse.
“I’ve never done anything to you, Mom,” Daisy said.
William looked at his woman and saw the tears in her eyes. Hate filled him like a disease. This woman in front of him holding a gun had destroyed the love inside Daisy for the last time.
“Please, you’re a filthy whore. The first chance you got you left me for a man. I mean, he’s a sick pervert who likes to tie people up and hit them. If I knew it was a beating you needed to keep you in line, I would have done it more often.”
With each word the bitch spouted out, the angrier he got.
“Which one of my fathers had the affair with you?” Paul asked.
“None of your business. I like you not knowing which brother left your mother.”
“Do you really think you’re getting out of here so easily?” David asked.
William stared at the gun. Did Daisy’s mother even know how to use the blasted thing? Shit, his mind was whirling and his gut tightening. In forty-five years he’d never met a woman who was as passionate and caring as Daisy. William knew he couldn’t do without her. He’d never do without her for the rest of his life.
Once they had got out of this little pickle, he’d show her how important she was, how much he loved her. He’d finally show her.
“I’m the one with the gun.”
“You’re going to kill Daisy, but she won’t bring you any peace, Tracy. Daisy means nothing to you. Think about it. She’s worthless to you,” William said. He got what he wanted. The older woman trained the gun on him instead.
“I know what that girl cares about. I see it in her eyes when she’s looking at you. I’ll kill you, pervert, be sure on that.”
“I’m no pervert. You are for abusing your own daughter. Hurting her over the years is what makes you a disgusting excuse for a mother. You’re a shameful human being even in Cape Falls.” William began taking small steps closer. The more steps he took, the more her hand holding the gun started to shake.
“William, please, don’t,” Daisy said.
“I’ve got this, pet. Be quiet and do me a favour. Do your pose for me,” William said. He heard rustling as she got to the floor in her submissive pose. She wore her clothes, but her mind would be surrounded by him and not about him walking closer to her mother. He needed her mind elsewhere so she didn’t get herself into trouble. With her head bowed down in submission, she was safe.
William knew he’d do anything to keep her
safe. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and without looking he knew either Peter or Edward were slowly moving behind her. His heart was racing. At any moment he could have misjudged the situation and she could fire that weapon at any of them. Killing them.
It was ironic. He was actually safer in a city with a lot of wars going on among rival gangs than he was in the small town of Cape Falls.
“Why do you hate your daughter so much? ” he asked.
Tracy's gaze moved back to his. She was no longer looking with disgust at Daisy. “She’s happy, and I never was. I gave him everything, and all he did was take, take, and then leave me for his wife. He told me we could never be together. How can I let her have what I never could have? A home, a life, and a place to call her own. If I can’t have those things, neither can she.”
William grabbed her arm that aimed the gun. He pointed it up to the ceiling as the first blast went off.
“Let go of me,” Tracy hollered. Peter grabbed her from behind as William took the gun out of her hand.
“Tie her hands behind her back,” William said to the younger man.