“Okay,” I say, shaking my head, not knowing who he’s talking about. “Glad you got that off your chest?”
“She never ran away. She’s buried in those gardens you like to play in with Jerome in my yard.”
That’s when it hits.
“And boy, did she love you.”
What?
What?
The shock on my face registers, and Scott smiles.
“It wasn’t my plan to have you as well, but you are turning out to be like her.”
“You killed her?”
“Yep. Told your father I saw her run off one night. I left traces for him to find. Then, when you were old enough, and he despised you enough, I made a deal with him that I could have you.”
“I’m not my mother.”
"But you are so much alike, it’s scary.” He reaches into the waistband of his jeans and pulls out a gun. “The last words she said to me were along the lines of…” He licks his lips before he speaks again.“‘She will never be yours.’”He raises the gun. “She was partly right. You won’t be mine now, but you were once. Would you like me to bury you next to her?”
“I hate you!” I yell.
“I know, but I love you.”
“No, you love the idea of me.”
“No. You and her. Imagine loving the daughter of the woman you killed, whom you also loved.”
“I can’t because that is sick.”
“Your mother was alive when she signed you off to be with Joey. Did you know that? Do you think she is sick? It was your father who pulled you from that and gave you to me.”
“I would have been better off with him all along,” I snarl.
The words only make him mad. So he pulls the trigger, and the bullet just misses my head, but it nicks my ear, making it bleed.
I clutch it and look at him. “You’ll die for that.”
“Oh, but as long as you come down with me, I’m fine with it.” He smiles before he aims again.
TWENTY-EIGHT
JOEY
Scott was gone by the time we arrived. We killed his men. We didn’t expect to find a woman asleep at the table, and Jerome tucked safely in his bed, asleep as well.
Adora was nowhere to be found.
“Maybe she’s a drunk,” Lucas says, poking her, but she doesn’t react. “Or drugged?” he suggests.
“I need to get Jerome out of here.”
“There is blood on the floor, and it’s not coming from this woman.” Lucas pokes her again.
I look around. The apartment is bare, apart from the essentials. It’s small too.