The Clarke Brothers (Complete Series)

by Lilian Monroe

  Before I can spiral any further, Aiden’s phone rings. He answers with a grunt, and then listens for a few moments.

  “See you there,” he says, and hangs up with another grunt.

  “Who was it?” Mara says, going to him and putting her hands on his chest. She wraps his shirt in her fists and hangs on to him as if she’s about to collapse. “Do they have Hailey?”

  “Ethan,” he says. “He’s not going to the airport. He thinks Margaret has them too, and he thinks she’s going to the river.”

  “The river?” Mara and I answer in unison.

  Aiden says nothing. He turns and walks back to his truck. Mara and I have time to exchange a panicked glance before rushing to follow him. I taste blood in my mouth as I climb back into the car. My heart is racing and my shirt is sticking to the sweat on my back. I feel like I can’t breathe any deeper than the shallowest of breaths, and I hold on to the car door with all my strength to keep myself from crumpling into a heap.

  Aiden revs the truck and we fishtail as he speeds down the gravel road toward Lang Creek.

  36

  Ethan

  I might be wrong about this. I could be taking Aiden, Mara, and Zoe away from wherever the girls are. I could be leading them on a wild goose chase.

  I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am. I saw the hatred in Margaret’s face when I told her she was pure evil. I saw the fury in her eyes when I told her I’d burn down her hotel a thousand times over. I know that she came back for revenge, and it would be just like her to cut us all where it hurts the most: our kids.

  Her look told me enough–I just had to realize what she was saying. She wants my brothers and me to feel pain. She always has. Ever since my father, her lover, died, she’s blamed the three of us brothers for his death. She’s blamed her daughter for it, too. It was Mara my dad jumped in the river to save.

  His death hit us all differently, and at the Fall Festival, I saw the depth of her pain. Instead of dealing with it, she’s let it fester for a decade, until the original wound is almost unrecognizable. She’s turned into a vindictive, bitter person. She’s tried to take business and love away from the three of us brothers. It hasn’t worked.

  Until now.

  Now, with Audrey and Hailey in her custody, she can bring ruin to both Dominic and me. She can see how much he cares for his daughter, and how much I care for Zoe and Audrey. She sniffs love out like a bloodhound, and now she’s trying to end it.

  I know it in my soul. I know that she has them, and in her mind, it’s the final payback for my father’s death.

  I haven’t been back to that spot by the river since my father died. It’s on the opposite end of town to where Audrey fell in. There, the river bends and there are many rapids and eddies and undercurrents that make the already frigid water turn lethal.

  If I were a crazed, bitter woman intent on hurting two little girls in some sort of twisted poetic justice, I’d bring them there.

  My heart is in my throat as I turn off the main road onto the gravel path that leads toward the river. The trees are thick here, blocking out most of the light from the sun. It’s been dry, so the truck bounces along the gravel road kicking up a big cloud of dust behind me.

  I tighten my hold on the steering wheel and push my foot further down onto the pedal. Images of my childhood are flashing through my mind. My brothers and I used to walk down this path with my parents, hauling picnic baskets and fishing poles to spend the day by the river. We’d run ahead, laughing and playing, throwing sticks and rocks into the river once we got there.

  I haven’t been back since my father’s death, but it all looks the same.

  The trees are sparser when I get closer to the river. I see Margaret’s car parked on the side of the road and my heart jumps in my throat.

  I wasn’t wrong, and somehow that makes me feel even worse. My worst nightmare is coming true. I know Aiden, Mara, and Zoe aren’t far behind, but there’s no time to wait. I start running toward the little path through the trees that leads to the clearing where my father jumped in to save Mara over a decade ago.

  Hesitating, I glance back at my truck and rush back. I grab a length of rope and sling it over my shoulder, sprinting back toward the trees. If someone falls in the river, I’m going to need something to haul them back in. Or as a worst case, I’m going to need something to hold onto when I jump in to get them.

  I can’t hear any birds, or any rustling of leaves. The forest is deathly quiet as I run. My footsteps sound too loud, and I’m panting as I try to speed up. My foot slips and I almost roll my ankle on a tree root. I swear and jump to save myself at the last second. I hold out my arms and catch myself on a branch before continuing my sprint through the forest.

  The rushing water is getting louder, and I try my hardest to hear something else. Anything else. Crying, or screaming, or voices. I need to know that they’re still here. Still alive.

  The trees thin and I can finally see a glimpse of the river. My heart starts pounding even harder as I see flashes of memories in my mind. They’re all muddled together. I see happy memories, when both my parents were alive. Then, I hear Mara’s panicked screams when she fell in as a teen. I can still see the look of terror on her face right before she went under. I remember the way my father ran in, the way the water splashed around him. I can still remember the fear in everyone’s face and the relief when he brought her back. I remember the hospital, and the weeks of darkness that followed.

  The memories pulse through my mind at a dizzying speed, one by one with every step I take closer to the water. Finally, the trees clear and my stomach lurches.

  They’re here.

  They’re alive.

  Margaret has her back to me, and she’s pushing the two girls out toward the worst of the rapids in an old, rickety tin canoe. She wades in, thigh-deep, and pushes the dilapidated watercraft out toward the rushing water.

  That’s when I scream. Audrey is holding Hailey in her arms, and just as Margaret’s hands leave the boat, Audrey’s smile melts away and her face is gripped with a terror so strong it makes my heart ache. She sees me then, and I think she screams my name, but I don’t hear anything.

  I just see Margaret, turning toward me and snarling. Audrey is looking back at the rushing white water behind her, and then turning back and yelling something toward me. She can’t move with the baby in her arms.

  Margaret rushes toward me in a low crouch. She looks as if she’s part panther. At the same time, I drop the rope from my shoulder and get ready to fling it toward the girls as I run to the water’s edge. Audrey is clinging on to the baby, and the boat is getting closer and closer to the rushing water. It’s rocking from side to side. Even from the banks, with Margaret just about to crash into me, I can see the whites of Audrey’s eyes when she looks at me in fear.

  Margaret’s wily body crashes into mine and we roll on the ground. She’s like a wildcat. She bites and scratches and hangs onto me with all her might. I manage to throw her off and run toward the water.

  “Audrey, catch this rope!” I scream as I hurl the rope toward her. I watch as the boat rocks when Audrey moves, holding the baby in one hand and trying to extend her other arm toward the rope. It lands across the front of the canoe and the boat rocks dangerously from side to side. It’s just out of Audrey’s grasp, but before I can see if she gets it, Margaret attacks me again. She yells and pushes me to the ground, mashing my face into the rocks at the water’s edge. I look up through one eye to see Audrey grab the rope.

  I throw Margaret off and take hold of the rope, pulling the girls toward me.

  “Tie it off on someth–” I don’t finish, because Margaret is tackling me to the ground again. This time, I fall face first into the water. Water fills my nose and mouth, and my hands scrape the rocky bottom of the river. I’m disoriented and for a moment, I lose my grip on the girls’ lifeline.

  She’s holding my head underwater as I flail and try to fight her off, grab the rope, and come up for air at
the same time. My lungs are burning as she holds me down. I can’t get any leverage as the water washes over me and I slide on the rocks. I’m reaching around me, splashing frantically when I feel the rough thread of the rope against my arm. I grab onto it and hold it as tight as I can as my lungs scream for oxygen.

  This could be it for me. In this moment, with a crazed woman holding me down, I could drown right here where my father jumped in to save another young girl over a decade ago. I cling onto the rope as my arms turn to lead and I know I’m losing this fight. My lungs are on fire, and I know I only have a couple seconds before my world goes dark.

  Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I instinctively understand why my father jumped in to save Mara all those years ago. The anger and resentment I had for him melts away. When I face my own death, I finally make peace with his.

  If my face wasn’t being held underwater by a deranged woman, I might laugh at the beautiful irony of it all.

  37

  Zoe

  The old woman screams when my nails dig into her scalp. I drag her back as Mara grabs onto the rope and Aiden lifts Ethan up out of the water.

  We’re all screaming. I’m screaming as Margaret slices her nails across my cheek. I’m screaming when I see Ethan’s limp body in Aiden’s arms. I’m screaming as Mara tries to pull the boat with our girls in it back to shore.

  Mara is screaming at Audrey wordlessly, crying as she sees Hailey unharmed. Audrey is screaming. Hailey is wailing in her arms.

  Aiden is yelling, slapping Ethan across the face to try to wake him up before he looks over to me and his eyes widen.

  Margaret is screaming, too. She’s yelling like a deranged demon as I stumble backward and she lands on top of me. She turns, her hair wild and her eyes cloudy as she wraps her cold hands around my neck. I struggle with her, pushing my fingers into her nostrils and eyes as I try to push her off me. My other hand is crawling around me, looking for a rock, or a stick, or anything I can use to get this woman off me.

  This must be what everyone calls a survival instinct. There are no thoughts in my head. None of my movements are conscious, and I don’t see anything except Margaret, and the excruciating hold she has on my throat. Margaret tightens her hands around my neck and a terrifying smile appears on her lips. As the edges of my vision go dark, and I feel the strength start to leave my body, my hand finally finds a palm-sized rock.

  I use every ounce of power that I have left, arcing my arm around and bringing the rock down as hard as I can on Margaret McCoy’s head.

  It hits her head with a sickening crunch, and Margaret’s deranged eyes go dull. She collapses on top of me, banging her head against mine as I groan. Her hold on my neck loosens, and I take a deep, ragged breath. Aiden appears in my field of vision, pushing the woman off me and putting his hands on my face.

  “You okay?”

  He’s breathless. I roll onto my side and cough, holding my neck with one hand and clinging onto the rock with the other. I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up to see Audrey.

  Tears fill my eyes and she wraps her arms around my neck. I wince as she hits the same spots that Margaret was hanging onto, but it doesn’t matter. Physical pain is nothing compared to the anguish that I felt before.

  It only takes a moment for me to inhale sharply and sit up, looking over toward the spot where Aiden dragged Ethan. Panic washes over me again as I remember the limp, lifeless body that Aiden lifted out of the water.

  My shoulders relax as I see Ethan leaning on his elbow, coughing and wheezing as he recovers. His lips aren’t a sickening shade of blue anymore, and his skin isn’t a deathly shade of white.

  Mara is holding Hailey, silently crying and rocking her wailing baby to calm her down. Ethan looks up at me, and his eyes are filled with a million things we haven’t said to each other. I wrap my arms around Audrey, holding her to my chest as Ethan and I look at each other.

  Finally, I glance over at Margaret McCoy. She’s still limp. Her eyes are closed and there’s an ugly gash on the side of her head. Aiden is crouched over her, feeling her neck with two fingers.

  My breath catches in my throat as Aiden looks at me with dark eyes.

  “Did I…” I say, not wanting to finish my sentence. Did I kill her?

  Aiden shakes his head. “I feel a pulse. Pass me that rope,” he says to no one in particular. Ethan drags himself up and tosses the waterlogged rope over to his brother. He takes a few halting steps toward me and collapses next to me, wrapping his soaking wet arms around me. I melt into him, and he holds both Audrey and me in his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” he says as he leans his face into my neck. His voice is muffled when he says it again. “I’m so sorry.”

  I shake my head and reach back to stroke his hair. “Ethan, stop. You saved our girls. You were so brave. You figured out where they were. You,” my voice catches. “You almost died.”

  Audrey takes a long, shuddering breath when I say the last word. She peels herself away from me and throws her arms around Ethan’s neck. He falls backward, and she kisses his cheek.

  “Don’t die, Ethan,” she says. “I like having you around.”

  A smile appears on Ethan’s lips and my heart thumps in my chest. Ethan glances at me and his smile widens.

  “Do you?” He asks, and Audrey nods.

  “I don’t like it when you and Mom fight.”

  “Me neither,” he says as he ruffles her hair. “I hope we don’t fight like that ever again.”

  I lay back onto his chest, and Audrey snuggles beside him. He wraps his arms around both of us and lets out a long sigh. “My girls,” he says. He kisses the top of my head.

  “You okay?” he asks.

  “Yeah,” I reply, even though I’m not quite sure if that’s true. “I think she chipped one of my teeth when she collapsed on top of me though.” I thumb the sharp edge of my tooth before lifting myself up and smiling at him. “See?”

  He chuckles. “Chipped tooth or not, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. And a fucking badass, too.”

  Audrey gasps. “Mom, he said ‘badass’!”

  I laugh. “I think he’s allowed to say that right now. Just once, though.”

  Audrey looks at me, wide-eyed, and then glances at Mara with her mouth hanging open. Mara laughs and then kisses Hailey’s forehead.

  All five of us turn when we hear a crashing sound in the forest. Dominic comes barreling through the trees, his hair disheveled and his eyes wide as he takes in the scene in front of us. His eyes go straight to Mara and the baby and I see his face crumple as he starts to weep.

  Mara goes to him, and the two of them cry together as they hold their infant. Aiden grunts, then, and I look over at him for the first time in a few minutes.

  He’s got Margaret tied up just as her eyes flutter open. She starts to say something, snarling as she looks at me, but he stuffs a bit of cloth in her mouth. He glances at Ethan.

  “You might want a new sock,” he says, pointing to the gag in the old woman’s mouth. “Fell off in the struggle.”

  “I think I can manage that,” Ethan says, squeezing his arms around Audrey and me again. “I guess we’d better get back to town and try to explain this mess.”

  “I called Bill,” Dominic says. “He’s on his way.”

  “Explain this mess is right,” Sheriff Bill Whittaker says as he walks onto the gravelly strip of beach on the edge of the water. His boots crunch as he takes a few steps, hooking his thumbs into his belt loops and surveying the scene in front of him. “This’ll take more explaining than the fire at that fucking hotel,” he breathes.

  “You managed that one okay,” Ethan grins. “This should be easy.”

  “Fucking Clarkes,” he mutters, shaking his head. He walks over and looks down at Margaret, who struggles against the ropes with fury in her eyes.

  Bill grunts and shakes his head. “We’d better get that one to a hospital,” he says, pointing his foot toward Margaret. “As much as I’d like t
o leave her here to rot, it wouldn’t be ethical.” He winks at me. “And I’m nothing if not ethical.”

  Aiden chuckles, and shakes his head. “Ethical is one word for it. I’m just glad your ethics seem to match mine most of the time.”

  “Bill,” I squeak, looking at the sheriff.

  He grunts at me, nodding.

  “I don’t want to go to jail.”

  That seems to surprise him, because he stands up taller and frowns. His thick eyebrows draw together like two caterpillars on his forehead. I glance at Margaret, and then hold up the rock that I’m still clutching in my hand.

  “I did that.”

  Bill stares at the rock, and then at Margaret, seeming to take in the bloody gash on the side of her head for the first time. She’s got red rivulets running down the sides of her head, covering her forehead and ear. She’s stopped struggling, and her eyes are half-closed as her breathing becomes more labored.

  The Sheriff takes it all in, and then he does something I don’t expect. He starts laughing. He laughs so hard his hat falls off behind him. He clutches his belly and laughs until all of us are laughing with him. At first, we laugh tentatively, and then the stress dissolves into an almost manic laughing fit. Margaret doesn’t react. I’m not quite sure why I’m laughing, but the emotion of the past couple hours releases in that moment.

  Finally, Bill grunts as he leans over to pick up his hat. He brushes it off and places it back on his head, and then looks at me.

  “Zoe Randall,” he starts. “The only person going to prison is the woman who kidnapped your daughter.” At those words, Margaret struggles against the ropes that Aiden bound her with. Bill and Aiden pick her up and drag her back toward the trees. I glance at Ethan, who smiles at me.