by Kate Kessler
“I’m not going to stop you, fool. I’m going with you.”
She shook her head. “I’ve gotten enough people shot for one day.”
“Mm.” Story kept her attention on the dog, scratching him behind the ears. “Pulled the trigger yourself, did you?”
Killian, still holding the door open, gestured for her to use it. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Then shut the fuck up about it.”
To her own surprise, Killian did. She closed the door and crossed her arms over her chest. Obviously, Story wasn’t leaving until she said what she had to say.
“Dash’s doing well, by the way. They took the bullet out. No internal damage. Keeping him overnight for observation.”
“How do you know all this?”
Story turned away from the dog, who slid down to lie at her feet. “I’m one of his emergency contacts.”
Of course she was. “You’re not shitting me? He’s really going to be okay?”
The other woman nodded. “So you can get your head out of your ass about that.”
“I really don’t think I like this persona of yours.” Though she kind of respected it.
Story’s gaze locked with hers. “How do you know this isn’t the real me?”
“Because I’m pretty sure we would have met before this.” Either in prison or on the streets.
She grinned. “Probably. You ready, then?”
Killian nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”
“Good. Let’s get it over with, get that girl back with her mama.”
Disbelief washed over her. “You really think that’s how this is going to play out?”
“I know it is.” There wasn’t a trace of doubt in her gaze. “I have never lost an assignment, and tonight, Killian Delaney, you’re my assignment.”
“Says who?”
“My employers. They’ve decided to back your play.”
A frown pinched Killian’s brows. “Why would they do that?”
Story tilted her head to one side. “Why do you think? You mean something to Dash. Dash means something to them. We protect our own.”
Like the Crows. “What are they going to want in return?”
“For you to make it out alive. Now let’s go.”
Killian followed her out the door, arming the alarm before she closed it. The last thing she saw was Hank lying on his bed, watching her with sad eyes. God, she hoped she saw that damn dog again.
Outside there was a little black hybrid in the drive. “It’s quiet,” Story explained, as though reading her mind. “I figure we need all the advantage we can get.”
“You figure right.” Killian opened the passenger door and slipped inside. Story followed. Within a few seconds they were on the road.
“How do you want to play this?” Story asked. “Going in with guns blazing, or are we playing ninja?”
“Ninja if we can. Guns blazing is more dangerous for Shannon, and us. Easier to take out one target at a time rather than several at once.”
“Survivors or no?”
She thought about how much killing she’d done in the last couple of days. “I’d like to avoid killing if at all possible.”
“And you’ve got dibs on Cirello?”
“Yeah. Look, Story, what I’d really like is for you to get Shannon out of there as soon as we find her.”
The other woman glanced at her. “You mean leave you on your own?” She shook her head. “No way.”
“I need her safe.”
“She will be. We’ll find her, protect her, and get her the hell out of there, but I’m not leaving you to take on a bunch of cartel assholes and gangbangers on your own. Unless, of course, you want to die tonight?”
A few days ago she would have said it didn’t matter, but who the hell was she trying to kid? “No. I don’t want to die.” She wanted to see Shannon graduate. She wanted to wake up on a Sunday morning in Dash’s bed, with him next to her, and not have to worry about anything other than breakfast. She wanted to see her parole end and start life over.
She wanted to live.
Shannon heard Rank on the phone with Aunt Killy. Even if she hadn’t heard the words he said, she would have known something was very wrong from the expression on his face. He looked more monstrous than usual, like he wanted to kill someone.
Like, maybe her.
Rank set the cell phone aside and turned to her. “How much of that did you hear?”
“Enough to know I’m not as safe with you as you said.”
He didn’t deny it. “You’ve been a means to an end for me, yes.”
He’d shot a man for hurting her, yet wouldn’t hesitate to hurt her himself. “Where’s my aunt?”
He laughed softly. “Your aunt is most likely on her way here.”
Shannon’s heart skipped a beat just before her stomach soured. “Are you going to hurt her?”
There was no emotion in the gaze that met hers. “One of us will not survive the encounter.”
“I won’t let you kill her.”
That seemed to amuse him. “Why would you want to defend a woman who has done nothing but lie to you for your entire life?”
“Aunt Killy has never lied to me.”
“Oh yes she has.”
She wanted to smack that smirk right off his ugly face. “How would you know?”
“Because I went looking and found the lie. Would you like to know what it is?”
It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter, but it did. Shannon made a show of picking lint off her sweater. “Not really.”
He laughed at her. “You’re not a very good liar, Shannon. I suppose your mother would be proud.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t know my mother.”
Rank thumped the end of his cane against the floor. “What if I told you that the woman you call Mother is not the woman who gave birth to you?”
“I already know that.” Moron. “I was adopted as a baby.”
“Haven’t you ever wondered who your real mother is?”
He was enjoying this, she realized. He liked the idea of maybe upsetting her. “Not really.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Once in a while she wondered where she’d come from, but she was actually just happy to be where she was.
He leaned back in his chair, regarding her from behind his desk like he was a king and she was some peasant. “Killian is your mother.”
It was like she was in a plummeting elevator. Only the fact that she was already sitting kept her from falling. “You’re lying.” Aunt Killy couldn’t be her mother.
“I rarely lie.” From the drawer of the desk, he withdrew a file folder. Who the hell used file folders anymore? If this was so important, why didn’t he have it on a flash drive? “Take a look.”
Thankfully, he slid the papers across the desk so that she could easily reach out and take them without having to get up. Her hands shook as she opened the file and looked inside.
It was a birth certificate, dated the day she’d been born. Killian Delaney was listed as mother of a baby girl.
On the birth certificate she’d seen at home her mother’s name had been removed.
“This is stupid,” she said. “Aunt Killy was only fifteen when I was born.”
“Yes, and her retard of a boyfriend was in lockup. Your father didn’t even know she was pregnant. She never told him about you.”
This wasn’t true. But she turned the page and saw a photo of a boy and a girl, both of whom looked a lot like her. Like, the girl could be her twin. It was creepy.
“Those two are Jonah and Malika Lewis. They have a younger sister as well. Their mother was also a teenager, but unlike Killian, she chose to keep her children. Their father was a bastard named Jason Michael White. He ran with a gang called the Crows.”
She’d heard her aunt mention the name Jason before. She used to hang with that gang. Shannon stared at the photo of the two in disbelief. She had half siblings? They had to be close to the same age as her, which meant there was little
chance they shared the same mother.
Why would her mother and Aunt Killy lie to her? Why not tell her the truth?
“She didn’t want you, but her sister did,” Rank said, his eyes sparkling with the cruel statement. “They kept it a secret so no one would ever know your father was a gangbanger and your mother his underage whore.”
Shannon didn’t kid herself into thinking she was super smart by any stretch, but she wasn’t stupid. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got on her?”
The look of confusion that pinched Rank’s features almost made her smile. “She lied to you.”
“She did me a favor.” She showed him the photo of the two teens. “Look at them. He looks like a thug and she looks like a stripper. Both of them look like they’ve had hard lives. I’ve got parents who love me and give me a good life. If she’d kept me I would have gone into foster care when she tried to kill you.”
“You finding out the truth will hurt her more than it hurts you, bitch. That’s what I want. She never wanted you to know.”
It did hurt, but she wasn’t going to let him know that, especially not now that he was starting to show her who he really was. If she thought about it, though, she could put herself in Killy’s place. She was the same age Killy had been when she was born. Would she want a baby right now? No fucking way. She’d be a terrible mother, and no kid was going to stop her from going to college and having the career she wanted. Back then, her aunt—her mother—had wanted to be a professional fighter. Hard to do that with a baby on your hip.
Thank God her mom had been there to take her.
“Why didn’t she tell him?” she asked.
Rank blinked. “Tell who?”
“My father. Jason. Why didn’t Killy tell him she was pregnant?”
“How the fuck should I know?”
She closed the file. “You seem to know everything else. There had to be a reason. Was he mean? An addict?”
“I have no idea.”
A gangbanger. No wonder Killy hated Cody the moment she met him. He romanticized the whole thug thing. All he talked about was getting a tattoo and a gun and riding with the Sons of Bitches. That guy Rank had shot had promised him the next prospect slot that came up. As much as she’d enjoyed Cody’s drugs and sometimes his dick, she hadn’t seen him as a long-term boyfriend, not really. Not if she was honest. She only dated him because it was exciting and sometimes he made her feel like the most amazing girl on the planet. Of course, there were times he made her feel like garbage, too.
If Jason had been anything like Cody, why would Killy tell him he had a kid?
“Now what?” she asked, sitting back in the chair. “You’ve dropped your bomb, so what’s next? You tell Killy and hope the news destroys her?”
He frowned at her tone. “It will hurt her. She’s tried to hide this for years.”
Shannon shrugged. “It’s no big deal. Lots of teenagers have babies. She wasn’t the first. Unless someone’s going to try to kill me because of who my father was, I don’t get the big deal.”
It was clear that when he thought about it, Rank didn’t get it, either.
“It’s a shock,” she went on, “but now that I know, she doesn’t have to hide it anymore. It doesn’t change much.”
“Change will come when I put her in the ground.”
She laughed. It was stupid of her, but she couldn’t help it. Did he actually think a shriveled goblin like him stood a chance against Killy? “Bro, she already fucked you up when you were completely normal. What do you think she’s going to do to you now?”
He moved faster than she thought he could. She didn’t dodge in time to avoid the blow from his cane. It struck her hard in the shoulder, sending waves of pain down her arm. She screamed. He hit her again. The third time he swung, she saw it coming, and grabbed the cane with both hands. Her nerves were sharp; the places where he’d struck her burned. It hurt so bad.
It also pissed her off. And what had Killy told her about anger? It was useful. It got things done.
Gripping the cane, Shannon pulled hard. Rank hadn’t expected her to react like this, so it was almost easy to pull it from his grasp. As soon as she had it, she lunged to her feet and swung it at him. He raised one arm and she brought the cane down on it. The impact reverberated up her arms into her aching shoulders.
She swung again. This time from the opposite direction. He didn’t react fast enough and the cane hit him hard on the side of the head. The force of the blow knocked his chair sideways and sent him crashing to the floor. Blood ran down his temple and cheek as he lay facedown, still and silent.
She’d knocked him out!
Shannon stood there for a moment, letting it all sink in. Her aunt was really her mother and she’d just brained a guy with his own cane. She’d knocked him the fuck out.
Killy was on her way there. She was risking her life to save Shannon’s. Shannon couldn’t let her do that. She couldn’t be responsible for Killy’s death.
Still clutching the cane, she ran for the stairs. She barely reached the railing when she saw one of the security guards coming up. He must have heard them. She slipped behind one of the pillars, heart pounding as she watched and waited. When he reached the right step, she stepped out of her hiding spot and swung the cane as hard as she could. It caught him in the throat. He tumbled backward, falling head over feet back down the stairs to the entrance hall. Sprawled in a heap, he didn’t move.
Her legs shook as she ran the rest of the way down. Dakwon was working that day, too, but there was no sign of him at the security station. Good. He’d been nice to her. She didn’t want to have to hurt him. She lurched toward the door and turned the dead bolt. There was a security alarm as well, but she didn’t care. Let the cops come. As she pulled the door open, a blast of cold, damp air chilled her to the bone. She had a coat upstairs, but there was no way she was going back up there to get it. She’d just have to take her chances and hope Killy arrived before she developed hypothermia.
It was dark outside. Shannon ran down the steps to the pavement. The yard was lit by tall, bright lights. She could see a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and a gate across the road that led to the building. That was her way out.
Her teeth began to chatter as she moved toward the gate. Her heart pounded against her ribs with every strike of her sneakers on the pavement. Freedom was so close. All she had to do was make it to the gate. All she had to do was make it to Killy.
“Shannon!” a voice yelled.
It was Dakwon. She didn’t turn around, didn’t stop. She pushed her legs to move faster, almost tripping over her own feet in the process.
“Shannon, stop!” Dakwon yelled again. A loud bang filled the air. Shannon screamed at the noise and almost fell again. Something struck the gate ahead of her and bounced off with a loud ping.
What the fuck?
“Don’t make me shoot you!” he yelled.
Shoot her? That was a bullet? Her legs refused to move regardless of how much she wanted to just keep running. Slowly, she turned her upper body to look at him. He stood maybe twenty feet away, all braced off, a gun in his hands, pointed right at her. He looked…sorry.
“I don’t want to have to hurt you,” he called.
She was about to say she didn’t want him to hurt her, either, when a shadow moved behind him. The dark figure drew closer, morphing into Killy when the light struck her face. She had a gun in her hand as well, and she brought it down hard. The sound of it hitting Dakwon’s skull echoed throughout the yard.
Dakwon crumpled to the ground, clearing a path from her to Killy. Her aunt hit Dakwon again and took his weapon before moving. They both ran toward each other, straight into each other’s arms.
Shannon started to cry.
“I’ve got you,” Killy whispered. “Sweet girl, I’ve got you.”
Clinging to her, Shannon sobbed into her shoulder. She couldn’t speak, could barely think or breathe. Only one word made it to her lips as she wept.
>
“Mom.”
Sixteen
Mom.” The word was a dagger straight to Killian’s heart.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” she said. “We’ll get you home to your mom.” It didn’t matter that Megan had just barely arrived in Florida. She’d call her in the morning and let her know Shannon was fine. The hard part would be convincing her sister to stay away until she was certain it was safe for Megan to come home.
Shannon drew back, sniffling and wiping her eyes. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
Fuck. Killian’s heart sank. “He told you.” She really shouldn’t be surprised. He’d said he would and then she’d threatened him earlier.
Her niece—her daughter—nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
The answer was simple. “Because you deserved a better mother than me. And because I didn’t want you to think that I didn’t want you, because I was just selfish enough that I almost kept you. Luckily for you, Megan wanted you, too. She was ready to be a mother. I wasn’t.”
Shannon sniffed. “You were really young.”
“I was your age.”
“I can’t imagine having a kid.”
Killian smiled softly. “Try to keep it that way for a while.” If she was honest, she’d admit that she still couldn’t imagine what it was like to be a mother. These past few days had taught her what it was to worry about her child, and it had just about done her in. How did Megan do it every day, and over two kids?
“My father…”
“Was a kid, too. And less ready to be a father than I was a mother. Look, honey, I know there’s a lot for us to talk about, but right now I just want to get you out of here, okay?”
Shannon bobbed her head. “Okay.”
In movies, people knocked out by a gun to the head usually stay down, but in real life it’s unusual for a person to be unconscious for more than a few minutes. The guy Killian had smacked a few minutes ago had regained consciousness and was now slowly getting up.
She didn’t want to kill him, but she wasn’t going to spend the rest of her life waiting for someone to stick a knife in her back.
