The Fall of the Red Queen (Self Made Men...Southern Style Book 3)

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The Fall of the Red Queen (Self Made Men...Southern Style Book 3) Page 19

by Lexxi Callahan


  The question crashed into her, and she could only stare at him. She didn’t recognize the angry young man in front of her. He seemed so far away. She blinked, disoriented from the memories she kept locked away and helpless to stop the ones that followed.

  “Tell me.” The steel was back in his voice, and she responded automatically.

  “It was my fault. I made Stefan stay at the hospital with Jen. They didn’t expect her to wake up, but Lizzie refused to leave her room. Before I went to the funeral, I gave Lizzie the copy of Alice in Wonderland we’d had at the beach and told her to read it to Jen. That Jen would follow her voice out of the rabbit hole.”

  She swallowed hard, unable to move or even brush away the moisture blinding her.

  “But Stefan read it to her?”

  “Lizzie wanted me to stay and read it, but I couldn’t. I should’ve stayed at the hospital with the girls. I should’ve listened to Stefan and let him go to the funeral instead. Maybe if I’d been there when Jen opened her eyes…”

  But she hadn’t listened to Stefan. She hadn’t listened to her mother either when she’d tried to make her leave the graveside. She’d insisted she wanted to say her last goodbye to Robert alone. She’d convinced her to go back to the Taylors’ home to help Mac and Nadine Sellers host the crowd of people that had gathered for the triple funeral services. She should’ve gone with them, but she had dreaded all the sympathetic looks and pity she’d been the object of for days.

  So she’d stood there, her fingers balled into fists, wanting to scream and rage but unable to make a sound or do anything to release the agony consuming her. A car door slammed, and she’d glanced over her shoulder in time to see her grandfather stepping out of his chauffeured car.

  The smug triumph on his face told her everything she needed to know. What was left of the real world fell away, and Madlyn took her first real step into hell.

  “He showed up after the funeral.”

  “Your grandfather?” Jared asked.

  She nodded. “Yes,” she said, and dragged Jared into hell with her as she let the truth out.

  “I warned you, girl.” The deep baritone of his voice rooted her to the spot. “You knew what would happen.”

  It felt like falling forever, everything was moving around her too fast while she couldn’t escape that painful moment. “Stay away,” she’d whispered.

  He didn’t stop until he was right in front of her, his silver-topped cane clacking against the pavers that surrounded the group of mausoleum crypts. “You let that piece of garbage get you pregnant and ruin your chances for a future with the Maretti boy, then you bring him to my house to talk to me the way he did. This is all on you.” He pointed towards the fresh flowers surrounding the three crypts still only covered by curtains. “You did this. You only have one family, and now you’d better pray that bastard growing in your belly is a boy because at least then he’ll have my name.”

  “Madlyn.” His low voice startled her.

  He was too close, his hand reaching for her.

  “I had to do what he said,” she whispered.

  “I understand.”

  “No!” The word ripped out of her as she pushed away‏‏, trying to put some distance between them. “There’s your truth, Jared. Take it and go. There’s nothing else for you here.”

  Instead of going, he caught her and wheeled her around until she had to face him. “Your grandfather had Jen’s family killed?”

  “Yes!” The admission shredded her until she didn’t know who she was anymore.

  “You’ve known it for ten years and never did a single thing about it.”

  The shreds of her disintegrated. “Yes,” she agreed, hoping he would hate her now. That he would go and leave so she could disappear into all that pain.

  His breathing turned rough, and she could feel the temperature drop in the room. “You’ve covered for him all this time.”

  “Yes.”

  “Knowing he killed Jen’s family, you let him have your son.”

  “Yes!”

  “Why would you do that?” He shook her slightly, but she was past caring. “Why would you let that monster have your son?”

  She could no longer feel the ground under her feet. “There weren’t supposed to be any survivors.”

  She heard the strangled noise he made but couldn’t see him anymore. She couldn’t see anything.

  “You should go,” she whispered.

  “He threatened Jen.” His voice was coming from a great distance.

  “I was going to leave New Orleans and take my baby with me…”

  “You’d better pray that bastard growing in your belly is a boy because at least then he’ll have my name.”

  “You will never see my son.” She instantly regretted her reckless response. And as many mistakes as she’d made up to that point, those words would be the worst mistake she had ever made in her life.

  Leaning in close, stinking of cigars, flowery cologne, and whiskey, he’d lowered his voice. “You think so?”

  “I won’t let you,” she hissed, fury making her momentarily brave. “You can’t hurt me anymore.”

  The slow evil smile that cracked open his lined face had been positively gleeful. “Oh, I haven’t even started, girl. You think the worst is over?” He shook his head slowly as if disappointed with her. “I raised you better.” He’d lowered his voice, but every word had still spun into her like a jagged drill. “The men I hired made a mistake. They left a survivor.” He shook his head in disappointment. “Sloppy work.”

  His words bored through her skin and destroyed every last part of what made her human.

  “You will come with me and do exactly as I say, or I will finish the job.”

  “Finish the job?” Jared echoed from the present she’d long since lost her place in.

  The past wouldn’t release her. She was stuck there, in that moment in time. It was her permanent reality. She lived there. She understood what Robert was trying to tell her in the dream. She would always live in the moment her grandfather made her choose. No matter how many times she had to make the choice, she’d make the same one again.

  “Either I gave him custody of my son, or he would have his men finish the job.”

  “Jen?” Jared asked. “You gave him your son to protect Jen.”

  The last of her dissolved into nothingness. “Yes. Yes, of course I did.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  For a long time, there was nothing. Just the buzz of kitchen appliances and central heating and cooling systems. The occasional drip of water from a faucet and the usual creaking of a century-year-old home. She stared blankly out the window over her kitchen sink, past the bright retro curtains she hadn’t been able to resist. The rabbits and mid-century modern pattern made her think of Lizzie, and she liked the irony of kitchen curtains that reminded her of the girl who was such a bad cook she could burn water.

  Her chin dropped, and she waited to feel something. Anything.

  He’d followed her into the kitchen. She didn’t look at him; she just knew he was there.

  She made coffee on autopilot. A few minutes later, she sat a mug in front of him.

  “You can’t tell her,” Madlyn said, watching his hand stir sugar into his coffee. She couldn’t look at his face. Feeling the desolation rolling off him was bad enough. She wasn’t strong enough to face it yet. “You can’t tell any of them. Ever.”

  “She deserves to know,” he rumbled, his voice husky with emotions she’d bet he’d never felt before.

  “She deserves to be happy. She’s married to Stefan and expecting their first child. She has the home she always wanted. If you tell her the truth, you will destroy all that.”

  “She’s stronger than all of you give her credit for. She won’t shatter.”

  She looked up and met haunted brown eyes. The beautiful boy was all gone. She’d done that to him, stripped away his view of his world. He’d been happy, too, before she’d told him. She’d pulled him down into
her abyss, and it broke her heart all over again to see the effect it was having.

  “I know she won’t.” Madlyn smiled sadly. “But Stefan will. It will destroy him, and that will hurt her.”

  Jared stared back at her for a moment, then nodded. But he was still struggling with the decision. She was grateful for the numbing calm that was settling in her bones. Watching him work through the horror she had lived with for ten years was forcing her to relive it like it had happened yesterday.

  “Then there’s Robbie,” she said, trying to make him understand. “He loves his grandfather. I will die before I let my son find out what happened to his father. You cannot tell anyone. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t strong enough to keep it from you any longer. I wish you had listened to me.”

  She was right. Jen would be devastated, but eventually she would be okay. Stefan would never be the same, but he had Jen. He’d survive it. Robbie would be the one to suffer. He couldn’t do that to the kid.

  He stood, his coffee forgotten. He reached the door before he realized that he hadn’t spoken. “You’re right.” The relief on her face hurt. How could she think he would ever do anything to hurt her son? “I’ll keep your secret. I would never hurt Robbie.”

  “He’s eighty-three,” she whispered. “Jail was hard on him. I’m starting to believe he won’t live forever.”

  Jared nodded. “Yeah. I get it. We could put him away, but it will destroy everyone you care about to do it. I don’t want it that bad, Madlyn. And Jen wouldn’t want the truth, knowing that was the price.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  He nodded again.

  The silence stretched. There was nothing else to say.

  “You should go.” Her expression didn’t flicker. “Please. Go.”

  He needed to go. He needed to get somewhere he could think. “I’ll be back.”

  Her smile was sad. “There’s no need.”

  He didn’t quite feel like he was in his body, and he was no good to her like this. He was not leaving her. He just needed to get his head together. “I’ll be back,” he said, and he meant it.

  She drank another cup of coffee, then took a shower. There wasn’t a trace of sharpie ink anywhere on her skin anymore. It had faded a long time ago, but sadness overwhelmed her when she dried herself with a towel.

  It was still early, but she headed to her grandfather’s to get Robbie. She would take him out for breakfast. He loved the French toast at Surrey’s.

  She pulled up at the same time her grandfather’s housekeeper did.

  “Robbie’s not here,” Marietta told her with a sympathetic smile. “Suzanne picked him up yesterday about an hour after you dropped him off.”

  A chill licked down her spine. “I thought I was picking him up here. I must have misunderstood.”

  “The Judge was not feeling well. He must’ve forgotten to tell you.”

  “Yes,” Madlyn agreed, wishing she could believe that. But with everything he and her sister had put her through over the years, she couldn’t. She’d lost count of the times she’d shown up at Suzanne’s only to find out he was at his grandfather’s and vice versa. “I’m sure that must be why.”

  She slid back into her car, anger pushing the blood faster through her veins. That unexpected wash of adrenaline cleared her mind. It was six o’clock in the morning, much too early to go to Suzanne’s without calling first. Suzanne’s phone went to voicemail.

  It was early. They might not be up yet. Going to voicemail this early in the morning wasn’t an immediate cause for alarm. So Madlyn gassed up her car, stopped by a drugstore, and bought a few things she needed and basically killed an hour before trying again.

  It went to voicemail.

  She sent a text letting Suzanne know she was on the way to pick up Robbie. Fifteen minutes later when she pulled up at her sister’s, she cursed herself for being so stupid. She’d given them a heads up, and they were bundling their kids and Robbie into their minivan.

  She shook her head, unable to believe what she was seeing. She parked at the curb and slammed the door after she got out. “Going to church?” she asked, although none of them were dressed for it.

  Suzanne froze at the tailgate. “You can’t be here.”

  “Give me Robbie and I’ll leave.”

  Robbie was trying to get out of the back seat, but Gary stopped him.

  “Do not put your hands on my son.” Madlyn headed up the driveway.

  “Your son?” Gary scoffed. “Who’s raised him, Madlyn? He’s more ours than yours, and you know it.”

  “You know you can’t be here,” Suzanne said, catching Madlyn by the arm before she could reach Robbie.

  Her sister was taller and a few sizes bigger. They’d fought like cats and dogs since they were kids, but Suzanne had never gotten physical with her before. So she was more shocked than hurt when she shook her sister off.

  “Here.” Suzanne handed her an envelope. “When are you going to learn you can’t trust that old man? Now get out of here before he has you arrested.”

  The envelope had an official seal on it, and her fingers were shaking too much to open it. It wasn’t the first time she’d gotten one of these. She knew there was a restraining order inside. Adrenaline coursed through her, but Robbie’s face pleading with her from the back windshield of the SUV kept her calm. She gave him a reassuring smile, but promised herself that the next time she had him in her car, she wasn’t stopping until she crossed the Louisiana state line. She was done with her grandfather using her son to control her, and her sister and brother-in-law assisting him because of the monthly stipend they received for Robbie’s care.

  This was not how family behaved. There wasn’t even a word for how dysfunctional the Robicheaux legacy was.

  “At least tell me where you’re going.”

  “To the wildlife center over in Folsom. It’s just for the day, I swear. Now, please, leave.”

  Her vision swam as she turned away, unable to bear glancing at the SUV where Robbie was calling her from the back seat. She heard her brother-in-law’s muffled curse as her son struggled past him and got free. She caught him when he ran to her and hugged him close.

  “It’s okay,” she said, forcing the tears out of her voice. “Go feed the giraffes. It’ll be fun.”

  “I want to go with you.”

  “I know.” She ruffled his hair, then smoothed it back in place. “This is the last time. I promise you. The next time I come get you, it will be forever.”

  He forced himself to smile and blink back his tears, exactly the way she was doing. It broke something inside her. It was one thing that this intolerable situation hurt her every single day, now Robbie was old enough that it was starting to affect him, too.

  He hugged her tight and whispered in her ear. “Uncle Stefan gave me a cell phone, and he told Gary if he found out he’d taken it away from me, Gary would regret it. I’ll text you some pictures so you’ll have my number.”

  Stefan had given him a cell phone?

  That ache started inside her again. She’d tried to give Robbie a cell phone a year ago, but her brother-in-law had taken it away and given it to her grandfather. She hadn’t seen Robbie for two months.

  “Do you know my number?”

  He nodded and reluctantly let go of her. “Aunt Jen programmed it in. I’ll text you so you’ll have mine.”

  Another dart of pain slid past her defenses. Jen had given him her cell phone number despite everything that had happened between them. It was more than Madlyn could take. If she stayed a second longer, she would leave with him now. “I love you so much.”

  “I love you too, Mom.”

  “Last time, I promise.”

  He nodded, went back to the SUV, and climbed in the back seat. It was the last time she would watch him walk away. The last time her family would do this to her…and him.

  She slammed her car door too hard when she slid behind the wheel. Her knuckles turned white around the steering wheel as she b
acked out of the driveway, struggling to keep the rage from surfacing.

  Her grandfather was waiting for her in his breakfast room, drinking coffee and reading the Sunday paper like it was just another day. He looked up from the paper. She slammed the envelope on the breakfast table so hard the china rattled.

  “I don’t know how you got a restraining order on a Saturday night, but I do know you are calling whatever crony you woke up and telling him to cancel it.”

  He slowly folded the paper and set it aside. “When did you decide it was appropriate for you to speak to me in that tone?”

  She stopped, his calm response throwing her off but not for long. “I have done everything you asked. Everything!” She stepped closer like she did in court with a hostile witness. “I have worked with the Warren brothers for two weeks, trying to make up some sort of defense for you that will hold water. I’ve deflected questions. Misinformed them. Done everything but flat-out lied, and you take Robbie away from me again?”

  He stared at her blankly, not reacting to the fury in her voice.

  A chill ran down her spine. That response was wrong. It was like a fog she hadn’t even been aware of lifted, and she was seeing the old man for the first time. And what she saw increased that chill. He looked almost feeble and…confused.

  Then his expression cleared, and it was like watching him reappear behind his eyes.

  “How was your evening with Rafe Warren?” he asked calmly as if she hadn’t just been screaming at him.

  Maybe this was a new tactic for him? Lulling her into a false sense of security. Trapping her into thinking he was slipping. She stepped back, watching him warily. “It was fine.”

  “Did you talk strategy at all?” He waved her into a chair at the table, and shock had her sitting down. “What did you suggest?”

  “Yes,” she said, quickly, sliding the envelope back across the table so she could open it. “We discussed strategy, and he has some interesting ideas.”

  “He’s a good lawyer.”

  Something was off in his expression, his mannerisms, everything was…wrong. Was it possible this wasn’t a trick? Had Rafe been right about the Judge? Was the diminished capacity defense not just a strategy?

 

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