by Cooper, Jill
I watch him as he leans forward and scoops some crackers from the coffee table. I’m barely able to force a smile as our eyes meet. His hold a question he wouldn’t dare ask when his boss is around.
“Can I get you another drink, Joe? Senator?” Jax asks.
Patricia holds up her hand with a smile. “Please, call me Pat while I’m out of Washington. And no, I’m fine. Being in your fine home again is enough.”
“To the birthday girl, eh?” Joseph says and raises his half-empty glass.
I nod my thanks and accept the fruit punch offered by Mom before she bustles back into the kitchen. I can smell that the roast beef is almost done—my favorite.
“I’m glad you could come,” Joseph continues. “Don always has high praises for both of you.”
“What can I say? I’m a chip off the old block, right Dad?”
I can’t help but laugh. He always makes things better. His dimples are cute, and I wish we could be alone. When I look back at his parents, they are smiling at me.
My eyes settle on Patricia, whose eyes flash something other than happiness at me. I force a smile and pretend everything is all right.
“Oh, look at them, Joe,” she gushes, patting her husband’s knee. “A perfect couple. I’m sorry we haven’t done this before. You know, Washington is a slave driver.”
“I bet,” I say, sipping my punch.
Jax laughs and gestures at Joseph. “So is this man. The guy has been my boss for years, and he still surprises me with the workload.”
Joseph crosses his arms and chuckles. “You get to leave early every night to take care of your family. I don’t see what you have to complain about. Your wife on the other hand …”
The doorbell rings, and Jax excuses himself to answer it. I’m curious; no one else was invited tonight. I follow him out to the hall where Mom meets me. She’s wiping her hands on her apron.
“Who is it, Jax?” Mom asks. Jax blocks the door and whispers to someone. “Who is it, Dad?” I ask louder.
He turns around, wiping the corner of his lips. His cheeks are beet red and sweat clings to his brow. I’ve never seen him so nervous about anything.
“My brother Rex is in from London, it would seem, and has dropped by.”
“Brother?” I have never heard of a brother before.
Mom smiles and extends her hand as Rex enters. He’s tall, the spitting image of Jax except for his black hair and brown eyes. I don’t bat an eye at his showing up, but my future self knows different.
I didn’t see Jax in the alley. Jax didn’t kill my mother.
Rex did.
And now he’s back. Has he come to complete the job? Or is something far worse going on?
“A pleasure to meet you.” Mom kisses his cheek.
He is all smiles, and everything about him—his smile, his accent, even his suit is smooth. Like honey and butter, only over processed and sickeningly sweet. “Lovely to finally to see you in person. Your pictures do not do you justice at all.” His voice is thick with a British accent. He kisses Mom’s hand.
She almost seems wooed by him, but then Rex does a double take when he spots me.
Nervously, I take a step backwards as he offers me his hand.
“And would this be the lovely, Lara? Well, you are grown up, aren’t you?”
I shake his clammy hand.
“Dad never …” My voice trails off when my eyes lock with Jax. His are afraid, nervous. I don’t know why he’s so scared, but I don’t think Rex is friendly. No matter if he’s my uncle or not, I don’t want him in our house.
“Yes, Jax and I, we’ve had a few falling outs over the years, but we are working on mending our fences, aren’t we brother?” Rex clasps Jax on the shoulder, and I sense he would rather be anywhere but here.
I want to ask why. As I’m thinking about it, Mom speaks up. “Help set the table, Lara. Rex, you can stay for dinner?”
He smirks. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of missing it. Tell me where I can find Mike and Molly. So delighted to hear twins really do run in the family.”
The twins are thrilled to find out they have a British uncle. They spend most of the dinner asking him to say certain words or phrases and asking about British slang. It amuses Mom, but Jax never cracks a grin. He barely touches his dinner.
“Tell me about your work, Senator? Is it true you’re looking to loosen the laws on time travel?” Rex asks.
Joseph chuckles. “Has been for years!”
Patricia swallows carefully and picks up her glass of wine. “It would seem to me we are wasting a valuable resource. Don’t have time to go on a vacation? Borrow a memory from someone who did. You’ll spend a fraction of the time in the chair but wake refreshed.”
“And three times as much money,” Donovan cracks.
Everyone laughs, but Rex points at him. “Money makes the world go round, doesn’t it? Certainly it does. What does the government think about time travel to save the world?”
Patricia smiles, sits up straighter, and with confidence says, “Soon, if I have my way, that’s exactly how it will be. I hope to have enough votes to pass a law that ensures the police have the real power they need.”
Mom and Patricia clink their glasses together. Usually she hates this line of speculation but is good friends with the Senator, which is how Donovan and I met.
Jax’s eyes are far off. I don’t think he’s hearing anything that’s going on at all.
Rex plays with his butter knife. “So the world will be made safer, thanks to you then? Murderers will be taken out before they commit crimes, rapists, kidnappers, all of them erased?”
“Can’t happen. For one, if you try to change the past, your mind will turn to mush. We want them stopped, rehabilitated, not dead,” Mom says. “Second, what you’re talking about is murder.”
“What’s a little casual murder among friends,” Rex says, eyeing me specifically.
I shift in my seat, sitting up straighter and trying to act as if he’s not bothering me.
“That’s why we have the memories, isn’t it?” Patricia says. “If we can take a serial killer and strip his memories from him—his rotten childhood—and insert happy ones, we can quell the instincts, change lives. That is what Miranda is working on.”
All eyes fall to my mother, whose jaw is set tight.
“Really, I was unaware your research was so cutting edge?” Rex says.
She gulps back her wine. “I don’t talk about this in front of the children. Lara, please start clearing the table.”
To be asked to clear the table on your birthday is probably considered by most to be rude, but I am pretty happy about it. I take some dishes into the kitchen and begin to scrape the leftovers into the garbage disposal.
I hear a shuffling behind me and turn to see Rex standing there with his hands in his pockets. “Can I get you something?”
He approaches me and stands so close that I back up into the counter. His eyes search mine. They are deep, penetrating and don’t leave my face. I will myself not to blink, but it’s not easy.
“You don’t know who I am, do you?” he whispers, stroking my hair.
I shake my head. “Should I?”
“You will. I liked the curls better,” he says with malice. I don’t take another breath until he’s gone.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rex was the assassin.
He had a working relationship with the Senator, and even though they pretended not to know each other, if you knew what to look for, you could see it. Rex tried to kill Mom, and when he failed, she stayed with Rewind and married Jax.
Did Jax know? Was he innocent?
I don’t want to hurt him, but I know I need to expose them all.
****
My eyes snap open and I suck in a sharp intake of air. I’m in a small room surrounded by cement walls with a window far up, but little light is streaming inside. The room is empty except for a mattress I’m lying on.
Pushing up on my elbows, my stomac
h sways back and forth. I groan and check all my pockets for my phone. It’s gone. My legs wobble when I try to stand, and I fall against the wall. I brace myself against it to get to the door, but there’s no window and no handle. It is completely flat.
I’m trapped.
My heart is pounding with fear. There’s no way out.
Footsteps echo outside. Someone’s coming. I look around for a weapon, anything, but the room is barren. Instead, I crouch down in the corner and wait for the door to open.
The men who kidnapped me enter, holding Jax between them. The one with the dragon tattoo throws him to the ground. “Say what needs to be said. Time is short.”
He cringes in pain, and I scurry over to him. His face is black and blue, and he’s bleeding above one eye. My heart gives an awful twinge at the sight of him hurt. I grip him by the shoulders, my head collapsing against his chest. The door latches.
We’re alone.
Jax’s hand rubs the top of my head. “This is all my fault, Lara. I’m sorry. I thought I could control it. Then Molly …”
His face contorts with pain, but he doesn’t cry. He remains strong.
And that helps me stay strong too. “Are you going to hurt me?”
Jax shakes his head. “Never. Never. God, that you think that—of course why would think anything different?” He exhales. “I’ve made a mess out of everything, Lara. Everything.”
I bit my lip and feel like I can trust him. I can see the despair on his face as he rubs his eyes with his hands. He looks like he’s living a nightmare. I ask a question I need an answer to even though I’m afraid.
“Did you know Rex was going to try to kill Mom? Did you help him?”
He shakes his head as I help him sit up. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Tell me,” I spit out. “I deserve the truth.”
“It started with late nights, dinners … then dancing. I was in love with your mother, and she—”
“Was married, I know. Then what?”
He leans his head back and looks up at the lights. “You missed your mom. So did John. Miranda was going to quit, spend more time with you, but Patricia James … wouldn’t stand for it. Your mom knew too much about the illegal research, about the illegal money Patricia was funneling into the company when it was a startup.”
“The guys who grabbed us, the ones with the tattoos, that would make them—”
Jax nods. “Mob. They are invested in your mom’s research and keep Patricia on a short leash. Even now, if it got out … they own her. Once, she was our friend, but now … no. She can’t be trusted.”
“So she hired your brother to take her out?”
Jax’s shoulders round, and his face despairs. “I didn’t know, not before he took the shot. You have to believe me. We might be brothers, but our lives took very different paths. He was in the mob as an enforcer at a young age, and since then … let’s say his skills have improved, all right?”
I do believe him. I see the agony in his face as he talks about his brother. “But you covered it up. You framed my father.”
“I didn’t have a choice. The mob … they would’ve tried again. They would’ve killed your mom, you, me, everyone. But he’s my brother. We worked out a deal. He’d never come back. He’d leave us alone … if I kept Miranda at her job, doing her research. If I’d keep her quiet.” He takes a deep sigh. “Then we got married. I never thought —”
“You fell in deep.” I bite my lip. “You had the twins.”
Jax nods.
“So what changed? Why did Rex come back?”
Jax shakes his head. “The Senator did. Your mother did. Their relationship … was getting worse. Your mom was going to leave and blow the lid off the whole thing. I didn’t know any of this until Molly was taken, until you went missing. But your mom told me about the Senator ’s threats, about what happened to that reporter. Somehow, she had a source and—”
“I’m the source.” I watch disbelief roll over his face.
“What? How?”
“I stole proprietary information from Rewind, from Mom, and handed it off to the reporter. They got it back when they killed her. I have it all on video. I can end this if I can get out.”
Jax closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “And Molly? They took her to …”
“Blackmail me, get their stuff back. Seems like it worked.” I take a breath to force myself to slow down. “We’re all going to die, aren’t we?”
“No!” I almost believe him. “No.”
“Jax—”
“Listen, I’m sorry for what I did, but I did the best I could.”
“What you did …”
“You think I don’t know what you’re going to say?” Jax narrows his eyes, and his hand caresses my cheek. “Every year, I love you both more. Every year, I see how much harder it is for you. Every year, I feel worse than I did before.”
“Every year,” I whisper, and my mind flashes back to my father’s birthday party.
I scraped birthday cake on top of an unopened envelope. The seal was a golden M for Montgomery. And Dad never opened it because he knew who it was from—Mom’s lover. He sent us what? A card? Money? Because his brother was responsible and he got away with it.
“You okay?” Jax asks.
“Yeah … a lot to take in.”
“Can you forgive me for what I’ve done?”
I swallow.
He waits silently.
“It might be too much.” His face is crestfallen. “But you raised me. I wish you found another way.”
His lip quivers. “Me too. Do what they say, Lara, then maybe we’ll all get out of here, all get a second chance.”
I doubt that’s true, but I hope it is.
The door opens again and in walks Rex. He looks different than he did the last time I saw him. A scab runs down the side of his face. It looks fresh.
I snarl. “What happened to your face?”
“You did.”
My eyebrows furrow. “I think I’d remember,” I say, even though it’s quite possible I don’t.
He crouches down, and his smile is chilling, unkind. “You will later. Just proves our plans for you were successful. You are the one Miranda has been searching for her entire career. How ironic.”
I can’t fathom what he’s talking about. Is he talking about her work?
“I’m sorry, my darling. There’s no time to explain. The procedure room is ready for you.”
“Rex.” Jax glances up at his brother with wide eyes. “You said you’d let her go once you had everything that was yours.”
“Plans change.” Rex signals his thugs, who grab my arms, forcing me to my feet.
“Let her go!” Jax screams.
I kick my legs and fight them every step of the way. “Let me go!” I try to pull my arms free, throw my head around. I do everything I can.
Still, they bring me down a long corridor into a sterile room. In the center is a long leather chair, something like a dentist’s chair, but with a hole in the headrest. I’m slammed into it and their strong bodies hold me still as they cuff me in.
I scream, thrash, and even manage to bite one of their ears.
“Ahhh!” He backhands me across the jaw.
“Enough!”
My chest heaves as everyone stands to attention. It’s Patricia James in a blue executive suit, not a hair out of place. She’s the perfect picture of a Washington powerhouse.
She studies me. I’ve never seen anyone so unwaveringly unapologetic, but I’ve never been kidnapped before.
“Have you forgotten we have Molly?”
I swallow hard. Part of me did.
“What do you want?” My teeth grit together.
“A weapon. A time traveler. Someone who can get me everything I need to turn around this pathetic country. And according to your brain scans at the hospital …” Her sneer gives me shivers. “You’re it.”
I take a deep breath. My insides are shaking.
“You could
still die, but this is the only way to save Molly, Jax, your mother. Understood?” She crosses her arms like a school teacher waiting for me to turn in my homework.
Under her penetrating gaze, I nod, but my mind spins. I need to find a way out of this.
“Good. We can be friends if you do what you’re told.”
I sneer. “Some friend.”
“Hmph!”
The next sight turns my blood cold. Men enter the room with my mom between them and slam her onto the floor. A thug places his hand on her neck, keeping her down in place.
“I won’t do this to my daughter. I won’t!” she cries out.
I squeeze my eyes shut and lean my head back. Everything I went through to save her, and now she’s back in danger, despite all I did. Maybe that’s how things are. Maybe I have no control. Maybe I can’t save her. But I don’t believe it for one second. Mom can be saved. We all can, if I can only figure out how.
I must go through with my old plan, go back in time to when this all started. If I catch Rex at the scene and turn him in, this future won’t exist.
It’s my only shot.
“You saw the brain scans,” Patricia says. “This is the only thing that might save her life. You have no choice. Or should I get Molly in here?”
“No!” Mom shouts. “Leave her out of this.” She stands up and rests a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry about this. I’m so sorry, Lara.”
I swallow hard. “It’s the only way out. Do it.”
Her eyes cloud over. I am the next test subject. They want to unlock time travel in someone, and I am the best candidate. What Patricia doesn’t know is I am her worst enemy, and if this works, I’ll take her down.
“This is going to hurt,” Mom says.
I open my eyes and try not to look as she readies a needle. I bite my lip as she slides it into the base of my skull.
When she pulls it out, I gasp for air, my fingers gripping at the arm rest.
“Mom?” I whisper, my lips trembling.
She’s holding a metal hose in her hand and begins to fish it through the back of the chair. I can’t see much, which makes my heart palpitate. I can barely keep still and am beginning to sweat.
