“Asshole,” Evie said through angry tears. “No matter how you spin it or how you hide it, that’s all you are. And it’s all you are ever going to be. If you are willing to turn your back on your own father, knowing he’d be killed, when you have the power to stop it, then you are a monster. Forget what he is to you, forget how much he hurt you. Think about your sister. She wants more from him. Harlan is holding out hope that there is still something inside her father worth saving. She’s holding out hope that you’re the kind of man who can save him.”
“I never tried to hide who I am, and I never tried to spin it. I told you flat-out who you were dealing with. And whatever power you think I have to save my father is just another delusion of yours. He’s the only one who could save himself, and he’s chosen not to. It’s a choice. We all have choices to make. He chooses a casino instead of his family, and he does it again and again.”
“You’re right, we all have choices to make. You just made a very easy choice for me,” she said coldly as they skid to a stop in his mother’s driveway. “Maybe I don’t have another plan for helping my mother, but I’m not going to stop until I do. She’s given up on herself already; that’s not a reason for me to do the same. It’s more of a reason for me to keep fighting for her because she can’t fight for herself right now.”
“For Christ’s sake Evie, they’re drowning. Every day they get a little lower in the water. We’re not life preservers—they’re anchors. You can either get dragged to the bottom with them or cut yourself free. You can’t work harder on their problems than they do. That’s fucked up.” He slammed the car into park and turned to face her. “See where all that work gets you, because it won’t get you back your mother.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Evie huffed as she wiped the tears from her cheeks, looking determined to get her shit together as quickly as possible. “But when I get to the end of my life or hers, at least I’ll know I did everything I could. Because the mother I knew before the addiction would have done the same for me. I believe she doesn’t want to do this anymore. I believe if she had the power she’d stop. Don’t you believe the same of your father?”
“What do you want from me here, Evie? I’m not going to help my father. I’m not going to play into his shit. If I bail him out now and give him the money he owes, he’ll just know how to play it next time. He’ll know where to come, and he’ll keep going until he gets killed by a loan shark, the mafia, or me when I get sick of him. Not to mention the risk this can cause the rest of the family. Don’t you think they know how much money my mother has? He’d have told them all about it by now, and that puts her in danger when he defaults.”
“You are so screwed up,” she said, pushing the car door open. “I’m not staying here. You’re just going to barge in there and tell your mother your father is in town and she might be in danger? You’re not going to think twice about how that makes her feel. Or what that will do to her. Your sister, you’ll just demand she listen to you, do things your way. No matter how she feels. Because you know you’re right.”
“I think I’d prefer some hurt feelings over one of them being killed. I can live with being the bad guy. It’s nothing new for me. They need to know the truth.”
“There are better ways,” Evie protested, standing her ground and not heading toward the house.
“Let’s hear them,” Emmitt said, throwing his hands up in mock defeat. “Let’s hear how you would protect the people I love and my father without enabling him to come back and do it again. How would you pacify a mob family who will want him dead? Believe it or not Evie, I’ve got a lot of experience with how bad guys work and how to stop them. You can’t trust anyone. You have to have your eyes wide open at all times. See them before they see you. Act before they act.”
“How’s your track record with hurting the people you love?” Evie asked accusingly.
He opened his mouth to answer, then snapped it closed suddenly as he reached for his cell phone. “A car will be out here to pick you up in twenty minutes. Go back to the hotel. If you want to keep fighting a battle you’re going to lose with your mom, I can’t stop you. But I’m not backing down.”
“I can help you, Emmitt,” she pleaded, the anger slipping from her face and being replaced with fear. Fear that she may really lose him to this. “You can do this better.” Her hands were clenched together, ready to beg.
“I can’t,” he said, dropping his head down, not sorry for his position but sorry it meant he’d be standing alone. “And the sooner you realize that the better off you’ll be. You can’t be one of the women who tried to save me. It’s a long walk to the back of that line and everyone in it hates me. It’s better you go before this gets worse. Go back to Texas, tell my brother what’s going on with your mom, and he’ll help you. You saved Jessica’s ass from a lot of legal trouble. He won’t think twice about helping you out if it’s really what you want. Money for rehab, or whatever you think you need for her.”
“Emmitt,” she said as he turned his back and started for the house. “Please.”
“The car will be here soon,” he said, not turning to see her. “Go back to the hotel. Then back to Texas.”
He punched the keypad on the door and let himself into his mother’s house, knowing there was a woman standing behind him with a heart splitting in two. But he’d warned her. Explicitly. She wasn’t the first he’d done this to, but for some reason this was unlike the other times. As he closed the door behind him he realized what made leaving Evie feel different than the others he’d left in the past. It wasn’t just her heart that was breaking. He slapped a hand over his chest as though he half expected to hear a tearing noise coming from his own heart.
“Mom,” he called up the long stairway. “Mom, it’s Emmitt. I need to talk you about something.”
“Oh Emmitt,” his mother said as she glided in her nightgown toward him in the entry way. “You won’t believe who’s here.”
“Who?” he asked, the knot in his stomach tightening at the prospects.
“Your father,” she sang as she clapped her hands together joyfully. “He’s finally quit gambling, and he wants to spend some time with all you kids. Didn’t I tell you he would someday?”
Chapter 23
Evie had heard every metaphor for a heartbreak over the years but they were hollow compared to how she felt. There was a physical pain coursing through her that no amount of rationalizing would dull. She could tell herself a thousand times that Emmitt was a bastard for the way he was acting. She could remind herself none of this would get her closer to helping her mother. Yet every time she closed her eyes, blocking out the radio in the car that was taking her back to the hotel, all she saw was Emmitt. He’d made it perfectly clear he was beyond redemption, but somehow she was still unable to swallow that reality. Even faced with all the facts, she held out hope. Emmitt was like a patient, and she refused to accept that nothing more could be done to save him. There had been too many glimmers of hope to ignore.
“I’m sorry about the car trouble,” the short skinny driver apologized again. “Thank you for being patient while they brought me a new ride.”
“No problem,” Evie said absentmindedly. She had no place to be anyway. Who cares that she was stuck on the side of the road for a half hour. “Thank you, Pete.”
“Mr. Kalling said I should wait with you and take you to the airport once you had your things,” Pete said quietly as they pulled up to the hotel. “The jet will be ready for you.”
“He did?” she asked, blinking away the image of Emmitt that was clouding her eyes. She was being a fool. There was no path forward for them. He no longer wanted her here. It wasn’t just something he said in anger; it was the instructions he left. Get this girl out of the state.
“How long do I have?” she asked, clearing her throat. “I still have to pack.”
“As long as you need miss. I’m paid through tomorrow morning. Makes no difference to me how long you take.” The driver pulled off his cap a
nd loosened his tie, getting ready for a substantial break.
“I’ll get my things. I’ll call you when I’m ready.”
“Yes miss,” he said, reaching back and handing her a business card with a phone number on it. The rain started to pour down, thudding hard on the metal roof of the car. She grabbed Emmitt’s sweatshirt and pulled it over her head. It was long enough to be a dress on her and the hood came down over her eyes as she tucked her hair back into it.
As she slipped out of the car she went over every word he’d said to her, desperate to find something redeemable, something worth staying for. But all Emmitt could think of was all the people in the world ready and waiting to hurt his family. See them before they see you. Trust no one. It all sounded paranoid to her. Sure his father was mixed up with very bad guys, but a man like Emmitt, with the amount of money his family had, could surely find a way to help if he wanted to.
“She left the house forty minutes ago. She should be here.” There was a tall man, in a suit, leaning in and talking to a second man as Evie passed. It caught her attention, considering they looked completely out of place, standing in the rain when anyone else would duck into the hotel for cover from the storm.
Evie pulled the hood down tighter on her head and bent down pretending to tie her shoe.
“The car hasn’t arrived yet. I’ve got the plate and the model number. It’s not here,” the second man said, turning the screen of his phone, apparently trying to shut the first man up. “Maybe someone tipped her off. We were supposed to pick her up at the exact same time we snatched the daughter and her kids. That’s what Marc said.”
“I know what Marc said, but the other girl and her kids are already handled. We’re going to look like real fuck-ups if we don’t get this girl too.”
“Why do we need all of them? The mom is going to give up the money if she knows her kid and grandkids are in danger. Why do we need this other chick?”
“We don’t,” the first man growled. She was in the bar today, and Marc heard there was some commotion. He rolled back the footage on the security tapes. He figured out the guy was a Kalling and this girl was his. He liked her look. He wants her too.”
Evie was certain now the men where there for her.
“How much longer are we supposed to wait?”
“Ten more minutes,” he said, checking his watch. “If the car hasn’t pulled up by then we’ll head back to the meet-up point. Marc’s going to be pissed, but he’s got enough collateral to get the old man to pay up.”
“He must owe a ton if Marc’s willing to kidnap kids to put pressure on him, rather than just getting rid of him.”
“Two hundred grand,” the man grunted through his pursed lips as he tried to light a damp cigarette. Evie rose and moved for the front door of the hotel, trying desperately to hear the last few words that passed between the two men. “He’ll use the kids as leverage and shit, have their mother pay up, and then off the old man. Can’t get money from a dead guy. Got to be smart about this shit.”
As the door closed behind her, the buzz of the lobby took over, and her thudding heart banged in her chest. She had to do something. She had to tell Emmitt what was going on. Racing toward a quiet corner of the lobby she kept her eyes locked on the two men standing out front as she dialed Emmitt’s number. Voice Mail.
She tried twice more before accepting his phone was likely off. It was up to her to do something.
Chapter 24
“Calm down,” his mother begged as she put her body between her son and her ex-husband. “I know you’re angry for the things he’s done, but that’s no reason to hurt him.”
Charles stood there holding the bridge of his bleeding nose. Emmitt felt too limited by his mother’s presence to throw any punches. So he did the next best thing. He launched a vase and his own cell phone at the man’s head. Both making good contact and then shattering to pieces on the floor.
“Get the fuck out,” Emmitt boomed.
“Oh Emmitt, your language,” his mother gasped, putting a tired hand up to her head. “Don’t be like this.”
“Azeela is not going to let you out of whatever debt you have. And no one in this family is going to give you the money. Go accept your fate. Go get your knuckles and your knees broken, but do it somewhere else.”
“He’s not gambling,” his mother chirped as though maybe he hadn’t heard this part.
“I’m clean,” Charles confirmed. “Not to say I’m free and clear of my debts, but I’m not gambling anymore. I’m done. I’ve been done. Can we maybe talk in private? I don’t think your mother needs to see all this. She’s been through enough.”
“You’ve put her through most of it,” Emmitt pointed out accusingly.
“And from what I hear you’ve put her through the rest of it. So why don’t you and I go outside and talk this out?”
“Her standing between us is the only thing keeping you alive right now. You don’t want to go outside with me. Trust me on that.”
“We’re at an impasse,” Charles said calmly. “I can understand that. We’re taught to expect all of this in Gamblers Anonymous. It’s all part of the process. But your sister is willing to at least listen. Your mother is as well.”
“How about Mathew? You try him?” Emmitt asked.
“I haven’t reached him yet,” Charles said flatly, using his sleeve to mop up the rest of the blood that seemed to have stopped flowing.
“Because you have tried him too many times before, and he knows better than to give you a dime. You’re going after the two people who actually still hold out hope for you. You’re using them.”
“You have it all wrong,” Charles argued. “If you’re this angry why don’t you just go? Let me talk with your mother.”
“There will never be another day in your life where you see my mother without me breathing over your shoulder ready to snap your neck. That’s a promise.”
“Emmitt,” his mother pleaded, now close to tears. “I’ve called Harlan to come over. We’re going to talk this out as a family. If you want to get Mathew on the phone you can. But we are not just dismissing this. I’m not going to give up on a chance to be a family again.” Evie’s words echoed in his head, and he grew angrier. This hopefulness was dangerous.
“Call Mathew then,” Emmitt said, moving out of the entryway and toward the main sitting room. He planted his ass on the couch, and his father came in a few seconds later.
“Your mother will get Mathew on the phone,” Charles said, looking into the hall clearly not wanting to be alone with Emmitt.
“I know you are in deep with Azeela, and I know what you’re trying to do here. It’s not going to work. You’re playing the long game, and you don’t have that kind of time. I had it all wrong.”
“Not like you to admit it,” Charles said, finally settling into a chair across from Emmitt but still looking ready to run if the situation called for it.
“Yeah, I figured you were going to hit Harlan up for a few thousand bucks then disappear back into whatever hole you had crawled out of. But you’re in deep with some pretty bad dudes. So you’re trying to play the long game, but believe me, it won’t work. You thought you’d worm your way back into their lives, gain their trust, and then find a way to get your money. You don’t have time. Azeela will come collect before you can get anything out of Harlan or Mom. Especially with me around.”
Charles cleared his throat nervously, and in that moment Emmitt knew he’d gotten it right.
“Now that we’re both on the same page,” Emmitt said, leaning in threateningly, “you need to go. You won’t find your answer here. Do something honorable for the first time in your life and spare them.”
“You’ve been so good and honorable in my absence?” Charles looked like a cornered animal ready to strike.
“I don’t fall for your shit.” Emmitt laughed humorlessly. “Mind games don’t work on me. I look like a goddamn saint compared to you. It changes nothing. You are fucked, and you are not taking th
em down with you.”
“Mathew didn’t pick up,” his mother said solemnly as she shuffled in to the sitting room and flipped the light switch on and off three times. Emmitt had the urge to reply to his father’s look of concern. He wanted to tell him he did this to her. “I couldn’t get Harlan on the phone either.”
“When was she supposed to be here?” Emmitt asked, reaching for his phone and remembering it had bounced off his father’s nose and it now was a smashed mess on the floor.
“She was going to come right from the recital,” his mother said, sounding worried.
“It ended an hour and a half ago,” Emmitt said, glaring suspiciously at his father. “You were with them.”
“I left right after the girls finished their routine. I wanted some time alone with your mother.”
His words grated on Emmitt but not more than the nagging worry about his sister’s whereabouts. “Maybe she went home first,” he thought aloud.
“No,” his mother interrupted. “No she wouldn’t have. After every recital they come right here so I can see them in their outfits and take pictures. They do a little bit of their routine for me, too.”
Emmitt thought back to his sister’s complaint about not having the family support she needed. Having to come here after each recital and shrink her world down to the space their mother can be comfortable in would be suffocating and disappointing. “Call her again.”
“I did three times already and sent her a text message. I’m worried now. Do you think she’s all right?” She paced the room nervously, tugging one of her curls in that frantic way she always did.
“Calm down, Mom,” Emmitt insisted, standing and doing what he always did when she started to spiral, absolutely nothing. He was his worst in these moments. Harlan knew how to comfort. Mathew knew how to distract. Emmitt only knew how to leave. “I’ll go look for her. I’ll check her house and the recital hall and the route she’d have taken here. It’ll be all right.”
The Barrington Billionaires Collection 1 Page 49
