Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
“Mom, stop. Stop lying!” Her voice breaks on the force of that word. “Tell them. Just fucking admit it. They have everything and even if they don’t, I’ll... I’ll give them the rest if you won’t. I hate that I ever went along with it, but it’s over. You’re done now.”
“Meghan, Meghan, you’re still sick, aren’t you?” Adriana’s harsh laugh sounds like it scrapes through a cheese grater. “Go back to your room.”
“Not this time, Mom.” Meghan shakes her head, splattering tears on the floor.
When Destiny approaches her, she backs away, throwing her hands out, her eyes still leveled on her mother.
“You’re going to listen to what I’ve got to say for once. You tried to kill them.”
Adriana storms toward Meghan so forcefully I’m under a second away from throwing myself between them.
“You’re such a little mess when you’re off your meds, dear. Go back to bed. This doesn’t involve you.” Adriana flattens her hand against her daughter’s forehead like she’s feeling for a fever.
Meghan swats her hand away.
“Shut up. Shut. Up! I know what you did and you—you can’t lie to me again. There’s no way out of this.” Meghan turns to Dess, who’s standing right behind her, so much sorrow in her eyes. “Mom engineered the whole campaign. She was livid when I got passed up for Young Influencers, and she launched this gross pressure scheme. She coached every video. She wrote the scripts. But I did her bidding and I feel so much ick. I can’t do it anymore. I won’t. If they want a statement, they’ve got mine.”
“Ignore her!” Adriana screeches, pulling at her bleached hair.
Goddamn, what a mess.
I grab my phone and punch a single contact covertly under the table, still ready to step in at a moment’s notice if this boils over.
“When that guy she got to steal the drone blew it, she panicked. She sabotaged the boat to cover her tracks. I swear, I didn’t know she planned anything that awful. Whatever she had coming, I knew it wasn’t good, but oh my God...”
Meghan almost doubles over now with grief, reaching for Destiny.
Like the perfect angel, Dess takes her hands, holding her up.
“There’s plenty of time to sort this out, Meghan. Don’t worry. It’s okay, it’s okay...”
“Get away from my daughter now,” Adriana whispers, contorting into the perfect narcissist.
I only have a split second before she launches herself at them.
Fuck, she’s unhinged, her hair whipping around her face.
I push back from the table, roaring Destiny’s name.
She twists her head, sees Adriana moving, and spreads herself protectively in front of Meghan.
The girl is in pieces, screaming and sobbing incoherently.
I knew there was a real chance this could be a total shit show, but I never imagined this.
It’s like time slows, and my brain does the math.
It knows before I do that I’m not going to beat the rampaging demon.
Not before Adriana grabs Destiny by the hair, tearing her away from Meghan. Her other hand crashes down in a slap that echoes.
That fucking does it.
I’m human lightning, bolting in, crashing into Adriana so hard she spins across the room.
After today, I’d like to think she’ll eventually thank her lucky stars that I don’t pick her up again and chuck her across the room like a piece of rotten driftwood.
Meghan screams, covering her cheek. It’s already red, the fingermarks distinct even in the scuffle.
Adriana struggles as I twist her arm behind her back, pushing until it hurts.
It’s like holding a rabid fisher-cat.
“Dess,” I say urgently. “Sweetheart, are you all right?”
Adriana’s laugh is high and half-insane. “Sweetheart? I fucking knew it.”
I ignore her shit.
“I’m fine,” Destiny says quietly, freeing herself.
My attention shifts to the swaying lunatic in my arms.
“You just had to add assault and battery to your charges, didn’t you?” I tell her.
Just in time.
Thankfully, I don’t have to bother figuring out how to secure her when the door bursts open and Seattle police start piling in. My call worked.
Ideally, I wanted the confession first, though we guessed we had a fifty-fifty chance at best of her caving.
We didn’t expect this fray.
Not that it matters.
After today, we have everything we need to make sure Adriana Cerva enjoys a nice long stay behind bars.
I release Adriana as soon as the cops surround us.
She points at me, her mouth twisted, living proof that some people just don’t know when to shut it. “He assaulted me! Attacking me and my daughter...”
Meghan jumps up and goes into a flurry of denial, giving them a quick, messy version of everything that happened.
With Adriana cornered, we can finally breathe again.
“I think that’s a wrap,” Dess says happily, making a face as she fingers a few torn ends of her hair.
A detective with a craggy face nods at me, then gestures at Adriana. The two cops accompanying him pin her arms behind her back.