Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Don’t be sorry. We all have our baggage. Get some sleep, baby.” He presses his lips to the top of my head. “Tomorrow is a brand-new day.”
Chapter 33
Stormy
“I don’t think that’s accurate,” Mrs. Taylor says from the back seat. “As I recall, it was Carlen who broke that window.”
I smile, lifting my eyes to the rearview mirror.
“I could be remembering it wrong,” I say.
Mrs. Taylor came down for breakfast this morning and wrapped her arms around Mila as if she hadn’t seen her in years. She knew exactly who she was. I don’t think there’s a single shadow in my girl’s life right now.
We’ve been on the road for hours today and Mrs. Taylor has maintained her cognizance the entire time.
The trip has been spent with a lot of laughter, recollection, and only a handful of lies.
We haven’t told her about Janet’s death. Causing the woman grief wouldn’t do anyone any good. As hopeful as we’d like to be that she’ll keep her memories, we all know that she won’t. That isn’t how the disease works. All we can do is enjoy the time we have with her right now.
“Explain to me again why my grandkids are in New Mexico?” Mrs. Taylor asks.
“We’ve moved there,” Mila says, a little concern on her face at being asked for the third time about the boys and Sutton.
“I can’t believe Carlen would ever leave St. Louis. He has always been married to the city. Janet wanted to move south a few years ago, and he refused. Don’t know why. The man doesn’t have any connections left there after his daddy passed.”
My jaw clenches. I don’t know if her mind is recalling things correctly, but it kills me to think they might have had a chance to be free before Keres came knocking, and he didn’t take it.
“The dry air is better for Luca’s asthma,” the nurse says to Mrs. Taylor. “Remember?”
Mrs. Taylor nods. “Janet and Carlen would do anything for those boys.”
From the corner of my eye, I see Mila’s jaw flex. I squeeze her hand a little tighter, although I have to release it a second later when my phone rings, the call flashing on the radio screen with the Bluetooth connected.
“Wren,” I say the second the call connects. “You’re connected to Bluetooth.”
“Hey, man. I have bad news. Where are you?”
“We’re about an hour from home. Got a late start this morning.”
Mary left her cell phone in the hotel room, and she didn’t discover that she had until we were already on the road. It was no big deal to go back and get it, but we’d be home now if it hadn’t have happened.
“Oh good,” he says. “Keres is headed that way. I’ve tracked them as far as Pueblo, putting them about four hours behind you.”
“Any idea how they tracked us?”
“Someone had to have tipped them off. I’ll keep you appraised of the situation, but even on their bikes, they won’t be able to catch up with you.”
The call ends, and my eyes immediately go to Mary in the back seat. We were so very careful with how we handled all of this. If they were tracking us through records or any sort of paper trail, they never would’ve known what we were doing. There wasn’t one to be found. It leaves her, someone from the nursing home who was quick to accept the offer to help get Mrs. Taylor back to New Mexico.
Mary is looking out the window, her face a mask of nerves. When she looks back in my direction, it’s clear that she knows I know. I don’t say a word to her. There’s no sense in upsetting Mila and her mom. Four hours is more than enough time to make a plan to stop them before they can cause any harm to us or Cerberus.
“We can’t go to the clubhouse,” Mila says. “We can’t bring that kind of trouble to the kids.”
I reach out and once again take her hand, only this time, the tremble in it worries me.
“I brought this on everyone,” she says, her voice close to cracking under the stress this is causing her.
“What’s going on?” Mrs. Taylor demands. “Mila, are you in some kind of trouble?”
“Everything is fine,” Mary assures her.
“Everything will be fine,” I say, glaring at the woman in the back seat through the rearview mirror. “I guarantee it.”
Mary’s chin quivers as she looks away. I know there’s a very good chance they have threatened her in some way, but my priority is Mila, our kids, and her mom. Everything else is secondary.
“The clubhouse is the safest place you can be,” I assure her, my foot getting a little heavier on the gas.
“Shouldn’t we make a plan? Make some calls? Kincaid needs to know what I’ve done.”
I shake my head. “You’ve done nothing wrong. This isn’t on you. Deacon and Wren will make contact with Cerberus. I promise it’s all being taken care of.”