“Which agent are you working with? Are you sure they have enough power to get me the deal I want?”
Ginny shrugged carelessly. “I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” Shoving the phone in her pocket, Ginny stared distastefully at the woman who had given birth to two women who were nothing like her.
Walking to the extra-large window, Ginny looked out to the woods.
“I’m not a terrible person.”
“I have to disagree with that.”
“I saved your life, at my own personal expense.”
Turning away from the window, Ginny gave her a mocking smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I blamed myself for my actions that day that ruined Trudy’s life. You didn’t help me escape to save me or Trudy—you did for your own greedy purpose.”
“I—”
“Don’t bother. The one part of my story that was the truth was the DNA test, Soleil. Trudy and I are half-sisters. Jasper wasn’t my father. You were lovers with Allerton. He didn’t know, did he?”
“No. He would have killed me if he had known. He was fanatical about not having children.”
“Gotta love men. He was fanatical, just not enough to use a condom.” Ginny laughed without mirth. “I bet you were scared shitless when I started favoring him rather than Jasper. Trudy showed me our grandmother’s pictures of us as babies. Trudy always looked like you from birth on. My hair was browner, and with me being out in the sun I favored Allerton more. Sadly for you, my hair didn’t start get lighter until after I was four.”
Soleil began to look uncomfortable.
“Did Jasper know?”
“No. I didn’t intend to have an affair, Jasper and I were happy. Then I met Gabriel; he wasn’t like any man I had met before. He has a vision, one that Jasper would never be able to see. I didn’t see it at first either, but the more time I spent with him I realized he was right. You have to have power to accomplish any good.”
Ginny was sickened by her mother being brainwashed by Allerton.
“Allerton used you to gain control of Jasper. You were exactly the type of woman Allerton was determined not to have a child with. The only reason you didn’t let me drown was because you wanted to make damn sure if he ever developed a fatherly bone in his body, you could produce me. You two were made for each other.”
Unable to remain in the room with her for another second, Ginny went to open the door. “I’ll call you after I hear from the FBI. It may take a couple of days.”
“What’s the agent’s name, so if he calls, I’ll know?”
“I’ll give you the name. If anyone calls you before I do, then you know they aren’t with the FBI.”
As Soleil went to the door, she lowered her eyes to her belly. “Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?”
“No,” Ginny lied. “In case you’re interested, Trudy had a boy.” Without waiting for Soleil to respond, Ginny scornfully started at the door.
“Ginny, wait. There’s something else I have for you.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
“You going to stay and help me get the generator hooked up?” Greer made no move to touch the new machine that he bugged Silas to buy for him.
Silas directed Matthew and Isaac to help him unbox the generator, which was twice the size of the one that broke. The rest of his brothers decided to take Fynn to Walmart when he complained all his socks had holes in them.
“Tate and Dustin can’t help you hook it up?” Silas broke down the empty box, placing it in Greer’s recycling bin.
“You see either of them here?”
Silas had two options: get the machine running or listen to Greer complain for the next twenty minutes. Silas figured it would be easier to just hook it up and save himself the twenty minutes.
Making sure the machine was level, Silas put his finger on the switch when the mountain rocked.
“What in the fuck was that?” Greer yelled.
Greer, Silas, and his brothers ran from the side of Greer’s house to the front yard. Silas had never heard an explosion like that before, unless the highway was blasting to widen a road or bring down a large boulder to keep it from falling into the road.
“It sounded like it came from your land.” Greer placed his hand over his eyes to shade them from the sun.
Silas stared at his property, afraid to admit he had the same thought. When a plume of smoke came rising above the tree, Silas and his brothers began running for his truck. “Greer, call the fire department!”
His cousin had his phone to his ear when Greer put a foot to his bumper and hauled himself up into the bed of Silas’ truck.
Silas was speeding down the short road when he heard Greer yell from the back, “Slow down. Tate and Dustin are coming.”
At the base of the driveway, Silas barely stopped long enough for his other cousins to jump into the bed. Hitting the paved road with squealing tires, Silas slammed on the gas. All his brothers were accounted for, but Ginny … She had left, hadn’t she?
Silas jerked his eyes to Isaac’s. His brother’s expression was ashen.
His heart pounded as smoke billowed down from the mountain to the road. Turning the last curve that put him within sight of his property, he started praying … then drove straight into hell.
Viper went behind the bar to pour himself a whiskey. “You want one Shade? Rider?”
“I’ll take one,” Shade said, grabbing a stool.
“Rider?”
“Pour me one.” Rider placed the cue on the pool table, walking to the bar. “No fun playing by yourself.”
“You cleaned everyone out on payday.” Viper took a sip of his drink, hearing a loud noise from outside.
Setting the glass on the top of the bar, the men stared at each other.
“You hear something?” Looking at the glass, he saw the whiskey in his glass jumping at the same time as the liquor bottles started clinking together on the shelf.
“A car wreck?” Rider guessed.
Jesus slammed the door open. “Viper, there was an explosion somewhere on the mountain. I hear the fire trucks coming this way.”
Viper, Shade, and Rider ran outside to look off the porch as the only two firetrucks in Treepoint flew past, followed by an ambulance with the lights on, hot on its tail, then Knox’s Bronco rounding the corner, catching up fast.
Viper reached for his phone, pressing Knox’s number. “What happened?” he asked.
Disconnecting the call, he started issuing orders. “Call all the brothers; we have to go. Shade, Rider, get what you think we’ll need. There’s been an explosion.”
Shade was already sending the mass text to get the brothers on their bikes as they started running down the steps.
Viper was the first one to get his leg over his seat.
“Where was the explosion?” Shade asked, getting on his bike.
“The Colemans’. Shade, there’s a casualty.”
Reaper pressed the button to close the hatch of the Escalade. Sniffing the air, he smelled smoke. Many of the mountain people burned off their brush or excess trash.
Settled in the front seat, he took out his phone and saw he had missed over twenty-four calls. Looking at his phone, realized he must have accidently put his phone on silent. Making sure none had been from Ginny, he called Viper.