I made eye contact with Tucker again. “It’s going to be okay, honey.” I gave him the best smile I could muster and kept wiggling against the restraints, holding in every wince as my skin burned against the ropes. I had to get out of here and save Tuck.
Carol’s footsteps were getting louder. I looked at Tuck mouthing, I love you and continued to wiggle faster, but I wasn’t gaining even a sliver of reprieve from the rope.
Had this woman been in the frickin’ Navy or something? How did she learn to tie ropes like this?
Tuck’s eyes widened as Carol came up behind me, wrenching my head back by my hair. Her eyes were wild, and the sweet woman I’d come to know over the years wasn’t there.
“Why couldn’t you make it easy and die?” she asked.
She left me and walked straight to the gun. My entire body locked, every muscle becoming tense. I only prayed that she would shoot me and leave Tuck alone.
“Let Tuck go,” I said. “I’ll stay here. Just let him go.”
“No,” she said, spinning and facing me. She scratched the side of her head with the hand that held the gun. Tears were welling in her eyes as she spread her arms wide. “Can’t you see? It has to be both of you.”
She waved the gun between the two of us. If I could keep her talking for long enough, I would form a plan. I would get Tucker out of here. I only had to keep her talking while I figured out what the fuck that plan was.
“Why does it have to be both of us?”
“He has to pay.”
Her fist slammed down on the counter, and she released a guttural and feral scream of rage, a sound so broken and painful I flinched. Tucker’s eyes were full of tears as he looked back and forth. He tried to talk around the bandanna, but it didn’t work. I shook my head, begging him to stay quiet. I wanted her to do the impossible and forget that he was even in the room.
“Who has to pay?” I asked.
“Gunner Gentry,” she spat his name out of her mouth. “It should’ve been him that died that night. He should have died, not my boy. Not my son!” she screamed.
“That night was a horrible accident,” I said. “It wasn’t Gunner’s fault. He’s carried that guilt for years, but it wasn’t his fault.” My eyes went to the window. Maybe a neighbor would hear and call the cops. That was a mistake though.
Carol belly laughed, doubling over and holding her stomach as she cackled, and stood upright again. She wiped away a tear. “The house next door is empty. My other neighbor is out of town. No one is calling the police.”
I pursed my lips but didn’t respond. I’d texted Gunner. At this point, I only hoped he saw it. I should’ve said more in the message. I should’ve said I love you.
My eyes burned. I bit my tongue, holding back my tears. I wanted to look at Tuck, but I needed Carol’s attention to stay on me and only me.
“Gunner didn’t want Declan to die. Declan was his brother.”
Carol clocked me with the butt of the gun. Tucker yelled around the muzzle and wiggled frantically.
“I’m okay,” I assured him. I couldn’t stop the tears from forming, and I felt warm blood coating my temple and making a slow trek down my cheek to my neck.
Carol’s wrath turned on Tucker and I screamed. “Stay away from him, bitch. If you touch him, I’ll kill you. I will fucking end you if you touch him.”
Carol laughed and stuffed the bandanna so far into Tuck’s mouth I feared he’d choke on it. “Stop it! Stop it!” I yelled over and over. I wiggled so hard my chair tipped over. I inched across the floor and bit Carol’s ankle. She kicked my face.
But finally, finally, her attention was away from Tucker.
Carol stomped on my stomach before heaving me up to a sitting position. I stared at Tucker. His eyes were bloodshot and he was shaking, but he was breathing. He was breathing. I closed my eyes. He is breathing, I reminded myself again.
“Why couldn’t you make this easy?” Carol asked. “You should’ve died in the fire. Tucker wouldn’t have felt pain, I made sure he’d sleep through it. I wanted Gunner to hear you scream though, so I took out the batteries from the fire alarms so by the time he saw the blaze, it’d be too late. There was a risk that he might stay with you that night, since you’re a whore, but it would’ve been okay if he died too. I wanted him to feel pain. Why couldn’t you stick to the plan?”
“You tried to take my family from me?” I whipped my head around. Gunner was coming through the door with a fierce scowl on his face. Carol raised the gun, pointing it at him, but he didn’t stop. He wouldn’t stop when he was threatened. He only stopped when Carol turned the gun and pointed it at my head.
Chapter 42
Gunner
“You tried to take my family from me?” I asked again, but I didn’t dare step forward. My gaze kept flicking to the shaking finger hovering over the trigger. One wrong move, one shiver up the spine, and Ms. Young would be sending a bullet through Delilah’s skull.
I’d tried to call Delilah after that message to see what she meant, but she hadn’t answered, so I’d tried Ms. Young. She hadn’t answered either. When I arrived and heard Ms. Young’s raised voice, but couldn’t hear her words, I edged around the side of the house and looked through the back window.
I’d never expected Delilah and Tucker to be tied to chairs. The bandanna in Tuck’s mouth and the blood freely flowing from Delilah’s temple sent me into a rage I’d never experienced before. I fired off a text to Colt and hoped he checked his phone and sent in the cavalry. I checked the back-porch lantern for the key that used to be hidden there. It still was and I slipped inside unnoticed.
“You took mine from me,” Ms. Young screamed.
I wanted to flinch. It was what had been playing in my mind for years. Every fucking day over the last ten years, I had convinced myself Declan was dead because of me.
“No, I didn’t. Declan saved me and it cost him his life. I’ll never be able to repay that, and I wish I had done it for him. I would’ve done it for him. But I didn’t kill him. We were stupid kids that thought we could build a bonfire. We didn’t know it would collapse or that the dry grass would act as kindling, setting the entire field on fire in seconds. It wasn’t my fault. I’d do anything to still have Declan here.”
“You took everything from me. I’m taking it from you!”
She jammed the barrel of the gun against Delilah’s bloody temple. Delilah winced but stayed still. I released a shaking breath as rage and fear consumed me. I shook my head.
“You started the fire.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
“Yes,” she hissed. “You weren’t supposed to go in and save them. Why didn’t you save Declan? Why save them?”
“I would’ve saved him if I could. Delilah and Tucker are my family.”
“Why do you have to take everything from me?” She shouted and pushed the gun into Delilah’s wound again. “I was fine before you came back. And then you were with Delilah. I was happy delivering food to that kitchen, but not after you. You were everywhere. You had to pay. You HAD TO! I wanted you to hear Delilah’s screams as she died in the fire. I wanted to take the boy you considered a son from you, just as you took mine from me. Do you even know what today is?”