Page 132 of Bishop

“Then put my mother on the phone. Is she still with you?” I know she can hear me. “Mom? Are you there?”

The dull drone of the car carries for pained heartbeats.

“Mom? Please. Say something.” I rest an elbow on the table, my head in my hand. “Tell me you’re safe. Tell me everything is going to be okay.”

“Cut the act, Abri,” my mother barks with disdain, her Italian accent showing. “I know you were in on this.”

Her vindictive tone becomes a noose around my throat, squeezing tight. “How could you think that? When have I ever done anything to defy you or Dad?”

“You did enough before we gained leverage. Your father and I both knew it was only a matter of time.”

Leverage?

I hold in a derisive laugh at the way she describes her first and only grandchild. How she continues to hate me even now when she’s all alone. No family. No support apart from whatever men she’s paying.

“I was at the gala,” I repeat. “Entirely defenseless, I might add. I had no protection. I could’ve been…”

The sentence dies on my tongue, the slow realization stealing the blood from my face.

Had my death been my father’s aim? Is that why he agreed to let Gordon cross clear boundaries? Were those moments in the hotel room meant to be my last?

I raise my gaze to Bishop. Did he save my life, not just my already tattered virtue?

His eyes narrow in concern as he mouths, “What is it?”

I shake my head, my entire body following suit with limb-wracking trembles. “Mom, you have to tell me where Tilly is. I want to see for myself that she’s safe.”

“I’m not going to help a traitor, Abri. Your father always predicted you spiteful, conniving kids would come for him—”

“You know I’d never risk my daughter’s life like that,” I add steel to my tone. “Not once have I defied you since you took her from me. Not once have I gone against your wishes.”

A shift of movement rolls around the table, but I don’t look. I keep my attention on Bishop, siphoning the strength he bears down on me with hard eyes, refusing to let the approaching panic take over.

“Not once?” she muses. “Your memory must be troublesome if you’ve already forgotten how you let Cole Torian’s sister escape our home.”

My gaze snaps to Layla, her skin pale with horror.

Shit.

My mother is never going to help me. I’m never going to see Tilly again. My little girl is going to suffer because of what I’ve done…if she’s not dead already.

Bishop’s hand clamps down on my shoulder, the comforting contact tearing me apart.

“Can you at least tell me if she’s alive?” I blink back the searing blur in my vision.

“For now.”

The shake slams through my limbs, my whole body quaking. “Please, Mom.” The tightness is everywhere. My throat. My chest. “I swear I wasn’t involved. I was loyal to Dad. I always did everything he asked of me. Even when I disagreed with his motives. Even when it came to Tilly. I trusted he knew what was best.”

They’re lies, all lies. But they’re all that’s left to save my daughter.

“Like you had a choice,” she sneers. “That kid was your biggest mistake.”

No, she was my only achievement. Is my only achievement. The one good thing I’ve done.

“I have to see her,” I beg. “I’ll do anything.”

She scoffs. “Is that so?”

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