Page 109 of Tell Me Lies

Dalton had no pity for her. She was getting what she deserved as far as he was concerned.

“I told you to shut your fucking mouth.”

Dalton kept his hands at his sides, and watched the two in front of him. They were clearly amateurs.

“I’m sorry, but watching the two of you, I can’t help but wonder, how the fuck did you hurt my men?” Dalton asked.

They didn’t get time to answer because Emily chose that moment to step through the door, and he heard her shocked gasp as she spotted her mother. He didn’t know how he was going to kill her mother, but he would not allow her to continue to hurt her daughter. He’d try to warn her from day one that some narcissistic mothers didn’t deserve the air they breathed, but Emily was too kind and forgiving.

He had a feeling that was about to change.

Chapter Ten

Emily froze.

Rather than react, she felt nothing. Numbness right down to her marrow.

She thought of all the times Dalton had been frustrated with her when she’d bend over backward for her mother. Now she understood that he meant well, that he spoke from experience and was only trying to protect her heart. Emily had been too optimistic, expecting love when there was only emptiness. Her mother had gone too far, and enough was enough.

There would be no more handouts, no more second chances, no more trust. No more trying to earn her mother’s approval.

She turned to Dalton and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Emily should have listened. He’d been right all along and she’d tried to deny it at every turn. Dalton may have changed over the years, but her mother had only gotten worse. Some people were not redeemable, even if they were blood.

A dog barked in the distance, pulling her out of her reverie.

The gravity of their situation weighed heavily on her. There was a man with a gun pointed at them, and a mother who was more of a stranger beside him. She didn’t want to die, not when life had just started to feel worth living.

She reached out and held the edge of Dalton’s shirt. When she glanced up at him, she was surprised not to see the same fear she felt on his face. There was nothing, a look of irritation and something more, something dark and sinister that made her forget about the threat in front of them.

“The money?” asked the man. “You’d be smart to hand it over.”

“For an extortionist, I’d have expected better research,” Dalton said.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you don’t have a clue who you’re fucking with.”

Within seconds, one of Dalton’s arms swung out brushing her behind him. With the other, he pulled out a handgun from the waistband of his jeans. The bullets rang out: one, two, three. Emily closed her eyes tight and held her hands over her ears. Everything felt surreal, and she wished she could wake up from the nightmare.

As the quietness blanketed them, she dared open her eyes to peek.

She braced her hands on Dalton’s strong back and peered around him, unsure what she’d see, but grateful they weren’t injured.

The man with the gun was crumpled on the ground, a wound on his forehead bleeding out into a crimson pool around him. She gasped, nearly losing her balance. Dalton held her close to his side to stabilize her.

She’d never seen a dead body before. When she finally looked away, her mother was still standing. Part of her expected Dalton would take the chance to kill the woman he compared to his own evil mother.

They made eye contact.

Things were different now. The usual pity she’d felt was absent.

“What have you done?” Emily said. She didn’t even recognize her own voice. Her body was going on pure adrenaline at this point.

“I didn’t mean it. This isn’t what I wanted,” her mother said.

Emily narrowed her eyes. “What exactly did you want, then? My money? My happiness? My sanity? You’ve taken them all, what more do you want?”

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