Page 108 of Broken Halo

“Holy shit, they’re arguing.” I lower my voice, yet it’s no less determined. “Whatever we do, we’ll wait and find the right time. We’ll get out of this. You’re not just a Montgomery, you’re a Barrett. I have a son and just got the love of my life back. And I’m pretty sure my period is late. There’s no way I’m going to let Ray Barrett ruin my life a second time. Do you understand me? We have to get out of this.”

I let go of her wrist, not realizing just how tightly I was gripping her. She mumbles what better be an okay because I need her to be strong. And at this point, I have to assume no one knows where we are. Of course, Ray couldn’t kidnap us in his truck that has a tracker on it.

The yelling gets louder and then, finally, we catch a breath of fresh air. It’s easy to work up a sweat on warm Texas nights, so when the trunk finally opens, I don’t realize how hot I am for my fear.

“Well, I lucked the fuck out.” Through the moonlight, I see the man responsible for my life falling apart ten years ago. “All I wanted was her.” Ray motions to Quinn, who’s pressed up against my side and quivering like a virginal bride on her wedding night before looking back to me. “And I get ya, too. The forbidden one my boy couldn’t keep his hands off of. The one who came nosin’ around where she didn’t belong, got herself hurt, and then blabbed. Fuckin’ got me tossed in the slammer for a dime.”

“Trig will be here any minute,” I lie. “He’s got a tracker on you.”

Ray clicks his tongue and reaches in, grabbing my arm and yanking. It’s all I can do not to writhe with pain but I refuse to give him the satisfaction. His brother reaches for Quinn and she cries out immediately at his viciousness.

“Careful with my daughter.” Ray’s words slither out of his mouth, as venomous as a starved snake in the desert. He stands straighter and goes on. “I just met her and we need to get acquainted.”

Ray’s grip on my bicep tightens, jerking me as he pushes. I barely right myself before falling into Quinn and she grasps at me to help me up.

“What the fuck have you done?”

Another voice breaks through the stagnant, muggy night. I swing my head around and can’t believe what I’m seeing.

I’ve hated him for ten years. Actually, even before that. Hell, I hate him almost as much as I hate Ray Barrett. The man who stands before me sat next to me in the hospital and explained in detail what would happen to Trig if I didn’t cooperate. At the young age of eighteen, he scared the daylights out of me and I believed every word he said. He was a fearmonger—using his power and disgusting old-man creepiness to get me to retract the only alibi Trig had.

It appears life hasn’t been any kinder to him than he was to me so long ago.

I know for a fact he stepped down because of a scandal. My mother and her friends have gossiped about it the same way they talk about bad pie at a funeral luncheon.

“You think I want them on my property, Barrett?” Logan yells. “We’ve been over this. I don’t want anything to do with them or you.”

“Ya owe me, motherfucker. Ya know ya do. They fucking threw me in the clink for a decade. I took the fall to cover your ass.”

Quinn and I cling to each other as best we can. Because I lost my flip-flops when they threw me in the trunk, I’m fidgeting, the gravel might as well be rusty nails on my bare feet.

“Like hell you did,” the sheriff bites back. Ron Logan holds a finger up and sweat beads his lined, never-ending forehead. “We had a fucking agreement. I don’t run your DNA, you shut the fuck up about me working the lab with you. You went to prison for cookin’ crank, not murder. You’re fuckin’ welcome, cocksucker, otherwise you’d be rotting away for life with the evidence I got. DNA does not fucking lie. I don’t need these bitches on my property. I told you that the other day. How many times did you get fucked while you were inside? Prison made you dense.”

Murder?

“Shut your hole, bitch-ass. I told ya the heat was on and I needed to use your land. We were partners, once-upon-a-fucking-nightmare, before ya started kissin’ Kipp Montgomery’s ass. And don’t get me started about my DNA ‘cause ya were right there with me when Silvie threatened to go to Kipp about us selling when we didn’t believe her about the damn baby. Said she gave it up, then she changed her mind—she wasn’t making a lick of sense. The way she fought you, there’s no way your skin wasn’t under Silvie’s nails, too.”

“Difference between you and me?” Logan drawls. “I know what makes a case and what doesn’t. She might’ve gotten clean, but I shot her up to make her look like the skank she was. Why do you think I volunteered to dump her body? And my DNA isn’t in the system. No way could I be linked to Silvie Montgomery.”

“Doesn’t matter now,” Ray goes on. “I’ve got debts to pay that’ll cost me a fuckin’ mint. These two are rich and are the only ones I know worth a ransom.”

“Who’s she?” Logan tosses a glance toward my office manager.

Ray looks to Quinn and an evil smile creeps over his face. I wonder how he could be responsible for giving Trig, and now Quinn, life. “My daughter who was stolen from me. All these years I thought Silvie was lyin’. She told me she had our baby after she came back, but I thought she was just fightin’ for her life. Told me she left it on my doorstep ‘cause she was weak and couldn’t deal. That woman couldn’t handle her sugar block. It was a puzzle, but once I laid eyes on this one coming and going from Ellie’s building, I followed her one night, ‘cause why the fuck not? She’s pretty. Didn’t take long once I saw where she lived. It was easy—that’s where Faye worked and I know she even moved in with them. It all goes back to Faye. Look at her.” He motions to Quinn who whimpers. “No doubt she’s mine.”

I try not to wince as history unfolds at our feet. But the more they talk in front of us, the more I fear for our future if we can’t make it out of here on our own. They make no bones about hiding anything, which means they don’t plan on letting us out of here alive.

I’m not sure if Quinn picks up on this tidbit of critical information, but she holds me close and I’m more determined than ever to get us out of here. She deserves to get to know her family—Trig and the Montgomerys. And even though she was stolen away as an infant, her parents seem like good people, in a felonish sort of way.

Quinn’s fear radiates into my body. I dare them to try and rip her grip from my arm—it’s just that tight.

The ex-sheriff looks like he wants to take Ray down for trespassing, but not in a legal way.

And Ray Barrett…

The man responsible for Trig’s and my greatest loss—one I pray we’ll never experience again—sniggers.

A challenge … fuck.

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