Page 128 of Kept in the Dark

She glanced at Sara who remained perfectly still.

Please don’t be dead. Hold on just a little longer.

Hailey wanted to panic, to scream and shout and call for help, but she knew it would only enrage Ryan. And just like thirteen years ago, no one would hear her scream.

Frantically, she stalled, hoping that Trey would get there in time. “Why did you kill my mother?”

He wiped Sara’s blood across his shirt. “I didn’t kill your mother. I’ve just been helping the person who did.”

“Then why go through all of this? If you didn’t do it, who did?”

He enjoyed toying with them. “I’m not telling you, even if I am going to kill you before I leave.”

Trinity screamed, “No! Please!”

“Shut up!”

She cowered back, sobbing softly. Hailey didn’t know how to calm her down, she was hardly able to keep herself calm.

And now Sara might be dead.

Hailey continued, “Was it my father?”

“Yeah, right, Hailey. He's a mean SOB, but even he’s too soft to kill the woman standing in his way. You know he loved my mother more than he loved yours, right?”

Hailey closed her eyes, knowing it was the truth.

He snorted. “What kind of wife lets her husband cheat? And what kind of wife tells her husband to disown his only son?” Ryan was seething now, and Hailey regretted bringing up her mother.

He got inches from her face, her skin crawling as he whispered, “She got what she deserved.”

Hailey cursed at him, and he laughed at her angst. All she could see in him was their father, a man who deliberately got off on people’s pain. Ryan didn’t hold the Gallagher name, but he was every bit a monster just like their father.

He continued, “Like I said, I didn’t kill her. But I wish I had. I dreamt about it. Thought about it. Planned it, even. But I never went through with it. Then the Good Lord sent an angel who did the job for me.”

He began pacing, letting his guard down as he relived whatever past he was remembering. “It was by pure accident that we met, fate pushing us together. We were both walking downtown, and she ran right into me, spilling her coffee all over me. She was the most beautiful and heavenly thing I had ever seen. She apologized and I stood there speechless.”

Hailey tried to slowly loosen the ties around her hands, but they only tightened with her movements.

Ryan said, “We started seeing each other and eventually I told her about David and Morgan, and she could see how much pain I was in. She hated them for hurting me and promised to get revenge. And then she told me her deepest secret and I knew we would forever be joined together. She had killed her parents when she was sixteen.”

He smiled proudly. “She was tired of them standing in her way, so she killed them. When Morgan died, I knew my angel had done it. She had done it for me, and I told her I'd forever be in her debt. So, when she needed my help to keep people quiet, I happily agreed.”

Hailey was disgusted at how easily Ryan spoke of his heinous crimes, and even more disgusted by the admiration he held for his angel. It was creepy how they had bonded over murder, especially her mother’s.

Hailey shook her head. “I thought my father asked you to help him keep people quiet?”

Irritated, he shook his head. “Helping your father was a means to an end. He and my angel had one common goal. And if helping him meant helping her, then so be it. It was just a bonus that he offered me money to do it.”

“Don’t move, Ryan,” another voice said.

Hailey had been so focused on Ryan that she hadn’t even noticed Lauren, her gun shoved into his back.

Relief flooded over Hailey. But then fear slithered down her spine.

How did Lauren know they were here?

“Angel, what are you doing?” Ryan asked.

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