Page 87 of Vicious Sentiments

My body tenses at his name.

“You know a little bit about his parents, him and Marney’s, right?”

I nod, unsure if she knows that I read the FBI folder.

She tilts her head to the side and sighs. “It was really bad, the accident. Dillon and Marney were in the car when someone ran them off the road.”

I desperately try to bury the idea of it being Margo that ran them off the road and let her talk.

“It was up in the hills and late at night. They had just gotten back from Barbados. The car went down the cliff side, and their father was killed instantly.”

Margo’s expression pains me and I wonder how close she was with them.

“Marney was only seven and unconscious. She almost didn’t make it. Their mother, though, was alive. At least, Dillon says she was, but when you have a harrowing experience like that, your mind creates things to get you through it. But she was impaled, some tree or something or another—” Margo waves her free hand through the air. “—and she didn’t last long if she was alive. Anyways, the way Dillon tells it, he watched her bleed to death while she was screaming for help. But like I said, it was late and even if it wasn’t, no one would have heard her.”

My chest tightens for Dillon as I hang on her every word. “Then how did they get rescued?” I picture Marney, unconscious in the backseat, fragile and barely holding on.

Margo takes a deep breath. “Dillon scraped his way up the hill, getting bit by a rattlesnake and shredding his knees, all while having a broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder. It took him four hours of dragging himself down the road for a car to finally come across him.”

“And Marney?”

“He did it for her. That fourteen-year-old boy saved his sister’s life because he didn’t give up.”

I hold a hand to my mouth, my eyes watering despite how long agoit was.

“Even another ten minutes and Marney might not have made it. She had a collapsed lung that was just about to kill her.” Margo rubs my shoulder and smiles softly. “I think that’s why Dillon has taken up running. Maybe he thinks that if he can be fast enough, he’ll be better prepared for next time.”

“Next time?” My brows bunch.

“Like I said, it was harrowing. You don’t get through something like that and get out scot-free. He’s got it in his head that anything that can go wrong, will. Anxiety among other things. I’ve had him seen by several doctors but when he turned eighteen he flat out refused anymore.”

“But I’m not telling you this to tug on your heart strings, Peach. I’m telling you this so you don’t hold what you saw last night against him. He struggles because of what he’s been through. I have a feeling you can relate to that.”

I purse my lips. Icanrelate to that but I’ve never put holes in walls. “The medication doesn’t help?”

Margo’s eyes flicker and I realize she never said anything medication, that I’m quoting the folder and I quickly look away.

After a second she answers me. “He won’t take it anymore. And honestly? I don’t blame him. Everything they gave him made him just a shell of a person. So maybe he has flare ups from time to time, but at least for the in between he can feel like a person.”

I don’t know anything about what it’s like to take medication so I can’t disagree, but that blind spot I thought Margo didn’t have is starting to appear. My heart aches for Dillon. I can’t even imagine what that was like and I’m so grateful that he saved Marney, but what I saw last night was scary.

“You understand right, Peach?” She grabs my eyes, and I nod, even though I don’t. “Good. I don’t know what it looked like last night, orwhat you thought it was, but he just made a mistake, that’s all,” she says amistakebut I can’t tell if she’s trying to convince me or herself. “But let’s not tell the boys when they come back, hm? No need to worry them.”

A bad feeling takes root in my stomach. If there’s no need to worry them, then why am I so worried?

Chapter Forty-Seven

My heart is hammering as I wait for the garage to close. I’m huddled next to Margo, Dillon, and Marney the next day, just by the door with the clicker, and I feel like all of us are holding our breath. It’s my first time seeing Dillon after his outburst and he won’t even look me in the eye, but I can’t focus on that right now.

An hour ago, Cape called Margo, and she was kind enough to put it on speakerphone. He said they were on their way and to get ready. That was it. No information on Julian or where they are on their way from, but he sounded stressed. And get ready for what? I’m basically on my toes trying to figure out what that could mean as the sleek black car cuts the engine in the garage and it finally closes.

The first one out is the older man who drove me and Julian back from the airport. He’s not friendly this time and instead ignores the three of us as he whips around the hood of the car and comes to the passenger back door. I wouldn’t think he could move that fast and my mind is spinning with what could have his bones working overtime.

My mind only reels worse when Margo barks at Dillon to take Marney away. What did she see on the man’s face that could be so bad that Marney shouldn’t see?

Marney doesn’t protest, and Dillon doesn’t hesitate as he sweeps her through the door behind me, and then Margo is moving. She’ssuddenly behind the man who is hunched over in the backseat.

I have no idea what he’s doing, and the anticipation is causing my heart to jackhammer. I have to will myself not to pass out. Not now, not when I don’t even know what’s going on.

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