Page 62 of Christmas in the Shadows

“You’re going to help me get out of the country where I can start my new life. And if you don’t, I will shoot your girlfriend first. Then I’ll shoot you. Don’t test me.”

Chelsea’s heart pounded in her ears. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

Anna was behind this? How was that even possible?

“Why did you do all of this?” Tex asked. “Was the only reason you started dating Gilbert so you could pin all this on him?”

“No, don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “But I found that the more comfortable he got with me—and the more he drank, the more secrets he told me. And I knew they were too juicy to sit on. Ihave worked hard my entire life, and I have so little to show for it. It’s not fair.”

“You knew when you became a guidance counselor that it wasn’t going to make you rich,” Chelsea said.

“But it doesn’t mean it’s right! I saw the opportunity for a better life for myself, and I seized it. Is there anything wrong with that?”

“It is when you put other people’s lives at stake,” Tex said.

Chelsea kept her eye on the woman’s gun. She expected her hand to be shakier. Instead, she looked at ease with it.

“So you’ve been blackmailing my former foster brothers,” Tex said. “You’ve gotten money out of some of them, drugs out of others. I guess you wanted my protection and resources?”

“It only made sense.”

“I have a feeling you’ve been extorting some of the members of the football team as well,” Chelsea said. “And you’ve been using them to do your dirty work for you. You had someone break into my house just to scare me. Was it the same person who cornered me on a dark street and tried to cut off the air from my windpipe? Or the same person who tried to run me off the road?”

“Don’t be silly. I used Steve Strober for that.” She grinned. “It’s really easy to find out dirt on people when you’re the school’s guidance counselor.”

“You used your position to your advantage,” Chelsea said. “That’s a disgrace to the profession.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That’s enough talking. I have everything ready to go now, and I just need to get out of here.”

“I’m not sure why you need my help with that,” Tex said.

“Because I need to go somewhere where there will be no paper trail leading back to me. I want to live in the Caribbean, like I said. But if I buy a plane ticket, authorities will be able tofind me if things go south. That’s why I need you to use your resources to get me a private jet.”

Tex laughed and shook his head. “I think you’re overestimating the kind of resources I have.”

Anna pointed her gun at Tex. “If you don’t already have those resources, then I suggest you find them.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I’m getting out of here. And I’m taking my daughter with me.”

CHAPTER 23

Anna’s words rung in her ears.

The woman had looked right at her when she saiddaughter.

“Are you . . . ?” Chelsea couldn’t finish her question. The thought seemed too absurd.

“Your mother?” Anna raised an eyebrow. “I am. Not that woman you keep calling Mom. Do you understand how hard it is for me to hear you say that?”

Now that Anna mentioned it, Chelsea could see the resemblance between them. They both had the same cheekbones, the same color hair even.

But . . . how could this be?

“You abandoned me,” Chelsea started.

“I had a breakdown. I wasn’t in my right mind. I couldn’t handle everything. Today they’d probably call it postpartum depression. But that wasn’t as widely discussed back then, and I didn’t understand it.”

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