Page 29 of Darkness Falls

"If something happens to my mother, I'll track you down and kill you myself." She looks over at me before standing up a little straighter. "I need to grab something from my father's office before we go."

"We don't have time for that."

"I'm stopping in his office. I'm tired of men telling me what I can and can't do!" Her tone is fierce enough for me to raise a brow and has me immediately caving to her demand.

"Fine, we will stop at your father’s office on the way out." She visibly relaxes with my words, and I look over to Soren. "Go get her mother. Barrett will be expecting you. Your wife should be with him by now."

“She is,” Barrett says in my ear.

"I'm not coming back for you two if something goes wrong. I've done my part. If you get caught because you make pit stops, it’s on you." Without saying anything else, he leaves.

I follow Callie down the stairs and then into the first door on the right. The two of us slip inside, and I close it behind us. She runs directly over to the desk, ripping open all the drawers.

"What are you looking for?"

"It's here somewhere," she says while continuing to frantically look. She pulls open another drawer and moves things around before slamming it shut.

"So, your mom is alive?" I ask her.

"I don't want to talk about it right now. It's too complicated to explain in the few minutes we have before we need to get out of here."

"If she's alive, then..." I trail off, and she stops to look at me.

"No. Maxton is dead." Her eyes well up briefly before turning back to the task at hand.

I guess she finally finds what she's looking for when she holds up a key. She steps toward the bookshelf and reaches for asmall box from the top, but she’s too short. I grab it for her, placing it into her hands. The key slides into the lock perfectly, and we hear a faint clicking sound as it pops open to reveal a notebook.

I'm confused all over again. We risked getting caught for a notebook? What's so important about it?

Her eyes meet mine. "We can go now."

A sound creaks from just outside the door, and we both freeze. I bring my finger to my lips, silently telling her to stay quiet, and the two of us cross the room to stand along the wall next to the door. When it pops open, Gabriel looks over at us. Before he can make a move, I punch him square in the face, knocking him out.

"We need to go. If your father's here, Damien could also be here."

I touch the earpiece in my ear. "Barrett, check in. Gabriel is home; what's going on?"

"Soren and Natasha just got to the SUV. He said Gabriel called a few minutes ago to tell him Damien would be handling the rest of the job on his own. I was just about to tell you to keep an eye out for him."

I look over to Callie and think about all the things this man put her through before making a decision. "We're going to be a little longer than we planned. Callie's father needs to be taken care of before we leave. What do you think, trouble?"

Her eyes bounce between me and her father before she nods slowly with the notebook clutched to herchest.

"Barrett, if anything changes, let us know immediately so we can get the hell out of here."

"Of course,” he pauses, “just make sure he suffers."

"He will," I say before my eyes land back on Callies. "Where can we take him?"

“I’ll lead the way.” She smiles.

She goes to walk out of the door but hesitates, reaching up to touch something in her hair. She pulls out a clip and turns to place it on the corner of her father’s desk. Her fingers land on the ring on her left hand next, and she slides it off and sets it next to the hair clip. Guilt fills me, knowing it’s our fault she had to marry that bag of shit. When her eyes find mine again, she nods.

I grab her father, hoisting him up over my shoulder. I’m glad the bastard isn’t too heavy, and I’m in good shape. If he was any bigger, I would have had to drag him out of the room. We walk out of the office and straight to a set of stairs that lead to what looks like a basement. This is going to be fun.

Chapter 14

Callie

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