Page 79 of Scar

Unfortunately, Tally did not inform Tom or Keys about her plan to distract her father until after she had already called him. Which was when she learned of Gordon Tremont’s very gruesome death.

It was safe to say Tally now knew where Scar had disappeared to for hours after dropping Grayson off at her apartment. Holy fuck. According to Tom, who got the official, unredacted report from Keys, Gordon Tremont had been burnedaliveand over a dozen warehouse employees were slaughtered. Atlanta Police were in an uproar and the FBI were involved.

Putting her father into the mix only added fuel to the fire. Tally knew her dad well enough to know that if he wasn’t already informed about Gordon Tremont’s death then there was something truly distracting going on in his world. Normally, the man was all over the news in Atlanta, wanting to ensure his baby girl was safe.

It occurred to Tally for the first time that her father hadn’t known about the police report she’d made the night Scar had entered her life. That was something her father would have been on top of. But he’d never asked about it. The only phone conversation Tally had had with him in the past month, prior to the current week, was the distracted one in her office where she made the assumption that he’d sent Scar down to Atlanta to discreetly protect her.

When Tom and Keys told Tally about Gordon Tremont’s death, Tally assumed her father wouldn’t come, that she’d messed up getting her father out of Washington, D.C., and would have to make up another reason.

Except Keys discovered a link between Gordon Tremont and the 3Ts. They were a gang from Miami that had worked their way north in recent years. Their time in Atlanta had been short and bloody after a tangle with a biker gang known as the Black Pythons. Except, it would seem, they hadn’tleftAtlanta. They’d just goneunderground.

Atlanta had a vast underground history leading all the way back to Prohibition. There were even tourist tours of the Hidden City. However, a number of the tunnels were deemed unsafe and condemned. After the 3Ts had been run out of Atlanta by the Black Pythons, they’d returned but were now using that network of tunnels to move their drugs around the city undetected.

Tunnels that ran directly under Tally’s restaurant.

A lot of these details Tally learned over the next few days as her father joined the investigation. She had no idea that there was underground access from her old building. It made sense, given the age of the area and the building itself, but it wasn’t on the information she’d been given in the sale.

Tally’s conflicting emotions about what she was calling her father’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personalities increased over the next few days. However, the more she learned and heard, the more she realized Dr. Jekyll, the man who raised her, was the mask and Mr. Hyde was who her father truly was.

It sickened her.

Tally stayed in regular contact with Sissy. She couldn’t tell Tally much, but she did tell her when their rescue plan was made and gave her a two day head’s up about the pending fallout. While her father was distracted taking down a drug ring, both in Atlanta as well as going after the source in Miami, Tally had a serious sit down conversation with Simone and Tom.

“You’re moving to Mount Grove,” Simone said without Tally even having to say a word.

“I’m heading back to be with Scar,” Tally clarified. “I don’t know what condition he’ll be in when they get him out and I don’t want to be here while he’s there. I need to be withhim. But his family is there. It’s his home.”

Simone’s voice held a tinge of worry. “Tally.” She reached across her kitchen table for Tally’s hand. “I just want to make sure you’re doing this because you want to and not out of some misplaced guilt about your dad.”

Tally could not blame her for that concern. She wouldn’t be Tally’s best friend if she kept her opinions to herself and didn’t play devil’s advocate. Her worry was entirely valid too. A lot had happened in the past several days and a lot was about to happen in the coming ones.

When Tally and Simone had returned to Atlanta, they had gone to Simone’s house to set up Tally’s alibi there for when her father arrived. The next day, yesterday, they went back to Tally’s apartment for the first time.

Tally had lived in her waterfront apartment for over five years, since the day she moved to Atlanta. She loved it. Her father had even jumped through hoops so her landlord would allow her to make her necessary modifications, including removing all carpeting and thresholds while adding things like her shower and in-floor bath mat. Her apartment was herhome.

The moment Tally had stepped inside her apartment she’d known: this wasn’t home for her anymore.

Because it was missing something, missinghim.

In the short time that he’d been in her life, Scar had made a profound impact. He was a part of her and, she hoped, she was a part of him now too. Maybe itwaspremature, but that wasn’t a bad thing and it certainly wasn’t wrong. In her heart, Tally knew the truth.

Homewas wherever Scar was.

And even if Scar returned to Atlanta to be with her, was it really where either of them wanted to be? Tally loved her restaurant, but it was gone. She could rebuild. It would take a lot of time and money, but it was doable. Of course, she’d have to pay a company to permanently seal off the underground tunnel access now that she knew it was there. The last she’d spoken to the fire marshal, the brick structure of the building was sound. Rebuilding was possible.

Tally had worked hard to earn her reputation as the Blind Chef of Atlanta. All her life she’d strived for the independence to make her mark on the world. She’d achieved that goal. But at a cost. Her entire lifewasher work. For two years, she’d built her restaurant into the success it had been. And where had it gotten her? A ninety-hour work week filled with stress, a never ending to-do list, and a pile of office work that took her away from her kitchen. Hell, she’d had a more intimate relationship with herstalkerin the past month than she had with the man who’d been her boyfriend.

Did she really want to go back to that?

Tally squeezed Simone’s hand. “I am doing this for me,” she confirmed. “I am going back because whatever decisions are made from now on need to be between Scar and me. I won’t make any plans about our future without him.”

“Tal… Look, I know you have this…senseabout him. There’s obviously something there on your end. You need to remember, I’ve never even seen this guy. I don’t know what the two of you are like together.”

Tally snorted. “I’ve never seen him either.”

Simone slapped the back of Tally’s hand playfully. “Stop it, you know what I mean.”

“I do,” Tally said in all seriousness. “But I was also being truthful. I haven’t seen him inmy way. I’ve never even touched him, Simone.” Her fingertips tingled at the lie, but Tally could not make herself talk about that evening in her storage unit.

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