Page 98 of Surrender
“Enough!” Bishop cut in with a sharp edge to his tone. “We don’t have time for this. We need to know where the hell Parker would have taken Darcy and Rafe.”
Margot’s jaw flexed, and she strummed her claw-like talons on her bare leg as she considered the weight of what she was about to do.
Either once again take her son’s side and have to clean up after him.
Or finally allow someone else to step in.
“He’s never gonna stop,” I told her simply. “He can’t. It’s not in him to settle down. To have a family. To give you the grandkids to dote over. What is in him is a fucking monster whohas no problem killing women when they finally see what he is.”
She stood, her robe fluttering in the wind, as she walked to the edge of the pool, gazing into the water. “You’re right,” she finally said, her voice cracking just a little. “It’s ironic, really. Dahne is a brand designed to empower women. You see it on women CEOs. Worn by the top women recording artists. And the heir to that brand right now is a man who hates to see those women do better than him.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket and made eye contact with Bishop.
He knew what the next move needed to be, and he nodded, giving me the go-ahead to play it.
“We can end this today,” I offered, slowly walking over to where she was standing—her eyes still lost in the ripples of the water. “You tell us where he’d take them. We handle the rest. You get to wash your hands of his choices for good.”
She pulled the robe into her hands, running the sheer fabric through her fingers like a small child would a teddy or a blanket for comfort. This woman was strong, she was powerful—a force to be reckoned with, in a world where many had tried, and most had failed. But seeing her like this was proof that everyone had demons. And money and standing in society usually only made those demons bigger and uglier.
I held my phone out, my maps app open and waiting.
She glanced down at it a couple of times before finally taking it from my hand.
“There’s a cabin upstate owned by a shell company so it can’t be tracked back to us,” she said, her hand shaking as she typed in the address. “We did it that way so we could have privacy. It’s not in any records. A lot of people don’t even know it’s there.”
She handed the phone back, and I quickly shoved it into my pocket. “Anyone else around?”
“Not for miles. No security system, no staff, and all the powerruns on a generator.” She looked up at me, something changing in her eyes. “If he’s taken her up there, he’s not planning on letting her leave.”
I clenched my fists, and a prickling feeling began to crawl up the back of my neck.
“If I find him there,” I said, my voice tight. “I don’t plan on letting him leave either.”
She didn’t look shocked.
She didn’t flinch or cringe at the notion.
Instead, she let out a tired sigh. One that sounded as if it had been weighing on her for a long time. “He’s become a threat. Not just to my family name, but to every woman he comes into contact with,” she said, her voice quiet, but her words crystal clear. “You don’t owe me any favors, but if you give me this one request, I can promise to at least make sure the people he’s hurt can have closure.”
I was itching to make a run for it, knowing every second counted.
But I waited. “I’m listening.”
“Make it look like his guilt won.” There was no grief. Just a mother signing her son’s death warrant because she understood the depths of his darkness, and how removing him from this world could finally give a lot of people some peace.
Bishop gave a curt nod and turned to go, but I lingered a second longer.
“You made the right choice,” I told her.
She continued to stare out across her glittering pool. “I just wish it hadn’t taken me so long.”
Unfortunately, that was the truth.
She could have stopped a lot of pain and suffering a long time ago, and I wasn’t about to comfort her and tell her that it didn’t matter. It fucking did. So all I could do was turn on my heel and follow my brothers back toward the gate, pulling up the addresson my phone.
“Looks like this place is upstate. Two hours. Middle of fucking nowhere,” I read off, gritting my teeth. It was a long ride, and they were already well ahead of us.
We had time to make up.
