Page 73 of Twisted Secrets
That was a good point. She looked around for a phone. “We should call 911.”
“Olivia.” The shock of hearing him rasp her name stopped her cold, and she turned to face him. Mark leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. “Let Cillian handle it.”
Cillian slipped through the door, supporting another man. This one was a ghastly shade of white and looked about ready to pass out. Olivia helped him to the bench next to Mark. “You have to call someone.”
“Doc Jones has a colleague in the area. She’s on her way, but the guy she vouches for will be here in fifteen.” He crouched in front of Mark. “Can you hold on for a little longer? The other three…They’re gone. I’m sorry. I have to see to the bodies.”
Mark nodded. Cillian took Olivia’s hand. “Come on.” He waited until they were halfway across the yard to say, “We’re going back to Boston.”
“Dmitri.” He would be there in a few hours, and he was the one who held the answers. She rested her hand on her purse, the comforting bulge of the pistol there. Every heartbeat was a reminder, each second ticking by another where her daughter might be wondering where she was, might be scared and confused.Hadley, Hadley, Hadley. She’d find her. She had to.
Cillian nodded. “He has a lot to answer for. Hadley’s your daughter, just a little girl. She didn’t ask for any of this.” He stalked out onto the driveway. “And those were my men. The only reason they’re here at all is because I asked them to be.”
Three more deaths for him to shoulder. There wasn’t a damn thing she could say to that, either. They might have known the risk when they signed on to work for the O’Malleys, but no one had expected Sergei.Those deaths are as much my fault as they are his.She followed him to the car. “We both asked them.”
“This isn’t your fault, sweetheart.” He shook his head. “Give me a minute.”
She watched as he combed the car, searching the front, back, trunk, and undercarriage. He even spent some time on the engine.Checking for bombs. Olivia shuddered. As much as she didn’t like to contemplate death, if Sergei wanted her dead, he had plenty of opportunity while she slept. So she wasn’t surprised when Cillian gave the all clear. “He didn’t even slit the tires.”
“He wants me to follow.” He’d get his wish. There wasn’t another option. She just hoped and prayed to any god who was listening that he managedto take care of Hadley in the meantime. She was only a baby. She needed diapers and cut-up food and…Stop. You’re going to start panicking again, and that won’t help Hadley or you.
Cillian took the bag from her. “We’ll get her back.”
“I know.” There was no other option.
“Stay here. I’ll be back in a few.”
The dead men. She climbed into the car and did her best not to think too hard about everything that could go wrong as he disappeared around the side of the house. Part of her chafed at the delay, but those men had given their lives trying to protect her and Hadley. The veryleastthey deserved was to be kept safe until someone could be sent to deal with them properly.
A car passed hers and drove straight to the barn. She watched Cillian appear to talk to a man who couldn’t have been more than twenty-one. They hurried into the barn and shut the door behind them. She wasn’t sure how much time passed before he reappeared. It could have been five minutes or five hours with how her growing panic distorted everything.
Cillian walked out of the barn, his expression bleak. It took him mere seconds to cross to the car and slide into the driver’s seat. “Mark and Rodger will live.”
A small comfort. Part of her wanted to reach out to him, but she couldn’t afford to have her calm shattered, and Cillian’s touch would definitely do that. So she stared straight ahead and clutched her purse. “We need to be at that meeting today.” The only way she’d get to Dmitri was if he wasn’t expecting her, and he sure as hell wouldn’t think that she’d show up to something with the O’Malleys.
“I know.” He entered the freeway and picked up speed. “We’ll make it.”
She put her phone back together, trying not to notice how her hands shook. If Sergei was waiting for a call, she’d damn well give it to him. She scrolled through her old numbers and called him. The line rang and rang and rang, finally clicking over to an answering service.Damn it. She dialed Dmitri next, with the same results. Wherever they were right now, they wanted her hurting and worrying and generally driving herself out of her mind. That would do plenty of damage and they wouldn’t have to lay a finger on Hadley. She hoped.
That didn’t stop her from trying to call both men repeatedly as they crossed the state line back into Massachusetts. Nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. It was enough to have a scream fighting to make its way into the world. A scream and horrible accusations.
You promised we’d be safe. You promised you’d keep them from us. Youpromisedthis wouldn’t happen.
If I hadn’t been so determined to sex him up, I would have run and taken Hadley with me. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but they wouldn’t have caught up to me so quickly. I let my personal desires get in the way of my daughter’s safety.
I am the worst mother ever.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop.”
She didn’t look at him, her gaze on the highway, as if she could will them over the distance faster if she just concentrated enough. “It’s my fault.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It is. If I’d just fallen in line, he never would have taken this step.” She’d effectively chosen Cillian over her own daughter. Just like her mother had chosen Andrei over Olivia over and over and over again fromthe time she was born. The one thing she’d promised herself she’d never do—the lowest bar she could have possibly set for herself—and the first man who gave her a bit of attention had her throwing all those good intentions right out the window.
Now Hadley was suffering for her choices, just like Olivia had suffered as a result of her mother’s.
“You got out. That’s not something most people in our life can say.”
