Page 69 of Ward

“Fucking hell.” I dial emergency services and tell them to come to my house, then hurl my phone into the passenger-seat footwell. Thank God there’s hardly anyone else on the road tonight because I’m driving like a maniac.

I don’t bother waiting for the garage door to open fully when I hit the driveway. I leap out of the car, roll under the rising door, then sprint into the house.

My shoes pound the hardwood. I take the stairs two at a time, then race down the hallway to my bedroom.

The harsh smell of gasoline hits like a wave as I come hurtling into the room.

“Easy there,” Liam says. “No sudden movements, or your little one takes a bullet.”

I check on Grace before I worry about the gun in Liam’s hand. She’s standing at the foot of my bed, her wrists still cuffed to one of the hooks on the frame, dressed in skimpy pajama shorts, a blue tee shirt, and bare, dirt-caked feet. Her clothes and hair are both wet with what I pray to God is sweat and not gasoline.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

She nods.

“Grace is fantastic,” Liam says, waving a gun in one hand and a lighter in the other. “We’ve been having a grand old time, telling stories, catching up. I told her all about how she fucked up my plans to inherit all your shit.”

“Grace is my ward, not my daughter,” I tell him calmly, taking a step closer. I can’t tell if he’s past the point of reason, but the longer he’s chatting with me, the more time the police have to make it out here. “She wouldn’t inherit anything unless I willed it to her, which I haven’t.”

“Not as your ward, no, but as your wife? The mother of your children? I mean, the way you two are going, it’s only a matter of time before you’ve gone and made yourself a shiny new family.”

“You can be part of that family.” The words taste as foul as they sound. I lock eyes with Grace, hoping she’ll realize I’m just trying to buy us time. She glances at the gun in Liam’s hand, then back at me.

What are you trying to tell me, little one?

“Put down the gun and the lighter,” I say. “We can end this now, before anyone gets hurt.”

“You think I’m stupid? After everything I’ve done to your little fuck toy, there’s no way you’re going to let me walk out of here.”

He’s right. If I get my hands on him before the cops show up, he won’t be capable of walking ever again.

“You’re my son, Liam,” I say. “I want to help you.”

“Do you?” He cocks his head. “Because I don’t recall you trying to help me at all while I was growing up. You could’ve taken me in like you took in Grace. Brought me here to live in your big, fancy mansion.”

“Carolyn told me to stay away.”

“Oh yeah? You want to know what she told me the morning before she offed herself? She told me that you aren’t my real father.”

I squint at him. “What?”

“The man my mom was dating before she met you. He’s my real father. But she also knew you felt bad about what’d happened. So bad you probably wouldn’t even demand a paternity test.”

Carolyn had assumed right. I didn’t want to add insult to injury by forcing her to prove the baby was mine.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, taking a step toward him. “You’re still my son.”

He aims the gun at my chest. Grace rattles the handcuffs against the metal bedframe, snagging my attention. She looks intently at the gun, then at me, and I realize what she wants me to do.

Instead of walking toward Liam, I step to the side. He follows me with his aim.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I didn’t know your mother was struggling, or that she was taking it out on you.” I had hoped Carolyn would use some of the money I sent her to go see a therapist.

“Of course you didn’t know. You weren’t there. She told me everything. What you and my father had done to her. Over and over. She started putting that shit in my head when I was six years old. And I’m going to rid myself of it now.”

He raises the lighter, his thumb on the strike wheel. As fume-filled as the room is, one spark and we’ll all go up.

I move to the side, and he pivots, bringing the gun closer to Grace. In a fast a fluid motion, she jumps, kicking the gun out of Liam’s hand and sending it flying.

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