Page 186 of Beautiful Scars

“Cillian Hendry took mydaughter?”

“Okay, okay. Let’s get some air,” Mom murmurs, turning me by the shoulder and taking me outside.

But the crisp air doesn’t help. It just contrasts with my flushed cheeks, making me even more aware of how pissed off I am.

How could he?

How fuckingdarehe?

How...wait...

He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t do it, not unless he had a life or death reason. There had to be a reason.

“It wasn’t him,” I tell Mom, shaking my head at her. “He would never—”

“Of course it’s him,” Helen snaps. “Why do you seem to think this man has a shred of decency in him? He’s a drug dealer, Meisie. Adrugdealer. They don’t know the difference between right and wrong, and if they do, they sure as hell don’t care.”

“No, you don’t understand, he’s not like—”

“Enough!” Helen tucks her hair behind her ear and turns away from me, hands on her hips, as if she’s steeling herself. “You’re the one who doesn’t understand. You’ve never worked in politics. He took Maddie for exactly the same reason he took you.” Her voice drops, as if she’s talking to herself. “It’s so obvious I don’t know why the hell I didn’t see it coming.”

I scowl at the back of her head. “You think this is all because of that damn bill?”

“No, Meisie, not the bill,” she says through a sigh. “It’s because of the murder charge hanging over his head.” She closes her eyes, shaking her head as she hugs herself hard. “He took her because of me.”

Because she played him like a fiddle, and she was so close to getting everything she wanted.

Until Cillian figured it out. Realized he’d lost his bargaining chip.

Now he has my daughter. And he’s using her just as easily as he used me.

I have no way of contacting him. I’ve been in his house, but I don’t know how to get there. We took too many twists and turns whenever we left. And the club? Sure I know where that is, but he wouldn’t be stupid enough to go anywhere near it now.

Mom turns back to me. When I see fresh tears brimming in her eyes, mine start watering too. So I pull her into a hug.

And she lets me.

Because until we find my Grace and bring her back...Helen Ford is all I have left.