Mean Man hissed at the mention of the name. “Which Malloy?”
“Jamey, don’t,” Mommy protested, looking scared. All her young life, Willow had wondered who her daddy was. Whenever she asked, Mommy would call her daddy bad names. She’d never even seen a picture of him. Now it seemed Mommy had been hiding who her daddy was because she was scared. Willow couldn’t help wondering if her daddy was as bad as these men.
“Shut your trap, bitch,” Mean Man snarled. He then jerked his chin up at Jamey. “Tell me which Malloy the brat belongs to.”
“She’s Deacon’s.”
A name.
Willow had finally heard her daddy’s name.
For some reason hearing it made her feel like she knew him somehow.
Her happiness was fleeting. Hearing her daddy’s name seemed to make Mean Man very happy, and Willow imaginedthat couldn’t be good. A smile curved on his lips. “Well, now. This certainly changes things, doesn’t it?”
His knife lowered from Willow’s throat. When he inched closer to her, Willow cringed back against Big Booted Man. “This seems to be your lucky day, little girl. Letting you go now is going to serve my purpose far more in the long run.”
Mean Man cocked his brows and stared at her. His rough hands came to cup her chin, tilting her head to look at her from several angles. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before. You’re the fucking spitting image of that cocksucker.”
Mommy leaned forward in her chair. “Just let her go, okay? Using her won’t do you any good. Deacon doesn’t even know she’s his—I left him before I found out. He doesn’t like kids, so he won’t give a shit about her.”
Mean Man tsked at Mommy. “He might not care at first, but I’ll give him some time. Even if he doesn’t want her, I guarantee his brother, Rev, will. And I’ll use any leverage I can against Deacon and his brothers.” He motioned to Crank. “Put her down.”
Relief filled Willow when she felt the ground beneath her feet again. Mean Man crouched down beside her. “I want you to listen to me, and listen well. You tell no one what you saw here tonight, understand?”
Although Willow bobbed her head furiously to show she understood, it didn’t seem to satisfy Mean Man. He leaned in to where she could feel his hot breath burning against her cheek. “If you say a fucking word to anyone about me or what you saw, I will come to you in the night and cut out your heart. Got it?”
Apart from the times when she explored with Dora or escaped with Angel Mommy, Willow spent a lot of time afraid. But, until now, she had never experienced such fear. The tremors seemed to flood every part of her body. Although she shook from head to toe, she couldn’t make herself reply.
But somehow Mean Man was satisfied with her lack of response. He turned back to Mommy. “Does she have somewhere she can go?”
Tears streaked down Mommy’s cheeks. “Yes, she stays with the lady down the hall a lot.”
Willow’s fear dissipated a little at the thought of Mrs. Martinez, whose warm and cozy apartment she stayed in during the times Mommy was away with Jamey or working. Mrs. Martinez always cooked something for Willow, and she even let her help prepare the food. She let Willow call her Mama Mari, and it was like getting to have a grandmother like her friends at school did.
“Fine. She goes down the hall, and we finish this.”
“C-Can I at least say goodbye?” Mommy questioned, as her chest rose and fell with sobs. Seeing Mommy cry made Willow start to cry.
“Hurry it up,” Mean Man replied, shoving Willow toward the chair where Mommy sat.
Clambering as best she could into Mommy’s lap, Willow buried her head in Mommy’s neck. Still bound tight by her fear, she couldn’t seem to make her lips move to say the words she was screaming in her mind. No matter how mad and mean Mommy was, Willow always loved her. She wanted nothing more than to be hugged and kissed by Mommy, but she very rarely got what she wanted.
“I love you, Willow. You be good for Mrs. Martinez. She’s going to take you to your daddy. You be a good girl for him, okay?” Willow nodded. Mommy started to cry harder. “I’m sorry I was a bad mother, baby. I hope you’ll have a better one now.”
Willow jerked back to stare into Mommy’s eyes. What did she mean by ‘better mommy’? Was she going somewhere? If Willow went to live with her daddy, did that mean she would never see Mommy again? It made her cry as her tummy twisted. “Ilove you, Mommy,” she whispered, finally finding the words she desperately wanted to say.
“I love you, too, Willow.”
“All right, enough sentimental bullshit. Crank, take the kid down the hall. Tell the woman to get the fuck out of the building for the next few hours if she knows what’s good for her.”
Big Booted man responded by snatching Willow up again and marching her to the door. As Willow gazed over her shoulder, Mean Man closed the gap between him and Mommy. Just as they started out of the apartment, Mean Man’s knife went to Mommy’s throat. Mommy looked straight at Willow. “I love—” Her words were cut off when the knife slid across her neck.
Willow’s mouth opened in a scream, but nothing came out. As hard as she tried closing her eyes against the sight of the red blood pouring from her mommy’s neck, she couldn’t. The last thing she saw as she was taken from the apartment was Mean Man turning back to her as he brought his fingers to his lips to remind her to keep quiet.
Willow knew that she would never tell. She never, ever wanted to see Mean Man again. No matter what was done to her, she would never tell.
CHAPTER ONE: DEACON
