Page 17 of Clever Deceit

Oh. My... Shit.

“Another surgery?” I gasped. “How serious is this? Will you not be able to walk again without it? What are the complications?”

She put a hand on mine and squeezed. “The complications are that if I don't get the surgery, I might be in this wheelchair for the rest of my life. And that would make life hard for all of us. It's not a complicated surgery, and the recovery should be relatively easy. This is good news, Lily. This is why I haven't been making as much progress at physical therapy as I should.”

I paused at that. She was right; although the physical therapy had been going well, it certainly hadn't been as productive as it should have been. We'd thought she'd only have it for a few weeks, but the physical therapist had been extending it again and again, which was confusing. But if her tendons and ligaments weren't healing right, then that could be why.

And if this surgery would fix that...

“Can they do it locally?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, no. That's the biggest problem. The surgeon is a specialist who's in residency at a hospital all the way down in Chicago. I'm going to have to leave town for this one. But I'll only be gone four days, and then I can come home. So I'll be back in time for your birthday next week.”

I jerked, surprised. With all the chaos, I'd forgotten I had a birthday coming up. But beyond that... I felt an overwhelming sense of relief at the thought that my mother was going to be gone for a couple days. So many bad things were happening here—or at least I was worried that they would happen—and I was concerned that if something happened, she wouldn't be able to get out of the house or away from the bad guys while wheelchair-bound. If she'd been in the house that caught fire, how would she have gotten out in time? And if someone attacked her, would she be able to get herself away from them before they did real damage?

I didn't want her to leave, and I didn't particularly like the idea of another surgery. But if it meant she'd heal more quickly and be able to move faster if she needed to, then I was all for it.

And if it got her out of this town, where Mark McCarthy and his son held sway, even better.

“Well that's both good and complicated news,” Warren said suddenly, reaching out to take my mom's other hand. “Do you need a ride down to Chicago? Can we take you?”

“Actually, my sister already volunteered, and I took her up on it. I like the idea of getting to spend some time in the car with her. It'll force her to sit still while I tell her all the reasons she should move closer to us.”

My eyes met Warren's at that, and I knew he was thinking exactly the same thing I was: that her moving here would be the opposite of good, because this town was nothing but dangerous to anyone related to us.

“I think you two should leave town as well, actually,” my mom said, like she was reading my mind. “I don't think it's safe for either of you to stay here. Tony and Mark aren't people to mess with. They've proven how far they'll go already, and if push comes to shove, I'm afraid of what might happen to you two without me here to look out for you.”

That made me laugh, finally, and I turned to her. “How much good do you think you're doing, Mom?”

My mom made a face. “More good than you realize, young lady. You obviously don't realize how dangerous I can be with this thing.”

“I'm not sure anyone else does, either,” I said, chuckling. “But I'm not going. I ran from them once. I'm not doing it again. This is my home now, and nothing's going to make me leave it. Not even Tony McCarthy and his goons.”

***

LATER, WHILE I WAS washing my face and getting ready for bed, Warren walked up behind me and slipped his arms around my waist.

“Are you okay?”

“Of course,” I said. “Aside from the fact that I'm about to get soap in my eyes because you interrupted me. Why wouldn't I be okay?”

He smiled and stepped back, gesturing for me to wash my face off. “You seemed worried during dinner.”

I froze in the act of rinsing my face but then forced myself to continue. He didn't know why I'd been off. He'd just noticed that I was unbalanced. And there were plenty of good reasons for that.

“I'm just worried about my mom. I don't really want her going through another surgery.”

He spun me around and stared into my eyes. “Liar.”

I tried to look as innocent as I could. “What?”

“You were off before your mom said anything about the surgery. You've been off since you got home from getting groceries, and so has Silver. What happened in town? And don't tell me nothing happened. I can read you too well for that.”

I bit my lip, trying to maintain my mask of innocence. I didn't want to tell him. I didn't want him doing anything about it and making trouble for himself. He was already on Mark McCarthy's radar, and I thought my mom was right: Warren himself might be in real trouble at this point.

But I also didn't want to lie to him.

He held me close and kissed the top of my head. “What happened?” he whispered. “Just tell me. I'm not going to be mad.”