Page 94 of Chasing Honor

“What did you do?” I demanded.

“Made sure when she left the hotel where she’d met with her lover her brakes wouldn’t work. It really was simple.”

He did it. He really killed my mother.

“Fuck you. You’re a lying murderer. My mom would never cheat. You’re the one who was fucking every prostitute in Atlanta.”

“Your mother had been fucking Barry Wells for years. Why do you think he agreed to my proposal when I offered for you to marry his son? He didn’t want his wife to find out.”

My head was spinning with all this new information. Everything had been a lie. I was so furious and hurt I was numb. I didn’t know if I wanted to scream at Frank or crawl into a corner and cry.

“Why did you want me to marry, Greg? What was in it for you?”

“To keep a leash on you. I knew you were planning on moving out and I couldn’t risk you opening your mouth. You’d seen too much.”

“And when that didn’t work you decided to try and kill me, too.”

“I warned you. It didn’t have to be this way. But again, you never fucking listen. You’re just as stubborn as your mother was. Confession time is over. Either tell me where the park is, or I’ll kill you now and after I dump your body, that little girl will be next. What will that trash cop think of you then—the woman who got his daughter killed?” He pulled his gun out of his coat pocket and pointed it at me.

I hated Frank with every fiber of my being. First, he’d hurt Lily and threatened to kill her, now he was threatening Carson. What had I gotten them into? I should’ve left after our run-in at the restaurant, but I’d been selfish and hadn’t wanted to give them up. Now, because of me, they were all in danger. And there was no denying it was my fault. I hoped Ethan and Lenox would find him and make him pay.

“Head to the West End Motel. Make a left at the intersection. There’s a park a few blocks down.”

I prayed I’d stalled Frank long enough for Ethan to figure out where I was. If not, at least I’d make Frank kill me in a public place. He hadn’t thought out his plan very well. I guess desperate people really did do desperate things. Couple that with Frank’s ego and belief he was above the law, he thought he’d literarily get away with murder—and why shouldn’t he, he’d gotten away with my mother’s.

28

“Repeat it again?” I asked my mom.

I was only just keeping my temper in check. If I’d thought waiting for Honor to pull through surgery was torture, I was wrong. This was worse. Way fucking worse.

“She said for me to tell you she loved you. She knew the first day she saw you. Then she said, tell Ethan everything always comes full circle. The beginning is often the end.”

Honor’s words cut me to the quick.

My Uncle Levi came out of Honor’s room holding a box that had Katie—misc. written in black marker. “Who’s Katie?” he asked.

“Honor’s mother.”

“Okay, so, Honor’s online activity is boring,” my Aunt Blake said from the dining room table. Her fingers were flying across the keyboard as she spoke. “No social media. She spends most of her time online reading blogs related to photography. Professional print labs and gallery websites. Most recently she’d been searching parenting websites. One in particular called Baby Center. She’s joined two groups—Stepparent Adoption and Mothers and Daughters.”

My heart did a somersault, Honor had been looking up parenting and adoption sites. I should’ve felt guilty about invading her privacy but if any of the information could lead us to her, I couldn’t summon the feeling.

“Mom. You said Frank wanted to know where the videos were?”

“Yes. He wanted some pictures she had, and she gave him her camera stuff and her computer.”

“When we saw him at the restaurant, she told him she had pictures of him with women. But she never said anything about videos.”

“She has cloud storage, but it’s password protected,” Blake announced. “It’ll take me a while to figure it out.”

“Try Buck Sully,” my dad offered.

“She told Frank she’d take him to where she hid the videos?” I asked my mom for clarification.

“Yes. She told him if he didn’t hurt me, she’d show him. He told her if she was lying he’d kill her and be back for me. I tried to tell her not to go. I knew your dad was on his way. But Frank had already gagged me, and she refused to make eye contact with me. She was more concerned about me than herself.”

I glanced at the box now in front of me on the coffee table and started to peel back the packing tape. Most of the adhesive had worn off, a testament to how long it had been since the box had been opened.