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“Hmm. They’ll be at the railroad crossroads two miles from the house and they’ll follow us there.”
As they approached the railroad crossing, Cam’s chest tightened and so did his grip on Adri’s hand.
“I see the sheriff’s car,” Chase said but instead of slowing down, he gunned on the gas.
Soon, for good or bad, this would be over.
•••
Adrianna followed Cam out of the car, and they rushed through thecirculardriveway. The night air had taken a brisk turn or maybe it was her insides that had frozen and made her shiver. She couldn’t wait to have her baby in her arms. Even if Walter pulled something and she ended up in prison, she didn’t care anymore.
The thought that kept playing in her head, like an annoying malefic litany, was that her baby was alone with a man that didn’t think her mother was worth anything. The same man that had insisted vehemently that Adrianna get an abortion. She may go to jail after all because if he hurt a hair on Bron, if he traumatized her in any way, Adrianna was going to kill him.
She palmed the taser in her pocket. She prayed to God she didn’t have to use it on him. Cam turned to her, as if he could sense what she was thinking. “It’s going to be okay. It’s almost over.”
In front of the door, he didn’t pause, didn’t knock. He didn’t have to. He’d told her how he had saved the house so many times from his father’s gambling. How he’d had to put it in his name to maintain it. The apprehension grew in her belly. Bron was alone with a man that didn’t care enough for his family to keep it safe.
They barged in and the foyer was a blur. They kept walking, halting so abruptly she swayed forward when they found Walter sitting in front of the TV watching the Orioles game. Adrianna’s gaze darted to all corners. Her baby is not there. “Cam, she’s—"
“Where’s my daughter?” Cam asked. No, that wasn’t asking. He raged the words like they sprang from deep in the core of his belly.
A fresh wave of shivers rocked Adri’s body. She’d never heard that kind of emotion in Cam. Their fights were always heated and angry. There’d never been this kind of cold, murderous feel to him then.
But Walter wasn’t ruffled. His face remaining affable until he looked beyond them to Chase. He blanched. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Answer Cam,” Chase bellowed. “Where is Bron?”
Walter sighed. “Cameron, there was no need for you to bring the family thug. You must know I wouldn’t harm a child. Least of all, one that carries my blood. This is all so unnecessary.”
Chase chuckled. “Now she carries your blood? Because you must not have thought so when you asked Adrianna to abort her and then later on, when you kept her from her father all her life.”
“Shut up, boy. You don’t know anything. I didn’t keep the child from Cam.” He pointed to Adrianna. “Daddy killer did that.”
Oh my God. Did he tell Bron that she was a killer?
Her stomach plummeted, diving to the floor and almost taking her whole body with it. Nausea rose up her throat and she couldn’t talk. She couldn’t do anything but press her hand to her stomach.
“You’re a piece of shit, Walter. You knew Fausto abused her mother. You knew he intended to make Adrianna rob that store with him. They shot him in self-defense and you held that over their heads this whole time.”
Cam’s father shrugged. “I would have never used that recording unless I needed it. You wouldn’t listen to reason. I told you it wasn’t the time for you to show up with a kid at Cam’s door.”
He spoke directly to her. There was barely any emotion, like he was talking about the weather and not the secret that crippled most of her life. How many years had she lived in fear that he would talk and she would be torn away from Bron? She had so much to say, but nothing mattered at the moment. Only one thing.
“Where is my daughter? And trust me, if you did anything to her, I will kill again. This time on purpose.”
Annoyance flickered in Walter’s face. “You’re all idiots. You honestly thought I would harm a child? Shame on you. Give me the money, Cam, and then all of you can leave.”
Cam threw the bag on top of the table and Walter reached for it.
He rummaged through the stacks of cash, his eyes big and thirsty.
“There’s a million in there,” Cam said with the delicacy of a glob of spit.
Walter’s mouth turned agape. “That’s—”
“I know,” Cam said, his eyes colder than anything Adri had ever seen. “You’ll need it.”
“I don’t know what to say…” Walter began but Cam raised a hand to cut him off.
