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I couldn’t.
‘She’s carrying my grandchild,’ my dad said, his face softening. ‘Just let her go. There’s got to be another way.’
‘There’s no other way. You cost me a woman all those years ago. You owe me one,’ Harold said.
‘I don’t owe you shit.’
Harold looked down at my father, shocked that he’d finally spoken up against him despite the barrel of his gun digging a centimetre from his brain.
‘Esther, go,’ he said. ‘Go with Alec, have the baby.’
Then the world slowed to a stop as Harold squeezed the trigger while Alec threw his knife. The blade lodged in Harold’s shoulder, but seconds too late. All hell broke loose. My father’s face went blank as blood shot from the side of his head, his body slumping. At the same moment, my dad’s men poured into the room while Alec launched at me, picking me up over his shoulders and heading for the doors. Cam dragged Harold and Katie out of the window, making a run for it across the lawn.
‘No!’ I screamed as Alec dragged me away. ‘My dad, we need to go back.’
‘We can’t baby, they’ll be back with more men. I need to get you out of here.’
‘I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him.’ But even as I screamed it, my resolve weakened as I heaved over Alec’s shoulder, the past few minutes hitting me like a train wreck.
With tears and snot colliding on my face, mingling with the blood from hitting myself with the gun, Alec left the mansion with me slung over his shoulder, my sister watching quietly from the top of the stairs.
‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered to her.
FORTY
ALEC
Esther was catatonic, moving along with me but like an empty husk, devoid of any emotion. It had all gone wrong. I’d got Esther out, but she’d seen her father shot and it was my fault. I slid my hand into my pocket, searching for the comforting warmth of my knife before remembering I’d last see it embedded in Harold.
Esther sat on my sofa; her face was still red and tear stained, but staring blankly out of the window. It wasn’t how things were supposed to be, and I had no idea how to fix it. I couldn’t have her father un-shot.
Ellis stood in the kitchen, furiously typing at his laptop as he set up hidden accounts so we’d have access to my money, and arranging flights under our new not-so-legal names. We just waited on Wee Dave coming over to strong arm him, or beg him, into doing a rush job on some new identification for us to travel. I could only hope Maeve wouldn’t let on to Harold or her brothers that we might have used him.
A knock sounded at the door, and when I pulled it open, Dave’s face fell.
‘No, absolutely fuckin’ not,’ he said, backing away.
I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled him inside, pushing him toward the kitchen. He took one look at Esther and rounded on me.
‘What have you done to that, lassie?’
‘I took her out of the situation she was stuck in, and now we need your help to get away.’
‘Why would I help you? You left me tied to a chair with a bloody fucking finger. Cost me a fuckton of money too.’
‘You can have my house. It’s two-thirds paid off, and my pal Ellis there can have it put into your name within minutes.’
Dave looked around before his eyes settled on Esther. ‘What will happen to her if you don’t get away?’
‘She tried to shoot Harold Thompson, so nothing good.’ It was an understatement. When Harold regrouped with his men, he’d go all out for revenge. He detested being stood up to. I could only hope the fall out from shooting Malcolm would buy us some time.
‘You need two sets of documents in what, a couple of hours? Not sure the house is worth enough to do it that fast,’ Dave said.
‘What if I add the house next door?’ Gladys’s voice came from the entryway, where she’d opened the door and was dragging a large suitcase through my hallway. ‘But it’ll take a third set of documents.’
I smiled at her; her face lighting up as she saw Wee Dave and Ellis, but her brow crinkling when she took in the sight of Esther. I’d cleaned myself up and done the best I could with her, but there was still blood under her nails, and a gash over her eye, and she’d refused to get out of the bloodstained dress.
‘The same as this, but fully paid off?’ Dave said.
