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“That’s the big plan?”It sounded stupid to me, especially when they’d been so careful to mostly stay off any digital radar.“Take Gracie?That’s all he wants?He put his own flesh and blood through that hell just to take Gracie?He could have done that any time she went to work.”
“He wants all the money back that Gracie stole from him,” Deborah explained.At this point, I doubted there was enough blood in her brain for her to even realize she was giving it all away.“Nishia wanted to be an accountant.Clint thought she would get a job taking care of the shelter’s finances and he could convince her to fix everything and wire him what is left of the funds for Sanctuary.”
I shared another look with Jack, but while we were having a silent conversation, Deborah kept talking.
“He was so sure she would help him.That her family loyalty would be in his favor.Blood is thicker than water.All that money.It was his.Gracie stole it from him, just like she stole Hawk from me.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I snapped, fed up with her now that I had all the information I needed.“Hawk never even looked twice at you.I know for a fact he never touched you.He barely even spoke to you back then, you crazy bitch.”
But she was too gone to hear me.
“He was mine.He loved me.I was going to be his.”
“Okay, Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.Keep telling yourself that.Whatever gives you peace when you meet the angel of death.”
Jack’s lips gave a ghost twitch.“Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?”
“Lexa and Tavia are always on me for cursing in front of the kids.I’ve been trying to watch my mouth.”
“You surprise me.”
“Nothing about you surprises me.”Sighing, I lifted the knife and sank it into Deborah’s chest.Her heart stopped, and she finally left us in blissful silence.Thank fuck.She was so damned annoying.“I lied earlier.You’re not like your dad that much.You’re too much like me.”
When I looked at him again, a little of the wildness had receded.“Am I?”
“You think I can’t see it, but I’ve always known, Jack.”Leaving the blade where it was, I picked up a rag to wipe the blood off my hands.“Did you think I wasn’t aware of what you did to all those abusive husbands who mysteriously died?”
“No one cared enough about those bastards to consider it,” he said with a shrug.
“I cared.Not about them, but you.”Tossing the old rag on top of Deborah’s lifeless body, I kept my eyes trained on his, seeing his monster glowering back at mine.“I saw your darkness just below the surface.When you were younger, it scared the hell out of you, didn’t it?”
“Sometimes.More often than not, though, I embraced it.”
“Yeah.It’s easy to give in to the taste of blood.Keeping it locked up is too damn exhausting.”
His eyes widened ever so slightly.“You have to fight it too.”
It wasn’t a question, but I still nodded.“Every day.Lexa and Max, and then Tavia, they helped me rein it in.Then came the grandkids.It got a little easier.But when I was younger, it was hard as hell.Especially when Bash was gone.”I picked up a clean rag and handed it to him.“You haven’t had a good enough reason to keep the darkness locked in.”
“Nishia gives me nothing but light.There is no darkness when she’s with me.”He scrubbed the rag over his face.“But Deborah helped Morgan hurt her.”
I nodded in understanding.“She did.But do you think you let the darkness win because, maybe, you hurt her a little too?”
“Yes,” he rasped and swallowed hard.“But I’ll fix it.After I take care of Morgan.”
“You know where he is?”
“Mieke does.”
I grabbed my gun and checked the magazine.With the scent of Deborah’s blood still filling my nose, the monster inside me began to twitch in anticipation.Maybe I needed to release a little more of my own darkness.“Let’s go.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY
nishia
“Where’s Jack?”
My head was throbbing, my eyes swollen, and my throat felt raw.All from the emotional breakdown I’d had, yet again.Two in less than twelve hours.That had to be a new record for me.
