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She exhaled a ragged breath. “And that’s it?”
He shrugged. “What else can I say, Macy? You’re right. What I’m being asked to do—.”
“You’re not being asked,” she interrupted. “You’re being told.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “What I’m being told to do is risky. It’s also a promotion. I’m being trusted to handle business for the family, and they’ll protect me while I’m doing it.”
“Until things go to shit and you get shanked in a prison shower to keep you quiet,” she growled.
“I can assure you, Macy, that they’ll silence me before I ever make it to prison or a shower.” It was a cold and dreadful thing to say, but it was the truth.
“I don’t even know what to say to that, Danny.”
She was saved from having to find the right words by her ringing phone. She shimmied up the bed a few inches and grabbed the phone, giving him a tantalizing view of her bare ass. He wanted nothing more than to get right back onto his knees and kiss up the backs of her thighs. He wanted to shove her face down and bury his tongue in her slick pussy again.
But the harsh edge in her voice after she answered the phone killed those dirty thoughts.
“What do you mean she never showed up? She was going from her mandatory NA meeting to your house, Sharon. She had a whole bag packed with snacks and toys and books for the kids.” Macy swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. She rushed into the bathroom. “And you called her? Texted her? No. No. I think I have the address of the meeting in a text message. I’ll go see if my car is there. I’ll let you know what I find. I know. I am too. Okay. Bye.”
“Macy?” Danny called after her, not wanting to walk into the bathroom. They were intimate, but they weren’tthatintimate yet. “What’s wrong?”
“Sharon said Janie never showed up for her supervised visit with the kids.” Macy yelled back in a panic. “She said they called and texted her multiple times, but there was no answer. Sharon is worried she might have done something to hurt herself.”
Danny’s stomach dropped. “Would she do that?”
“No!” The toilet flushed and then running water hit the sink. “She’s anxious and depressed, but she’s not suicidal.”
He wanted to tell Macy she couldn’t know that, but he didn’t want to upset her. She was already stressed out and voicing his concern that Janie might have been pushed too far wasn’t going to help. “She was at a meeting?”
“Yeah, some bullshit Narcotics Anonymous thing they’re making her attend as part of the reunification plan for the kids.” Macy emerged still naked from the waist down and grabbed her panties and shorts from the floor. “She never tested positive for drugs of any kind other than the night of the fire, but after they found the drugs in the car, they’ve been treating her like an addict. It’s ridiculous.”
“I know it is. Give me a second, and we’ll go find her.” He made his way to the bathroom and washed his face. When he was done, he waited for Macy to finish tying her sneakers. She grabbed her phone and purse and rushed out of the house after him. She hopped up into the passenger seat of his truck and read the address of the church where the meeting took place. “Yeah, I know where that is.”
Next to him, Macy alternated between calling and furiously texting Janie. “What if something has happened to her? What if someone my dad owes money has hurt her? Or taken her?”
“We’ll find her.” It was a big promise to make, and one he hoped to keep. He didn’t think he could handle disappointing Macy again so soon.
“Before you came to the house, I was going through some mail that had been forwarded from a UPS mailbox,” Macy said, her voice agitated.
“Okay?” He had a bad feeling that she was about to reveal something that would complicate their situation even more.
“It seems that my dad took out credit cards in my name, probably right after I turned eighteen, and he maxed them out. Thousands and thousands of dollars, Danny.”
Danny snarled a string of expletives. “The next time I see Burt, I’m going to beat the shit out of him.”
“You’ll have to get in line behind everyone else in town that wants to throw a punch at him.”
“Was there anything else in the mail?”
“Yes.” She wrung her hands. “He took out huge life insurance policies on me. Like almost a million dollars from different companies. He had smaller policies on Daisy, Colt and Hannah and half a million on Janie.”
Danny let that horrifying news sink in, growing more and more angry with each passing second. “So, he did try to kill you. For money,” he spat. “I take it back. I’m not going to beat his ass. I’m going to kill him.”
“You can’t! Danny, promise me! You won’t do that!”
“Why not? He tried to kill you, Macy! He tried to burn you and Janie and your sisters and your brother alive! You’ll never be safe until he’s six feet under.”
“Yes, but then you’ll be in an eight-by-eight cell, and I’ll be alone.” She reached for his hand and interlaced their fingers. “Please, Danny. I couldn’t bear it.”
