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Mueller thought he was safe, but I proved him wrong with another head shot.
Once I was sure they were both dead, I slipped out of the room, Jasper on my heels, and made my way back home.
To my family.
I let out a sigh as Thomas brought the Maybach to a stop a few feet from the front door, the memories of that night etched into my memory just like all the others. They were the faces I couldn’t forget, but that didn’t mean I felt any guilt for what I’d done.
I should feel guilty about Bonnie above all the others, but I didn’t. I was afraid for Calvin, about how he would take the news. However he responded to this, he would come around. I knew this. I couldn’t hide it from him forever, couldn’t kill enough people to ensure that certainty. Even if I managed to escape the long arm of the law, I could never escape the devastation I caused my son.
Couldn’t escape the hate I would see in his eyes when he found out I was the cause of the greatest pain of his life.
Still, knowing all that, I didn’t regret that night in the hotel. Didn’t regret doing what needed to be done to save my life. To save my family. Bonnie and Mueller had to die so the Ashbys could live and thrive.
Like Cillian always told me.“Sadie Rose, this world is survival of the fittest, plain and simple. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”That night, I won. Despite Bonnie’s betrayal, Despite Mueller’s efforts, I won.
I fucking won.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Sadie
Jasper looked around the dining room at all the faces he’d convened, nocommandedto this dinner-slash-meeting on a non-Sunday, a scowl on his face, shoulders tighter than a virgin’s pussy.
He pressed off the table and started talking louder than usual to ensure we sat up and took notice.
“This is all a big fucking problem. Too big of a fucking problem.” His glare slid to me, and I had no doubt what he was talking about. “We need to make sure we know exactly what we’ll say when the cops or the feds, inevitably, question us. Make sure you know where you were and when.” He pounded a finger into the table. “With evidence to back it up.”
He meant those last words for Calvin, adding an expectant expression until his brother looked his way.
Calvin gave a short nod, his attention more focused on Ava Rose as it had been since the meeting convened. In fact, Calvin seemed to look just about any fucking where other than at his brother or me.
“Sure,” Calvin muttered. “Everyone tell me where you were, and I’ll scour the digital evidence to prove it, or I’ll manufacture it.” His words were right, but his emotions were…vacant.
I knew that look. Understood that feeling well. He was here, but he wasn’t.
Calvin was mentally checked out, going through the motions for the good of the family when he didn’t give one goddamn about us. About me.
Kat snorted a laugh at Cal’s words, chin notched high in the air and an arrogant smile on her face. “It’s the cop’s job to prove we were where we say we were, not ours.”
A hint of a smile passed my lips at my daughter’s arrogance. She was right that I’d given her a life that meant she didn’t have to see ghosts around every corner, but sometimes she could be woefully out of touch.
I was about to tell her when Vanessa’s derisive laughter interrupted this meeting.
“Don’t be naïve, Kat. If we don’t have our stories airtight, with indisputable proof, that pit bull, Beck, will keep finding reasons to come after us. And especially Sadie. If we can cut her off before she digs too deep, we should.”
The table fell silent, gazes all focused on the pretty brunette who had made quite the transformation over the past few months. “She’s right,” Jasper grunted.
Terry laughed. “And just how in the hell do you know all this? Because I gotta say, Vanessa, you sound like a damn lawyer.”
Pink colored the widow’s cheeks, and she reached for Emmett’s hand in a show of support.
“Spend your nights listening to rich people who love to give advice, she said, “and you’ll learn a lot about how the world works.” She shrugged. “Sadie is rich and has people who can do this type of stuff. It’s how rich people stay out of jail, by being ahead of the cops.” Her hand shook, a sign she was still the same shy military wife she was when Lance died, but she took the tumbler of whiskey Thomas had poured for each of us and sucked it down like a pro.
Like an Ashby.
“Fine,” Kat conceded with a sigh. She wasn’t happy to be upstaged, but she couldn’t deny the logic Vanessa presented. “Nessa is right. We’ll do things your way, Jas.”
Jasper let out a huff of amused laughter and shook his head as he took a seat at the other end of the table, opposite to me. “As if there was ever any doubt.”
