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I held my hand out to Dean as he approached. “Gun.”
Without question, he handed over his Glock. I aimed it at my mother as she rolled over on the ground to stare up at me with tear-soaked cheeks. For a split second, I felt like I was nine again, standing in Stefan’s study and being made to choose. My father or my mother? It had been a cruel thing to ask a nine-year-old girl who had been desperate for her father’s love and up until that point had wished her mother had been alive. Then that second passed and I realized that I wasn’t nine anymore. I had my father’s love, and as I stared down at my mother, I was disappointed that she had not died the first time I’d been faced with this choice. “You asked me if I was as cruel as my father,” I said to her with a voice I knew was cold and detached.
“Maura, wait!” she begged, holding up a hand.
“Here’s your answer.” Without hesitation, I pulled the trigger three times, putting two bullets in her chest and one in her head.
For a moment, I couldn’t look away from her lifeless storm-gray eyes. One day, I might mourn her. She had been my mother after all. But right now, when I stared at her, I only saw a threat to what I loved, and I couldn’t find it in me to regret killing her.
I gave Dean his Glock back and I turned to face Stefan. Jamie had just gotten done untying him from his chair and was helping him stand.
“I am very angry with you,” I told him again.
Holding his ribs, he let go of Jamie to walk toward me. “I know.”
“Good, because we’ll be addressing my anger later.”
As he approached, I felt like I could breathe, and when he put his arms around me, my darkness loosened its tight hold. Because my hands were still cuffed, all I could do was sag against his chest. I closed my eyes to keep myself from crying.
“I love you, too, Daddy,” I said just loud enough for him to hear.
His response was to hug me tighter and kiss the top of my head.
Once Stefan and I pulled away from each other, Jamie and Louie yanked me into their arms. Louie curled his finger around the fake Tiffany’s necklace around my neck. “Your little pet loves you. Really, Maura?”
I gave him a small smile. “It worked, didn’t it?”
“Hey!” Rourke yelled as he escorted Detective Cameron over. “What do we do with him?”
Detective Cameron glared at him.
“We let him take things from here,” I said, surprising the detective. “Would you like a phone, Detective?” Dean handed me his.
Cameron stared at me, confused. “You’re just going to let me go?”
“I’m not the one who took you and my people haven’t done anything illegal here but defend themselves from a group of criminals who kidnapped my father, me, and you,” I said, holding the phone out to him, but before he took it, I pulled it out of reach. “And because Detective Brooks admitted that the email you have that incriminates me is indeed forged, I’m no longer under arrest, correct?”
He exhaled through flared nostrils. “That is correct.”
I handed the phone to him with a smile. “Good.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
ONE WEEK LATER.
Iwas woken when my hand was grabbed. I didn’t open my eyes. I could feel Jamie and Louie on either side of me, so I knew I was safe. When I felt something slip onto my ring finger on my left hand, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.
“You can stop pretending you’re asleep now,” Jamie said.
“Is the suspense killing you?” I teased.
“Just open your eyes, beautiful,” Louie said.
I brought my hand to my face before I opened one eye. When I saw a huge, princess cut yellow diamond, my other eye shot open, and I scrambled to sit up so I could get a better look at the jaw-dropping ring on my finger.
Louie chuckled. “I think she likes it.”
“She likes it,” I said and kissed him, then Jamie. “Thanks for the ring,” I teased as I started to climb out of the bed.
