Never Give You Up (28 page)

She could raise her baby. Far away from this insane world.

I saw the bruises on his knuckles. I held his head under the water until he stopped shaking.

Terry took the real monster away from her.

He said he felt sorry for her, and that he’d never expected to care. She didn’t expect to care either. She didn’t want to fall in love with him. She didn’t plan to get pregnant.

Nothing was the same anymore.

Still hiding behind the bushes, she looked down each end of the road. A few vehicles passed in either direction, without a clue to what happened outside of their perfect little worlds. They were clueless to the lives of the others in the shadows. The bad ones. The criminal ones. The ones who were made into monsters without a choice.

Tom had a choice—Terry did not.

Her mind made up, Mary tossed her heels aside and headed toward the McCoy Estate, keeping tight to the trees with Wanda’s gun tucked into the waist of her skirt.

Wanda was going to pay for what she did to her baby’s father.

* * * *

Terry, Gabe, and Sam entered the driveway to the McCoy estate with dust kicking up behind them. Terry held his breath when they found the limo parked by the front steps with two doors still open.

Nobody was near the barn and his father’s prized beasts were all outside to play in their massive enclosure. Something wasn’t right. Where did they take Mary?

The silence haunted Terry as Gabe shut off the engine. Not a single bird chirped from the trees. Not even a gust of wind swept over the grass. Every hair on Terry’s body pricked with uncertainty and fear that this could be another trap.

“Where are they?” Terry scanned the yard. Nobody was around, not even the estate manager. Buck should be outside at this time of day, usually playing around with his numerous flowerbeds or mowing the lawn.

“You two go around the house. As far as she knows, I’m still on her side,” Sam said, stepping out of the car. “I’ll go in alone.”

Terry pulled him back. “What if she saw us with you already? When she sees we’re still alive, she’ll have you killed.”

“It’s a chance I’m willing to take.” Without another word, Sam rushed up the front steps and entered the main house. Terry stared after him, suddenly ashamed of himself for doubting him. In his eyes, Sam was a true hero for putting his life on the line even after Terry threatened to shoot him.

When the time was right, Terry vowed he’d make it up to him.

He crept around the right side of the building as Gabe took the left.

Memories of Wanda crept into Terry’s thoughts as he made his way around the house, Beretta cocked and ready. How could they not see she was a psychopath? His mother died because of this woman. The same woman who then tricked his father into marrying her. Not once did Terry ever have ill feelings for Wanda. Not once did they ever argue. He had been a fool for not seeing what his stepmother truly was.

Regret was a terrible burden to bear, and he regretted many things. But maybe Mary was right. Maybe he could tame the monster he’d become and live like a normal man, as he’d always wanted. Live without all this chaos, and take care of a good, honest woman.

He had few good memories in this house, but many bad. This estate meant nothing more than that to him. A piece of a memory.

He glanced through the window into the parlor, his rapt gaze immediately landing on the body of the housekeeper. Blood pooled on the hardwood floors all around her. It was Cassandra, the young woman his father had apparently taken a shining to.
Poor thing, she certainly didn’t deserve to die
.

The faint hum of a chopper resounded in the air. Terry looked up toward the north to find the family chopper slowly descending toward the helipad.

Voices, barely audible over the whirring blades came from the front of the house. He retreated his steps, keeping tight to the wall and peered around the corner.

Two men dragged Sam’s limp body toward the pigpen. He must have been knocked around hard to be unconscious, or maybe he had another wound on the front of his body Terry couldn’t see. Either way, he was in deep trouble as the pigs swarmed the fence in a frenzy. Terry had to stop them. Sam had willingly risked his life for him.

It sickened Terry to see the wild hunger in their eyes. A hunger his father had created in those otherwise harmless beasts.

He couldn’t tell if Sam was dead or only unconscious, but he couldn’t assume the worst. He inched his way closer and aimed his weapon toward one of the men dragging Sam. If he could get a clean shot off, he could buy Sam some time to save himself.

Another movement caught his eye and he faltered. Wanda ran toward the chopper carrying two suitcases.

Mary wasn’t anywhere in sight.

Just as Terry stepped around the corner to go after her, something cold touched his temple.

“Drop it, or you’re dead.”

This can’t be real.
He knew that voice all too well. This was getting worse by the minute. “Buck Johnson,” he said, and dropped his Beretta. “Let me guess. You were fucking her, too?”

Terry stared after Sam and the two men. They were getting close to the pen and Sam still wasn’t moving.

“I was always her favorite.” Buck shoved the gun harder against his temple. “Move it.”

Terry walked slowly ahead of Buck, completely blown away by how insane this family had become. Power made people go crazy.

“Where’s Mary?”

Buck snickered and pushed against his back, making Terry stumble ahead. “If it makes you feel any better, she wasn’t with them. She’s dead in a ditch somewhere.” He leaned close and whispered in a menacing voice, “She’s dead because of you, Terry.”

Terry’s blood ran cold. On raging impulse, he spun around and decked Buck before he realized what hit him. He stumbled back and gripped his bloody nose, but he still managed to hold his weapon. Shaking, Buck lifted the gun again and pointed it at Terry’s face.

“You’re not gonna win this time, buddy.”

Terry lifted his arms out to his sides. He didn’t care if Buck ended his life right now. “Go ahead. Put me out of my misery.”

Buck laughed but didn’t take the bait. “Keep walking.” Terry continued toward the chopper with Buck right beside him. “There’s no such thing as love in this business, boy. You know better than that.”

As they neared the chopper, Buck shouted to Wanda, “Look what I found.”

She spun around. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw Terry, then she turned her attention to Sam being dragged to the pen. “Serves him right for betraying me,” she said loudly. “I wasn’t going to keep him anyway.”

“You’re going to get everything you deserve,
Daniella
.”

She turned back to Terry, her smile like a snake about to strike. “Kill him, Bucky, honey. Then we can leave. We’ll return when the action dies down and get a clean-up crew.” She smiled in victory. “Just think, Terry, darling. Soon this house will be exactly as I envision.”

Terry closed his eyes, ready for the darkness to take him. Maybe he’d see Mary and his mother there.

He jerked as a shot cracked the air.

When he opened his eyes there was no darkness. No white void. No Mary. Only Wanda, staring down at the ground next to his feet. He glanced down, his ears ringing from the shot, to see Buck lying there with a hole in his head, his eyes wide open.

“Move!” Gabe shouted, clutching his bleeding arm. “Don’t let her leave!”

Terry looked back at Wanda, his heart in his eyes. She had betrayed them all. She had destroyed everything that ever mattered to him. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t make himself reach for Buck’s gun and end her life. He didn’t know why, but maybe he was just tired of this same game, and maybe he couldn’t handle seeing the only other parent in his life die.

She lifted her tear-streaked face from Buck’s dead body. He thought he saw pain in her eyes, pure fear, but it didn’t change anything. It wouldn’t change what she did to his mother, his father, and now Mary.

Wanda proudly raised her chin and climbed into the chopper.

Terry stood frozen to the ground as the chopper lifted off the pad and flew away.

Nothing mattered to him anymore.

Mary was already gone. The only peace in his life was gone.

Gabe halted beside him, panting for air, and slugged Terry in the shoulder. He didn’t even feel it. “Why the fuck did you let her leave? She doesn’t deserve to live—”

“She’ll wish she was dead when she realizes who’s flying our chopper.”

Gabe shook his head, clearly pissed off that she’d gotten away. “I don’t understand. Who’s flying it?”

A slow smile crossed his face as he focused on the chopper. “Her father, and he’s one pissed off man.”

“Oh. Right. How exactly did you get him to come here?”

They stood side-by-side, both staring as the chopper faded into the endless sky.

“I got Sal to call him. I knew he couldn’t say no. Not with the deal I made him.”

A hair-raising scream came from the area of the pen as Sam regained consciousness. Gabe checked his gun and swore. “Fuck. I’m out of bullets.” He shot off toward Sam, not even seeing Buck’s gun at Terry’s feet. Terry stood numb in the same spot, unable to do anything of use. He watched as if through a tunnel as Gabe rushed the two men while they lowered a screaming Sam over the top of the railing.

The pigs gathered in a tight little formation waiting for their dinner like many times before.

The wind picked up with a sudden force as Gabe grabbed the arm of one man, violently twisting it until the bone snapped. As he dropped to the ground, shrieking in terror, Gabe ripped the gun out of the guy’s holster and shot the other man in the face.

He reached for Sam and ripped him down from the top rail as one of the pigs lunged for his foot, missing his ankle by mere inches.

As Sam composed himself from his near brush with a terrorizing death, Gabe strolled over to the man with the broken arm, shot both of his legs with the man’s own gun, before he fired a single round into his forehead.

The violence was over.

Terry’s chest tightened and he couldn’t breathe as he turned his attention to the water. He didn’t want to think but he couldn’t stop the images of Mary’s face before his eyes. Maybe he should walk to the shoreline and just keep going until the water swallowed him up.

His father would tell him to suck it up and move on. If only it was that easy.

Gabe and Sam came toward him. They had no idea what happened. He would have to tell them what Buck said about Mary.

It was only the three of them now, and John Covington, the moneyman. If Wanda scooped money soon after his mother’s death, then John was either a total fool or he was fucking her, too.

Tonight, he’ll be getting a visit.

Tomorrow everything will change.

But first he was going to get off-the-wall hammered, maybe he’d forget who he was. Maybe he’d be able to forget her beautiful face after a while.

Terry glanced around the yard like a stranger stepping onto the lush green grass for the first time. The huge Victorian mansion, surrounded by beautiful gardens, seemed like a monstrosity amidst this serene landscape. He wasn’t in awe anymore.

Everything had been built from lies and betraying hands.

It was time to make a change, if only Mary were here to see him do it. Because she had faith in him, he wanted to make things right for her. He wanted her to be proud of him from wherever she was.

Gabe and Sam dusted themselves off as they strolled over, Sam limping from the cut on his ankle, Gabe cradling his bleeding arm. Terry tried to smile as they stood in a circle on the helipad, but he couldn’t. He should be dead, not his sweet Mary.

“Better get your arm looked at,” he said to Gabe without any emotion. He was dead to the world.

“What do we do now?” Sam asked. “Where did they take Mary?”

Terry’s heart lurched as he cleared his throat. “Buck said something about a ditch. They already killed her.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate that woman of yours,” Gabe said with a smile.

Terry ran a hand through his hair, frustrated with himself, and angry that he couldn’t contain his tears in front of them. Pissed off that Gabe actually smiled at him.

“I couldn’t save her, Gabe! She’s gone. The only woman I’ve ever fucking loved is gone.” He put his hands on his hips and looked down at the concrete pad. He felt like that slab of cement. Cold and hard and alone.

“Look behind you, you idiot.”

His head snapped up and he stared hard at Gabe, who was looking over his shoulder.

When Terry turned around his lungs emptied of breath. His heart pounded and his hands shook at his sides.

There she stood, his beautiful Mary, standing there panting, as if she’d walked through the bush for miles, and apparently with bare feet.

“Loved, eh?”

His upper lip twitched. He cleared his throat, embarrassed his feelings were out in the open in front of two of the deadliest criminals in the country—and a trapper. “Something like that.” It took every ounce of will not to laugh and cry, he was beyond relieved she was alive. He rushed over and grabbed her, held her tight, afraid to let her go. He ran his hands up and down her sides, over her back, needing to assure himself that she was real, and that she was unharmed.