Page 65 of Madam Temptress
His fingers twitch, telling me he’s thinking about going for his piece too. We could all die right now. But I can read people. And this man wants to see his baby girl grow up, get married, and have babies of her own.
Mount releases a long breath. “We’re doing this the way that keeps the most people alive as possible. But if anything goes sideways, Rory is the only thing that I care about.”
Keira shoots him a glare as she rocks back and forth, holding on to Magnolia, but it doesn’t matter.
“I’ll take it,” I tell him with a sharp nod. “Now, he said Keira comes with Magnolia—”
“Over my dead fucking body,” Mount bites out, interrupting me.
“That’s what he said. You want to call him back on the phone he took from a woman he filleted? You want to tell him it’s not going his way when he’s got a knife near your baby girl? When he’s already threatened that if we’re late, or don’t follow his rules, he’s going to start sending pieces of her to show he’s serious?”
If there was murderous rage on Mount’s face before, I don’t know what the fuck this expression is, but I’m surprised we’re not all dead from the sheer force behind it. Mount swings around and punches through the nearest plaster wall.
“Lachlan! I’m going! So help me God, he’s not cutting my baby!”
Mount spins back around, blood dripping from his knuckles. His jaw shifts from side to side. “What else did that dead motherfucker say?”
“They go to the far end of the market, near Esplanade. They walk the stalls. Keira finds Rory, and he finds Magnolia and takes her.”
“He ain’t getting out of there with her,” Jules says, incredulous. “How the fuck does he really think he’s getting away with her? Not a chance. We can do this.”
Mount doesn’t even bother to look at him as he speaks. “He has a plan. We need a better one.”
Forty
Magnolia
“You know what to do? You got this?” Moses clasps my face between his hands as I stare into those brilliant green-gold eyes.
“I know what to do. I’ve got it,” I repeat back to him.
“And you know you’re coming back to me, and we’re gonna live an amazing fucking life after this asshole is dead, right?”
I nod because he needs to see me agree, but I’m not sure I believe him. If anything goes sideways, it’s my life for Rory’s.
I finally understand what the Hanged Man meant when Celeste drew the card for me.
The ultimate sacrifice.
I’ve been selfish my whole life. I’ve struggled and fought and tried to get what I thought I was owed. I’ve lied. Cheated. Stole. Betrayed people I loved, and committed more sins than I can possibly remember.
And it all comes down to this.
I have a chance at redemption, and if my life is demanded to save Rory, I’ll give it up gladly.
There’s no doubt in my mind, and not a drop of hate in my heart. This is the path my decisions have led me to, and I won’t let that baby suffer for a single moment longer if I can prevent it, no matter the cost to myself.
A calmness settles deep within me.
But I can’t tell Moses because he’ll never let me go. He’ll find another way. I believe in him, but I also believe we don’t have time to waste, and I refuse to be the reason Rory is missing a finger or an ear or something worse.
That child deserves a beautiful life.
And if I get through this, maybe I’ll get to have one too. Maybe I’ll even truly deserve it.
Moses studies my face, his eyes glowing with emotion. “Tell me you understand, mama. Tell me you trust me. I need to hear the words.”
“I understand. I trust you. And ...” I suck in a ragged breath. “And I fucking love you so much. You’ve always been it for me, Moses. From the beginning. I knew it then, but I was too scared. I was weak. A coward. And if this is all the time we get—”
