Page 76 of Ache
“Gotta have some respect for the evil mastermind. That is sort of genius.” Alec crosses his arms, impressed.
“All those months I worked undercover. I knew about the drugs and the guns, but never this. No one had any idea Gunner was running diamonds, too.”
“My mom did.” I’m so disappointed. So disappointed in the woman who birthed me. Who was supposed to protect me. Raise me.Love me.
“She definitely knew something.” Tage is totally spellbound by the glinty little stones.
“Seven, eight, nine, ten,” Alec counts all the Hello Kitty dolls. “Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. Fifteen dolls all stuffed with diamonds. There has to be close to ten-million dollars here, easy.”
“Ten-million reasons for my mom to come after me.” And there it is. What she wanted the whole time. A new pipeline for her fix.
Tage pulls his phone out of his back pocket as we congregate around the table.
“Andrews.” He turns his back to us. “What? . . . When? . . .How? . . . That is a maximum-security prison.”
My eyes fly to the back of his head.
“What’s your ETA? . . . Okay . . . Okay.” Click. Tage spins. “We need to go. Now.” He morphs into super-spy mode.
“What happened?” I ask, alarmed, as Tage puts all the contents back in the box, closes it up, and slides it back into the wall in record time.
“Very bad shit.” He grabs my arm. Hard —ouch— and yanks me out of the bank.
“What kind of very bad shit?” Alec presses, hot on our heels.
Tage doesn’t respond. He’s too busy using my finger like a hot poker to hit the elevator button, crazier than a madman.
When the elevator doors finally open, we are met by the barrel of a gun and three very unwelcome faces.
“That kind of bad shit.” Tage curses.
I almost can’t believe what I’m seeing. A tattooed goon, my mother,and Gunner, all together, all playing nice.What the fuck is happening here?
“Hi, sweetheart.” My mom steps out of the elevator first. I barely recognize her. She actually looks good. Fresh-faced, nice clothes, neat hair. I’m at a loss for words for the woman standing before me. The woman I share no traits with except DNA.
Gunner and the goon with the gun follow her.
“In,” Gunner orders.
Oh, fuck.
Tage never lets go of my arm as we’re marched back into the bank. When the glass door clicks closed, my throat constricts.This is so bad. So. Fucking. Bad.
“You were a total let-down,” my mother disses Alec.
“Why? ‘Cause I didn’t crumble to pieces when you threatened me?”
“Yes. I totally read you wrong. I never thought my daughter would be more important to you than your career.”
“You’ve never been the best judge of character,” I mouth off. “Case in point,” I refer to Gunner and his goon.
“I missed you, too, sweetheart,” she sneers.
“I didn’t miss you. At all. And I have never been your sweetheart.”
“I never coddled you. You always resented me.” The brown-haired bitch is right, I have always resented her. But not because she didn’t coddle me. Because she never wanted me.
“Total bullshit. You never cared. That’s what I resented.”
