Beckett
Ryland arrives to pick me up for work.
I dip down to kiss Mia. “Remember your promise to me.”
“I know. I’ll stay here and work on my tan, promise.”
Licking my lips, I grin at her. “I’ll make sure to check your tan lines out tonight.”
She laughs and presses her warm lips against mine once more.
I remove my lips from hers. “I’ve gotta go.”
“Should we grill out tonight?” Mia asks.
“Sure.” I kiss her on the head and leave.
When I open the door, the thick summer air hits me in the face. I get in Ryland’s truck, and he hands me a cup of coffee.
“Thanks.”
“How’s Mia?” he asks, concerned.
I sigh. “Not great but better than last night. She’s sick over Casey being her father and is struggling. I made her promise to keep the gun in the safe and not to go anywhere without one of us, but that’s only going to work for so long. I don’t like her being by herself while I’m working, either.”
He arches his brows. “Understandable.”
I blurt out, “Skates is hiding out in the gulf in one of Casey’s boats.”
Ryland scrunches his face. “How do you know?”
“Mia saw him at the marina yesterday.”
He takes a big breath. “That will be good information to get to Lòpez and Daniels.”
“Sure.”
“Why don’t you sound happy about that?” Ryland looks back at the road.
I sigh. I can’t tell Ryland I believe this is only going to end with Skates and Henry dead, or me, or all three of us, so I tell him a half-truth. “It’s been three years since you started working with them. I don’t have a lot of faith in their abilities or the law that didn’t protect me.”
Ryland shakes his head at me. “Beckett, Henry’s corrupt. That doesn’t make the law corrupt.”
“No, but there are more people involved than just Henry who have the law on their side.”
“And that is why it’s taking time.”
I angrily say, “We are running out of time. Casey and Henry both are aware that Mia knows the truth. How long do you think it’s going to be before they try to harm her?”
Ryland’s jaw clenches. “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”
“Well I need more than a ‘let’s hope.’”
“There isn’t anything we can do besides what we’re doing unless you send Mia away.”
Send her away as Casey did?
“She wouldn’t do that. And that is another thing I can’t—” I stop talking. Ryland parks on the job site. Casey is standing outside his Porsche, leaning against the door.
“What’s he doing here?” I mutter and glare at him.
“Easy there, Beckett. You need to stay calm,” Ryland advises.
Before the vehicle has stopped, I’m jumping out of the truck. “What do you want?” I bark at him.
He puts his hands in the air. “I just want to talk.”
“Why?”
Ryland has parked and is quickly at my side.
Casey looks at Ryland then back at me. “Can we talk privately?”
“Whatever you’re—”
“Go, Ryland. I got this.”
“Beckett—”
I spin on him and point to the house we are working on. “Go.” I don’t need Casey to be aware that Ryland knows what happened that night.
He hesitates but goes into the house.
When he is out of earshot, I quietly say to Casey, “You need to leave Mia alone.”
His face falls. “I would never hurt her.”
I look at him in disgust. “And why would I believe you?”
“I kept her safe all these years.”
“And why was that?”
“She’s my daughter.”
“And Clay was your son,” I fire at him.
He blinks back tears. “Yes, I know.”
Why is he getting emotional as if he cares?
“You made Mia’s grandparents send her away?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“So she could be safe, and she needs to leave. It’s not safe for her here.”
“Because you don’t want anyone around who knows the truth of what you are involved in.”
Shame fills his face and catches me off guard. “I never meant to get involved in that.”
I scoff at him. “Then why are you?”
Casey closes his eyes as if in pain, slightly bobbing his head. When he opens them, he stares at me. “I didn’t have a choice.”
My blood boils. “You didn’t have a choice? We all have a choice.”
“My son—”
“The one that’s alive or dead?” I angrily sputter as all the years of pent-up grief and rage boil within me.
Once again, he looks remorseful. “Alive.”
I glare at him.
“He started selling and running things through my restaurants. I didn’t know it was happening until it was too late, and I either had to comply, or I wouldn’t be standing here.”
What a coward.
“Skates would have killed you?”
He looks at the sky then back at me. “No, the drug lord he worked for at the time.”
“At the time?”
He hesitates but quietly scans my eyes and says, “He took care of him. It’s why the Twisted Hearts have multiplied so quickly.”
Skates killed the drug lord he worked for? Holy shit.
“Mia’s mom and brother are both dead, and you’re as much to blame as them.”
He sighs. “I know. Every day I think about it.”
Does he want me to feel sympathy for him?
“What’s the purpose of this visit?”
He shifts. “Mia needs to leave. She’s all I have left that’s good.”
My pulse shoots up, and I poke him in the chest. “Mia is not yours. She never has been and never will be. Do not ever claim her as yours again.”
He sighs and puts his hands in the air again. “Okay. But you need to get her away from the island.”
“What are they planning?”
“I don’t know. But it isn’t safe. You and I both know that.”
I hate him and everything he stands for, but he is right. Mia isn’t safe here.
“Then you need to find out what they are planning.”
“I can’t. They don’t tell me anything until after the facts.”
“You’re such a coward.”
He glares at me. “Do you think I like having to live like this?”
“Honestly, I don’t know how you live with yourself. You fed Mia’s mom drugs and she overdosed, you—”
“Is that what Mia thinks?” he gasps.
I jerk my head back and furrow my brows at him. “Of course. She knows the truth.”
“That’s not the truth.”
“Then what’s the truth?”
He looks away, closing his eyes.
“You better start talking,” I sneer at him.
He turns back to me with tears in his eyes. “Mia's mom and Skates were the same age. They went to school together and were friends. Skates got her into using and then dealing. I loved her. I tried everything I could to get her off that junk, but she couldn’t stop. I even paid for her to go to rehab several times.”
As I look at Casey Cline, I realize he’s a pathetic waste of space. The man I feared for so many years is nothing but a coward who cares more about his own safety than the people he supposedly loves.
I lean into his face, and his eyes turn to fear. “You’re a sad existence of a man. How many people have died because of what you turn an eye to or enable by helping out your son who is a murderer?”
He doesn’t deny it. “I know I am,” he mumbles.
“Stay away from Mia. Unless you have any information to give me to help protect her, other than telling me to send her away, don’t come near me ever again.” I storm away from him and into the house where Ryland and Hudson are both waiting for me.
“What happened?” Hudson asks.
“Not here.” I nod to the crew that’s working around us, and I go into the kitchen so I can help install the cabinets I started working on the previous day.
The rest of the day, I work in silence as anger and sadness flood my soul. So many lives destroyed when it didn’t have to be that way. And now the one person outside my circle who claims to care about Mia and could find out what Skates is planning for her won’t put himself in any danger to find out.
Around noon, I take out my phone and pull up Mia’s tracker. I see she’s still at the house and send her a text.
“How are the tan lines?”
“Lol. You’ll have to find out tonight.”
Don’t worry, sweet girl, I will.
“Looking forward to it.”
“Everything okay? You’ve never texted me before.”
“Yep. Just thinking of you.”
“Well, I’m always thinking of you.”
“Ditto. I have to get back to work. See you tonight.”
“Okay. Love you.”
“Love you, too, Mia.”
I put my phone away and pick up my measuring tape to mark where the bolts will be placed, and one thing is very clear. I need to get to Skates and Henry before they get to Mia.
For several hours I work in silence. I’m lost in my thoughts when a bolt of lightning cracks through the sky, shaking the house and causing me to jump.
Within seconds, rain is pouring down hard, and the house becomes dark. Lights blink on and off, and the power goes out.
“Shit,” I hear Hudson and Ryland say almost simultaneously.
It’s so dark, work can’t continue. Flashlights from phones are soon lighting up the house.
Thirty minutes pass, and Ryland mutters, “Crap.”
“What’s wrong?”
He holds his phone out to me. “An electrical line went down. Power is going to be out probably until tomorrow.”
The air fills with groans and comments about the heat, no air-conditioning, and obscenities.
“Pack it up. We’re done for the day. Report back tomorrow at seven. We’ll get the generators out of storage,” Hudson yells out.
As best as possible, the crew puts tools and materials away. Within fifteen minutes, everyone minus Hudson and Ryland has left.
“You want to tell us why Casey was here?” Ryland corners me as another bolt of lightning cracks across the sky, shaking the oversized chandelier the crew installed earlier today.
I fill them in on my conversation with him.
“Maybe Mia should go back up north. Just till things calm down,” Hudson suggests.
I jerk my head at him. “She’s not going to go, and I’m not sending her anywhere on her own.”
“Go with her.”
“You know I can’t leave the state.”
He sighs. “Sorry. I forgot about your parole.”
“I’ll get ahold of Lòpez and Daniels today and update them. Let’s see if any of this can help them find Skates and get him locked up,” Ryland says.
I snort. “I won’t hold my breath. Can one of you take me home? Mia’s there by herself in the dark.”
“Yeah, let’s go. Can you lock up?” Hudson asks Ryland as he opens the front door.
“Sure. I’ll let you know when I talk to Lòpez and Daniels.”
“Thanks.” I still don’t have any faith the FBI is going to do anything quick enough for my taste.
The rain is falling in sheets, and thunder rolls. I run to Hudson’s truck and hop in. He starts the engine and wipers, but they can’t keep up with the amount of rain.
“I can’t see. We’re going to have to sit here for a moment,” Hudson says.
I sigh and take out my phone out. I dial Mia, but her phone goes to the generic voice message.
My gut flips. “She isn’t answering.”
“She probably doesn’t have her phone on her,” Hudson says calmly.
I dial again but get no different results. “Something isn’t right.”
“You don’t know that,” Hudson says.
I pull the tracker up, and it blinks that her phone is at the house.
“See. Mia’s there. Stop worrying.” Hudson points to the phone.
As the green light flashes over and over, the pit in my stomach grows. I call again, but there is no answer.
I turn to Hudson. “You need to get me home. Something is wrong.”
“Beckett, you need to calm down. I can’t see to drive.”
“Then get out and let me drive,” I yell at him.
“Calm down!”
I jump out of the car and open up the door to Ryland’s truck.
“Beckett!” Ryland and Hudson both call out.
“Give me your keys!”
“Beckett! Get back in, and we’ll go,” Hudson yells through the rain.
I slide back in the truck and slam the door. “Go.”
Hudson grumbles something incoherent but starts to back out. The roads are already flooded, a common problem on the island when it rains, and Hudson is moving slow.
“Can you go any faster?”
“Jesus, Beckett! Do you want to get there alive or dead?”
I don’t say anything. My heart is racing, and I feel panicky. I keep trying to call Mia, but she doesn’t answer. “Pick up,” I yell out.
“You need to calm down,” Hudson says again.
It seems to take forever to get home, and before Hudson parks, I’m jumping out of the truck.
I don’t need to enter the house to know that they have her...the door is hanging wide open, and Mia’s phone is lying in the dirt.