Chapter 12
HARRISON
The day after I pulled Maddox Hathaway out of the ravine and saved his life, someone knocks on the door of our mobile home.
I open it to see the face of a man I’ve seen plastered on billboards and TV commercials. He’s the guy running for mayor. Henry Something.
I widen my eyes. “Yes?”
He offers me a toothy grin—the kind as fake as the Easter Bunny. “Little boy, is your mommy or daddy home?”
“Um, my mom is.” I call toward the kitchen. “Ma!”
She lumbers toward the front door. Ma is a big woman, and the entire mobile home shakes every time she takes a step. She drops her jaw as she recognizes the man at our door. “Mr. Hathaway!”
He bows his head. “Ma’am.”
“What brings you to our humble home?” Ma looks back into the house. Dirty dishes and socks litter the floor. “I apologize for the mess. I would have tidied up if I knew the man who is running for mayor was going to visit us today.”
“No problem at all, ma’am.” He looks down at me. “Is this little Harry?”
“It is.” Ma clasps my shoulders. “But how do you know his name?”
“This young man saved my son’s life yesterday. He got separated from our driver. Wandered into an area not too far from here. A little ravine. He apparently slipped and fell in, and your son pulled him out and saved his life.”
Ma looks at me in shock. “You did?”
I nod. “I guess so. He fell in. I’ve fallen in lots of times. I knew how to get him out safely.”
“You’ve fallen into that ravine lots of times?” Ma asks. She grins sheepishly at Mr. Hathaway. “I guess I don’t know enough about my own son, sir.”
Mr. Hathaway grins. “I empathize. Raising kids is the hardest job anybody can ever have, isn’t it? Doesn’t matter what part of town you come from, it’s always a challenge.”
I hold back a scoff. Maddox probably grew up with a bunch of nannies. He mentioned yesterday that his parents don’t pay him any attention. But it would be rude to bring that up in front of his dad right now. Especially now that I know his dad is one of the most famous people in Chicago.
Ma grabs me into a hug. “My brave little leprechaun! Wait until I tell your father. He’s going to be so proud of you, Harry!”
“Who is it, Ma?” a voice from behind me grunts.
It’s my older brother Harold. He and I are the only two of my brothers home right now.
Ma beams at Harold. “Your little brother saved the son of Henry Hathaway!”
Harold raises an eyebrow. “Huh. Good for him.”
“If I may,” Mr. Hathaway interjects, “I’d love to invite Harry over for a playdate. I think it would be good for Maddox to socialize with someone who lives in a…different part of town.”
“Of course, Mr. Mayor.” Ma blushes. “Or rather, Mr. Soon-to-Be Mayor. You certainly would have my vote if we lived in Chicago proper.” She glances toward the kitchen. “Can I get you a drink or something? It’s a long drive from downtown Chicago. You must be parched.”
Mr. Hathaway gazes inside the house, his nose wrinkling. “That’s very kind of you to offer, but I have some Perrier in the town car. Perhaps you could bring Harry to our Chicago residence after school tomorrow?” He hands her a card. “Here’s the address.”
“Of course. Harry will be there with bells on. Anything’s better than that damned creek!”
“Wonderful. Thank you, ma’am. You and your husband are welcome to come as well. I can have our housekeeper prepare some light hors d’oeuvres. Perhaps we’ll open a bottle of Champagne to celebrate your son’s bravery.”
“That would be lovely, sir. Thank you!”
“Thank you, Mrs. O’Rourke.” Mr. Hathaway turns around and steps into a limo—yeah, a freaking limo—parked outside our home.
Ma claps her hands to her cheeks. “Harry! My sweet little boy. So brave! So wonderful!” She peppers kisses all over my cheeks.
“We’re going to have to buy you some new clothes.
If you’re going to be friends with a Hathaway, you’ll have to dress the part.
” She walks toward her bedroom. “I’m going to call your father, see if we can’t find a few extra bucks in our bank account to buy you a nice tie! ”
“A tie, Ma? For a playdate?”
“Of course, sweetie. I’d rent you a full tuxedo if we could afford it.” She goes into the bedroom where the phone is. We only have one.
Harold and I are still in the living room. He scoffs.
“What?” I ask.
“You realize what that was, don’t you?”
I wrinkle my forehead. “No. What?”
He rolls his eyes. “Do you really think Henry Hathaway gives a flying fuck about you? About Ma and Dad? About any of us?”
I shrug. “I mean, I did save his son’s life.”
“Yeah, and I don’t doubt he’s grateful to you. But he’s a politician, Harry. People like him see everything in terms of the news cycle. And this is a big win for him.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what they call the Hathaways, don’t you? The Kennedys of Chicago?”
“I’ve heard that, yeah.”
“Yeah. And with the Hathaway name comes the stink of elitism. They’re rich beyond belief.
” He flops down on our worn-out couch. “You saw that limo. That’s probably one of half a dozen they’ve got lying around in their garage.
Imagine how people will look at him when they see him letting his son hang out with trailer trash like you. ”
“We’re not trailer trash.”
Harold chuckles. “Doesn’t matter. To them, it’s what we are.
But when people see the photographs of Maddox Hathaway—and I’ll bet you on Ma’s life there’ll be photographers there—slumming it up playing fucking choo-choo trains with a boy from the other side of the tracks, he might just secure the vote of a new demographic. He’s just like us, they’ll think.”
My lip trembles. I thought I found a true friend yesterday. “So it’s all a big political stunt?”
Harold grins. “Aw, buck up, bud. It’s not all bad.
Ma and Dad need money bad. Six kids in a mobile home…
That’s pretty fucking sad. We’re already sleeping three to a bedroom.
If you play your cards right, you might just be able to secure a nice little donation in exchange for your heroism from the Hathaways.
If they’re going to use us, we can use them right the hell back. ”
* * *
I scratch my head. “He hates your guts?”
Bianca nods. “We were friends the first several months I worked at Aces. But then we had this big fight, and we haven’t spoken since.”
“How could you speak with him at all?” Alissa asks. “The waitstaff aren’t allowed to speak.”
“I mean outside of Aces. He’d hang out at my apartment sometimes after the evening was up. We’d watch old movies, hang out. He learned a lot of English that way, so it worked out nicely. And I was in desperate need of friends after coming back from New York.”
“Okay…” I rub my temple. “Well, even if the two of you aren’t exactly on the best of terms, I’m sure he doesn’t want to be killed and then have his organs ripped out of him. So he might still be interested in our help.”
Bianca bites her lip. “God, he’s going to kill me.”
“I’m sure whatever kind of row you had will be water under the bridge once we explain to him what’s going on,” Alissa adds.
“You don’t understand. The reason we started fighting in the first place was because he suspected Rouge was up to something nefarious.
And I didn’t believe him. I took her side.
” She buries her face in her hands. “And now it’s years later.
Who knows how many countless lives could have been spared if I’d just listened to him then? ”
I wrap my arm around her waist. “Babe, you can’t think that way.
Hindsight is forever twenty-twenty. What matters is that we can help the Jack of Hearts now.
And everyone else at Aces, and at Jade, Second Star, and the rest.” I pace the room again.
“I don’t love that more people I care about are going to have to put their lives on the line to get this done.
Who knows what we’ll run into if we follow Jack back to the Caterpillar Hotel after his last night at Aces?
Hell, this wasn’t even my escapade to begin with.
It was Maddox’s. He was the one who dived down the rabbit hole in the first place with you, Alissa. ”
“He did so at my urging,” Alissa admits. “It wasn’t until he brought me to Aces, saw it through my eyes, that he began to see the cracks in the plaster.”
“Even so…” I rub at the back of my neck. “I don’t even know what I’m trying to say. It just… Sometimes I feel like this isn’t my story.”
Bianca looks up at me with those stormy dark-blue eyes. “It’s all our story. Yours. Mine. Maddox and Alissa’s. And we’re going to finish it.” She gestures to the music box. “Someone clearly wants us to do it.”
“And what if the music box is a trap?” I ask. “It could have been Chet who planted it in my trunk. And we know we can’t trust him.”
“But what we do know is that Jack’s tenure is coming to an end,” Bianca says. “No matter what, he’s next on the docket. There is probably a patron who’s already put down a request for his heart.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, take a deep breath in. “I need… I need to check on Maddox.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Bianca asks.
I shake my head. “I’d love your company, but I need to talk to him in private if he’s conscious.”
“Of course.” Bianca grabs my hand and squeezes it. “I’ll keep Alissa company. Once you get back, we’ll plan our next move.”
“Right.” I kiss her on the lips, give Alissa a nod, and then cross over to Maddox’s room. I check his vitals. They’re all good. Dinah’s been doing a great job nursing them back to health.
I shake his shoulder gently. “Hey…Maddox.”
His eyelids flutter for a moment, and then he raises his head weakly when he sees me. “Harrison O’Rourke, as I live and breathe.”
“It’s thanks to me you’re living and breathing at all. Me, Bianca, and Dinah, that is.”
“And Alissa,” he says. “Even back in that hotel, before I passed out, when I could feel myself starting to slip away…the thought of leaving her alone to fend for herself… It kept me here.” He twists his lips into a small grin. “I love her, man.”
I chuckle. “You knew her for all of two weeks when you walked through the gates of hell with her. I’d hope to God you at least liked her at the time.”
He shakes his head. “I’m serious. She’s the woman I’m going to marry. The woman who’s going to carry my children. I knew it the moment she walked into my shop.”
“How did you know?” I ask. “Because I think I might feel the same way about Bianca.”
He grins. “Dinah told me you were getting along with her. I’m glad it’s working out. She’s gorgeous.” He shifts his gaze. “But she’s a Montrose. You sure she can be trusted?”
“She’s nothing like her sister. But we’re getting off track. How did you know about Alissa?”
He shrugs. “Probably the same way you know about Bianca. I just…knew. There was this sudden clarity the moment I met her. Like every failed relationship up to that point didn’t work out for a reason. Because my heart was waiting for one woman and one woman alone. Her.”
Damn. It’s the same way with Bianca. She’s perfect in every way—even in her imperfections.
I squeeze Maddox’s shoulder. “We’re going to make this right. We’re going to bring Rouge to justice.”
“I know you will.” Maddox coughs a few times. “Because you’re the best fucking guy I know, Harrison.” He swallows. “But watch out for Rouge.”
“Of course. We’re not going to let her—”
Maddox silences me with a wave of his hand. “I’m serious, man. She’s into some fucked-up shit. The things I’ve seen…” His heart machine starts to beat rapidly.
“Hey. Stay calm. It’s all right. Deep breath in.”
He squeezes his eyes shut, inhaling slowly through his nose and then exhaling through his mouth. The heart machine slows down.
“I’m not going to let Rouge hurt me. Or Bianca. Or you and Alissa. Or anyone fucking else. You have my word.”
He nods. “I know… But you should know the kind of woman you’re dealing with.” He takes another deep breath in. “There was this time… She invited me into her office. I thought it was for a little fun. I had the hots for her when I first started coming to Aces.”
I exhale sharply. Rouge is gorgeous, so I get it. But I’ve always seen her as attractive in an untouchable way. Like a majestic lioness who won’t hesitate to rip your throat out with her teeth.
“What happened?”
“We did fuck. At least, as far as I remember. She made me take these magic mushrooms before we did it. I was tripping the fuck out. And after we—you know—did the deed, she gave me a goblet to drink from. And inside it was…blood.”
I drop my jaw. “What the fuck?”
“Yeah. She offered it to me as if it were some kind of ritual.”
Maddox doesn’t know about the hearts we found. Only Alissa does.
I don’t want to tell him about them now. He’ll just get worked up again, and he needs more recovery time than Alissa.
But I imagine the goblet of blood she offered to Maddox is related to the hearts. Maybe Rouge drains the blood of her victims…and then consumes it.
What kind of Vlad-the-Impaler-ass banshee is she?
“We know what we’re dealing with,” I tell Maddox. “We’re going to be careful. And then the four of us will live happily ever after. You can take that to the fucking bank.”
“Thanks, Harrison. I had no idea how lucky I was that day I met you. When I fell into the ravine.” He chuckles. “I bet you’re wishing you’d have just let me drown right about now.”
“Not in the slightest.” I punch his shoulder. “And hey, I saved your life that day. It can’t be that hard to do it again.”