Chapter 76 Astrid
ASTRID
Glee dances in her eyes as she sways on her feet.
I might stand a chance of getting that gun away from her if I can free myself from the ropes.
The tie on my left arm is loose, so I start trying to unravel it.
Gwen is certifiably crazy and high, and I’m probably better waiting for Callan to show up, but I can’t do nothing.
Not when his daughter’s life is on the line.
I’ll do whatever it takes to keep us alive until he arrives.
“I saw him first, and he was always meant to be mine!” Mania replaces the delight on her face.
She is legit insane. “I deserved him, not you! You got everything handed to you on a silver platter while I grew up with no parents, no money and a cripple for a grandmother.” She’s not disguising her hatred of me now.
It literally oozes from her pores and shines clearly on her face.
“Why the fuck did you have it so easy when life was such a struggle for me? And everyone thought you were so nice. So pretty. So kind.” She spits the words out like they’re poison.
“Loaning the charity case your clothes and makeup. Looking down your nose at me.”
“I never did, Gwen. I helped you because you were my friend. Is that why you did it?”
“You had everything else. You weren’t taking him too.
” She presses the gun into my chest. “The plan was always to steal him from you, and I thought of a way to ensure you two were over for good. It was worth the hell of being pregnant, but after you’re dead, she won’t serve a purpose any longer.
” She swings the gun around, pressing it to the top of Darcy’s head, and my lungs constrict as fear washes over me.
Hurry, Callan. Please fucking hurry.
Darcy cries out, and the smell of ammonia fills the air as I work hard to increase the slack between my wrist and the rope, moving my wrist back and forth while trying not to move the rest of my body and give myself away.
“What the fuck?” Gwen stumbles back, staring at the trickle of urine seeping from under Darcy’s leggings. “The little bitch pissed herself.” She cackles, and rage thunders through me, but I lock it away because unleashing it could get us both killed.
I look at Darcy, and the need to protect her is riding me hard. Even if I don’t make it out of this, she has to. When she looks at me, her forlorn eyes wide with fear, I would do anything to keep her safe. A surge of love swells inside me, infusing me with determination.
Darcy is going to survive. I’ll take a bullet for her if I have to.
I try to reassure her with my eyes before I look away and focus all my energies on taking Gwen down with my words.
“He’s never gotten over you,” I lie, instantly reclaiming her attention. “I thought if I came back now, after all these years, he’d want me again, but he still wants you.”
“Of course he does,” she purrs, puffing out her much smaller chest. “Once you’ve had me, no other woman ever compares.”
Delusional whore.
“I don’t know how you did it, but he never stops talking about you. Did you know his home is like a shrine to you?”
“It is?” Delighted surprise lights up her eyes.
“She’s playing you, baby girl.”
“No, she isn’t!” Gwen roars, waving the gun in her father’s direction. “I’m the one who played her! I outsmarted all of them! I’m the queen, and Callan loves me. Not her or the mini-me. Me. Only me.”
I almost have enough room to slip my hand free. I just need another little bit of slack. The skin on my wrist stings from the chafing of the rope as I work to untie myself, but I barely feel it, adrenaline and the will to survive masking any pain.
“Don’t make me regret getting you out of jail, angel. You’re starting to sound as unhinged as your sister, and you know how she ended up.”
“You take that back.” She glares at him, poking him in the stomach. “Saffron Roberts was a junkie whore loser, and I am nothing like her!” She brandishes the gun again, but her dad doesn’t seem to care, taking out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one up.
Where have I heard that name before? “You have a sister?” I ask as the rope slackens enough I can free my hand.
I clutch the outer edge so I don’t give the game away and start trying the same with my other wrist. That rope is pulled tighter, but there’s enough give that I can free myself if I keep at it.
“Half-sister,” she hisses. “I never knew her cause the stupid slut got herself killed years ago. I’m way smarter and way prettier. I’m going to be an actress like her, but I’ll be much better.”
Her old man laughs. “Baby girl, I can actually see it. I think you’re a natural.”
I remember how I know that name, but I disguise my surprise.
They even look alike, but I’m not mentioning that because I won’t win any brownie points.
“I think I heard about her. She was from L.A., and you lived there, right? Is that how you reconnected with your father? I’m so happy for you, Gwen. I know you always wanted to find him.”
The prick laughs in between puffing on his cigarette. “It won’t work, what you’re doing.” I hope he gets lung cancer and dies a slow and painful death.
I ignore him and focus on Gwen as the rope starts to loosen on my right wrist. “How long ago did you meet?”
“Daddy approached me three months after I moved to L.A. He’d have come for me earlier, but he had to leave Vermont and return to L.A. after the cops put a warrant out for his arrest.”
Sounds about right.
“I get my smarts from him.” She beams at him before swaying on her feet and grabbing onto him to steady herself.
“Oops.” She giggles. “Daddy staged his own death in L.A., years before I was born, to avoid jail time for a bank robbery. He moved to Vermont and fell madly in love with my mom, but I’ve forgiven him for that, haven’t I, Pops?
” She leans up and kisses him. On. The. Mouth.
He gropes her ass, and I’m going to be sick.
I whip my head to Darcy, grateful she’s looking at her lap and quietly humming to herself. I work harder to free the second wrist tie, forcing myself to slow down when the motion becomes too obvious.
“He was so proud of me when I told him everything I’ve done,” Gwen continues.
“We set up business together, and we were making lots of money selling drugs and pussy until one of our associates went to the cops—when a deal went wrong—and sold us out. I took the fall so Daddy could go underground, but he came back for me like he promised. Got me released due to a technicality that had my case thrown out and my sentence quashed.”
Why the hell wasn’t Callan notified she was released? I know he was on a list of people who were to be told. Unless Gwen’s father had somehow intercepted that communication or stopped it from being made. He seems money-hungry enough to do it.
“I think that’s enough blabbing, angel. Call Riggs and find out what the fuck is going on. This is taking too long. I want my money. I have a plane to catch.”
“Riggs will call when my man arrives. He’s probably been held up at the bank.”
“Riggs know you plan to ride off into the sunset with this prick?”
“Callan is not a prick! He’s the love of my life, and you won’t speak about him like that!”
“Riggs will probably shoot him in the woods upon sight.”
Icy tendrils of fear tiptoe up my spine at the knowledge they have someone outside.
Fan! I force myself to calm down. There are cameras everywhere on this property.
Callan will know, and I can’t afford to think otherwise.
I need to keep my composure. I almost have my second wrist free, but I don’t see a way to untie the ankle ropes without getting caught.
“Riggs is fucking dead if he harms one hair on my lover’s head!”
“Riggs is fucking dead anyway, right, baby girl? That’s your plan, isn’t it? You’re going to kill him after he’s served his purpose.” He narrows his eyes. “You planning to off me too?” He grips the gun. “Give me that.”
“It’s mine, Daddy.” She wrestles with him, and Darcy screams when the gun goes off. “Now, look what you made me do.” She sighs, like it’s a minor inconvenience, looming over her father as he staggers to the ground, clutching his stomach. Blood oozes through his shirt and leaks over his fingers.
Darcy is crying and screaming, and fuck it, I need to make a move now. I let the ropes fall to the ground and begin untying the ankle ties while Gwen is preoccupied with her dying father.
“Oh well, guess we get to keep the ransom money now.” I scramble to remove the last rope as she lifts the gun and points it at her father’s head. “I don’t think that’s salvageable. Bye, Daddy. Say hi to Mom.”
She pulls the trigger, and I launch up from my chair the same moment Callan emerges from the row on the right, and Riley emerges from the row on the left of Gwen.
Both have guns pointing in her direction, but I don’t feel any relief because Gwen is unpredictable and crazy enough to shoot Callan out of spite.
“Help Darcy,” Callan says.
“Be careful.” I drop to my knees in front of the trembling little girl.
“Baby.” Gwen turns to Callan with an arrogant smile. “I knew you’d come to me.”
I ignore what’s happening behind me, trusting Callan and Riley to handle Gwen, because Darcy needs me.
I don’t take the pods out of her ears. “It’s okay,” I say, giving her a quick hug.
Holding her face in my hands, I say, “Daddy’s here, but just look at me.
Keep your eyes on me. Only me.” She stares at me as I untie her feet with shaking hands while listening to the events unfolding behind me.
“Put the gun down, Gwen,” Callan says in a calm tone that must belie how he’s feeling.
“I need it to kill them. They got in the way before, but not this time, baby.”
“Stay back,” Riley shouts, and I stiffen as I race to untie Darcy’s wrists.
“I mean it, Gwen,” Callan says. “Put the gun down, or I’ll shoot.”
“You won’t shoot me. You love me.”
I throw myself at Darcy as a gunshot rings out, covering her body with mine and sheltering her ears. “Callan!” I call out as fear races through me.
“I’m okay. It’s over.”
The final rope falls away, and I lift Darcy into my arms, pushing her head into my neck as she clings to me and cries. Her legs wrap around my waist as I stand and turn around.
“Don’t look.” Callan wraps his arms around both of us as police sirens shrill in the distance. He steers us away, but not before I see Gwen lying flat on her back on the ground with a large hole in her forehead.
A sob tears unbidden from my mouth as we clutch Darcy between us. Callan hugs and kisses us. “It’s over, baby. It’s finally over. She can’t hurt us anymore.”