Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
“Are you saying Ruby’s in danger?” Chase asked. “From Nora?”
“It’s possible. I thought she was my friend, and I nearly died as a result.”
Chase looked down at his phone. It was still on the floor. “I need to call her.”
“Not yet. Not until we agree on what’s going to happen.”
“You haven’t even said what you really want.”
Haley looked over at Chase and held out a cookie. Chase took a step toward her, and Tag shook his head.
Chase’s pulse drummed at his neck.
“I want to know where Nora is,” Tag said.
“Then what?”
“I’ll stop her from hurting anyone else.”
Stop her? What did that mean?
“Did Nora kill Mickey?” Chase asked.
“As good as. She’s done plenty.”
Chase nodded at his phone. “I’ll call this in to West Oaks PD. I’ll tell them where Nora is, and they’ll handle it.”
Tag smirked. “The department that arrested Ruby? No, thanks. You’re the only one who got near the truth, and you’re already standing here in front of me.”
Haley threw a half-eaten cookie on the floor. Her face crumpled, and she whined again. “All done. Mama. Chay-Chay.” She tried to climb out of the high chair, but the strap held her in place. He couldn’t believe she wasn’t screaming already.
“Just tell me where Nora is,” Tag said, “and I’ll go.”
Chase’s entire body vibrated with tension. “Tell me exactly what Nora did, and I’ll consider it.”
Tag crossed his legs, leaning back in his chair. “She slept with Mickey while he was still with Ruby. Which was bad enough. But what Nora did to me was worse.”
“And what was that?”
Tag pulled up the sleeve of his shirt. He pointed at the long scar on his forearm. “I had a compound fracture from that fight with Conrad Decker. Bone sticking out of my skin. Before that night, I was undefeated. Did Ruby tell you that?”
“No.” Chase was having trouble following the threads of Tag’s story. He couldn’t understand how that fight related to Nora or Mickey. But in Tag’s mind, it clearly did. And it was upsetting him. Distracting him.
Chase continued to listen, but his eyes darted around the room. Searching for something he could use. Some kind of plan to grab Haley and run.
“People look at me now, and they see what’s left of me. I hear what they say when they forget I’m around. That I’m broken. I’ll never be the same.” Tag yanked down his sleeve. “Do you know how Decker beat me so badly?”
Chase’s eyes kept moving. Searching. Be ready. “How?”
“Adrian Peele had told me I was supposed to throw the fight. I had to lose to Decker. Like I had no say. Like I was his puppet. I refused.” Tag laughed bitterly. “I didn’t realize Peele was going to make sure I lost.”
Haley put her head on the tray, whimpering again. She had to be exhausted.
“What happened?”
“Peele had me drugged. Spiked some kind of shit into my Gatorade right before the fight. Peele had told Decker to punish me, to set an example for all the other fighters. Decker made sure I would never fight again. I almost didn’t walk again.”
“That’s terrible.” But Chase couldn’t say he was surprised. Tag had been foolish to ever trust someone like Peele.
“I spent months in the hospital. Months more in physical therapy. I almost lost Bailor Fitness, but my friends banded together to help make ends meet. You know who was right there, front and center? Cheering me on, fundraising, bringing me fucking meals? Mickey Waverley. My best friend.”
Tag’s expression hardened with rage.
“I had no idea that my supposed best friend had sold me out.”
Haley let out a piercing wail. Chase tightened his muscles.
Tag took another cookie from the package and set it on Haley’s tray, but she threw it down. “No.”
“Mickey knew what Peele and Decker had been planning,” the man continued.
“Since I’d been undefeated, the odds favored me to win, and Peele wanted as big a pay-out as possible.
Peele told Mickey to bet I’d lose. And he did.
Mickey was already rich, but he couldn’t resist raking in a bit more off his best friend. ”
Chase took a small step forward. Tag didn’t notice. “Are you sure he knew Peele would drug you?”
“Had to. Because I’d told Mickey that Peele had asked me to throw the fight, and that I’d refused.”
“What did you do?” Chase was pretty sure he knew, but he wanted to keep Tag distracted. He took another small step. Haley screamed and reached out.
“For over a year, I had no idea. Until one day that the gym was closed for the evening. I’d forgotten something and went back in.
The gym floor was dark, but I heard voices.
Nora was saying she felt guilty about what they’d done to me.
She thought Mickey should tell me the truth, fess up to how he’d bet on me to lose, which of course he refused to do.
Because he never cared about anyone but himself.
Not really. But Nora stayed silent, too.
I could tell from her conversation with Mickey that she’d known the whole plan before my fight.
She could’ve warned me. And she didn’t.”
Haley cried and struggled in the high chair. Tag kept talking like he didn’t even hear her. Haley’s terror was like a knife raking Chase’s skin.
“I called in sick for the next week. Asked Nora to cover for me, and she was so concerned. So worried about my wellbeing. Even brought me soup. That week, I almost gave up. But that would mean letting Mickey and Nora skate for what they’d done.
So I started to plan instead. Preparing. Watching for exactly the right moment.”
Chase shifted his weight forward. Took another step. Hold on, princess, he thought. I’m coming. “The day Mickey planned to meet Ruby in West Oaks?”
“Here’s how treacherous Nora is. She betrayed Mickey, too.
Told Decker that Mickey was planning to leave the circuit.
Told him where and when Mickey would be alone and least likely to expect the attack.
But by then, I was already watching everything she did at work.
I knew her phone code, her email. I could’ve warned Mickey.
But I came up with something better instead. ”
“You followed Decker to West Oaks?”
“I waited nearby, watching the building’s exits.
Decker arrived, went in, came out. He’d parked several blocks away, so I waited until he was gone and went up.
There were people going in and out, moving furniture, but I made sure they didn’t notice me.
I found Mickey in his new apartment, nursing a bloody nose.
Decker had threatened him not to leave the circuit, just like Nora had wanted.
He didn’t understand why I was suddenly there in West Oaks, but he was so glad to see me. ”
Tag smiled, eyes glassy as he remembered. Haley kept screaming.
“You were there when Ruby arrived,” Chase said.
“The whole thing took longer than I’d expected. I’d meant to be gone by the time she was there.”
“You wanted her to find Mickey’s body? To get blamed by the police?”
“No, I never would’ve wanted that. The whole point was to blame Decker. I was going to plant the knife in his possession and call in a tip. But when Ruby showed up when she did, my whole plan got a little fucked up and delayed. I just had to get out and lie low for a while.”
Chase couldn’t understand how Tag had gotten out of the apartment building so quickly. The police had arrived within minutes after the 911 call. But maybe that didn’t matter. He’d managed it. And he’d nearly destroyed Ruby’s life.
“When Ruby got arrested?” Tag went on. “I wanted to help her. She was a victim in everything that happened, just like I—”
Chase’s cell rang. It was like the spell over Tag had broken. He looked over at it.
Chase lunged.
He shoved Tag. The man toppled backward, his chair hitting the tile with a huge smack.
Chase grabbed hold of Haley. He yanked the harness free of the high chair lining. Ran for the door.
A fist hit his side, and Chase collided with the living room wall, shielding Haley with his arm. He swung his elbow and pivoted his body. The elbow connected hard with Tag’s face, making the other man stumble back.
Tag was holding a knife. Shit. He must’ve pulled it from the block in the kitchen.
Chase grabbed for the door. Pulled it open. Dashed into the hall. He held Haley tight against his chest.
He was almost to the stairwell. But footsteps thudded behind him. Going fast.
The man was running.
What the hell?
Chase pushed himself to speed up. Doors in the hallway opened, curious neighbors peering out. “Call 911!” Chase shouted.
The doors slammed closed.
Chase reached the stairwell. He threw open the heavy fire door, and it collided with Tag. The man bellowed.
Chase practically leaped down the first steps to the landing. Turned. Careened down the next set of stairs.
Tag was still behind them. And his limp had vanished.
Chase would have stopped to hold his ground and fight. But he had Haley with him. Maybe he could take down Tag one-handed—maybe, depending on how strong the guy actually was—but Chase couldn’t risk Haley getting caught in the middle.
So he kept running, feet pounding down the steps. He reached the second floor. Haley’s screams echoed against the concrete walls.
Tag was a few yards back.
Chase saw the exit to the street at the bottom of the stairs.
He sprinted toward it.