Chapter 34 #3
The wind knocked out of him, Dallas struggles to catch his breath, but my father reaches for his weapon, Grady dives in, and my father knocks his head into the cement railing around the second floor.
Grady falls to the floor, knocked out, and my father reaches for his weapon.
I vault up. He’s going to shoot Dallas. “No!” I shout.
Before I can reach him, Anna-Katherine runs and shoves him with her whole body, and I watch, frozen, as he tumbles over the railing.
“Ah!” he cries, the gun spilling to the floor.
He flails, and then…
He’s gone.
Oh, my God.
We hear the thud as he lands, and I rush to the railing, next to my sister, and gaze down. My father lies in the grass, missing the large rock by inches. His legs are bent to the side, and his eyes are closed. He doesn’t move.
I can’t see any blood yet. It’s fifteen—maybe twenty—feet. He might be alive.
Turning, I run for Dallas, dropping to my knees at his side.
“Are you okay?” I scan his body, feeling his arms before I take in his face. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay,” he pants. “What happened?”
Dipping in, I kiss him, holding him close and just savoring his scent. That cheap bodywash he uses, but it’s fucking growing on me.
Dallas looks over. “Is he…?”
I follow his gaze, seeing Grady on the ground. Blood trickles from his temple, but his chest rises and falls.
I feel for my phone. We need an ambulance.
But when I turn around, Anna-Katherine is gone.
“Anna-Katherine?” I call.
Dallas climbs to his feet, and we rush to the railing, watching her close in on my father.
She has the pocketknife unsheathed in her hand as she approaches him, and I finally detect his chest moving with every breath. He’s still alive.
For a second, I hesitate. She deserves her revenge, and all of us would be a lot better off if he were dead. I want her to confront him and win.
I almost think I can put myself in Dallas’s shoes that day with his mother. How maybe just letting things happen after so long trying to manage them is the answer.
I don’t want to take chances with Anna-Katherine, though.
I don’t want her heart fractured any more than it already is.
When I turn to run to her, though, Dallas is already racing downstairs.
Bolting after them, I glance back again as she steps up to my father’s side and leans down, my heart catching in my throat as she rears the knife back.
I watch Dallas rush up and take her hand, stopping her. “No,” I hear him gasp.
“Yes.” She squirms in his hold, and I stand close by, letting him help her. “I want it over,” she cries.
He wraps an arm gently around her neck, pulling her head in close. “I know,” he whispers down into her ear. “But not like this.”
He pries the blade out of her hand and turns her around, hugging her.
“Thank you for saving me,” he tells her. “We got you from here.”
Coming in, I stroke her hair with one hand and hold the back of his neck with the other.
Our eyes meet, and I just shake my head, almost smiling, I’m so grateful we’re all in one piece.
I have half a mind to scold her for coming here alone, but it’s not her fault.
She should be able to go anywhere she wants and be safe.
Gazing down at my father, I watch the motion of his chest. I know I should call the ambulance, and if it weren’t for Grady needing medical attention upstairs, I’d probably wait a few extra minutes before calling 911.
Reluctantly, I pull out my phone.
—
When I enter the Jaeger house hours later, no one is in bed. Dallas, Iron, and Army surround me immediately; Anna-Katherine is making an ice cream sundae with Macon and Krisjen.
“He’ll survive,” I tell the guys. “Broken leg, ribs, concussion, hurt his back pretty bad…”
My father will be in the hospital for a while, but he’s under arrest. Officer Grady suffered a minor head injury, but he didn’t suffer amnesia. Attacking a police officer, not to mention camera footage of my father pulling a gun on him, was more than enough.
That’ll lessen his corporate value to the shareholders.
Army hands me a thumb drive. “This should do it.”
I hold it between my fingers, not excited to see everything on it, but if it’s the nail in the coffin, great. If not, I might be able to blackmail my father into not fighting his charges so he can go away for a little while. I imagine he’s already lawyered up.
“And, uh,” Dallas whispers, stealing glances behind him into the kitchen. “They found a body in the canal.”
A body?
“Milo Price,” Iron says.
What the hell? Milo’s dead?
The last time I saw him he was running under his own power away from the scene of the crash yesterday. The storm was still going strong.
“Did he drown?” I ask, not actually believing it’s plausible, though.
“Stabbed,” Army points out.
Stabbed.
How could…Who…?
“It wasn’t me,” Dallas tells us.
I look behind me to Anna-Katherine squirting syrup into her mug and then adding whipped cream.
“Are you sure she was with Aracely today?” Dallas asks.
No, but…“You think she just dragged his body out there herself?”
We’ll talk to Aracely and clear it up, but if I know one thing about that woman, she’ll cover for other women. I don’t know if we’re going to get a straight answer from her.
“It was probably some woman’s husband,” I say.
Even if it hasn’t immediately sunk in that a guy I used to be friends with is dead, I don’t expect any remorse to ever hit me. I’ve hated him for a long time, and the world is better without him.
Dallas pulls the pocketknife he took from her tonight out of his pocket and opens it. Flipping it over, he scans it for any sign, but he shakes his head. “It’s clean.”
“Of course it is.” I gaze at my sister smiling as Macon dumps chocolate chips in her cup. “A lot of people hated Milo.”
And we all exchange glances before turning and watching the table where Liv, Clay, and Krisjen sit—all victims of his—and looking over at Macon, who detested him just as much.
“Someone’s husband, then,” Dallas says.
I nod. “Sounds good to me.”
Army gives a half smile, the two of them joining the others at the table, while Dallas leads me up to bed.
We need food, but I’m quickly adapting to Dallas’s needs.
I smile to myself. First things first.