Chapter 17
Beau remembered the apartment at Hollow Oak with its rust-worn balcony and the railing that sagged in the middle. Then, there were the faded stucco walls. The place was tucked behind a forgotten strip shopping mall and a shuttered laundromat.
A flickering neon sign now read “Low O” instead of “Hollow Oak.” Graffiti covered the community laundry room, which had only one working dryer. He remembered the regular police visits to various apartments and the fact that charges never seemed to stick.
Inside the apartment, there’d been peeling wallpaper in the kitchen and water stains on the once-white ceiling. The place had been a shitbox.
“Which one was yours?” Ivy asked.
“Unit 3C,” he said, pulling into the parking lot. He parked behind a dumpster to hide the truck as best as he could, given its size. In these moments, he wished he drove one of those two-door sedans. Sure would make tucking it away and hiding in a parking spot a helluva lot easier.
Then again, he hadn’t anticipated being in this situation or needing to hide in an urban environment. There’d been too much of that going on at the ranch.
“What’s more comfortable for you? Staying here or going with me?” he asked.
“I’m going with you,” Ivy said, no room for doubt in her tone. She couldn’t unbuckle fast enough.
“I’ll get the door for you,” he said, exiting on the driver’s side before circling the front of the truck. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement coming toward them. Someone was hunkered down, moving in between vehicles.
When he reached the passenger side, he realized who it was. “My mom is coming toward us.”
Ivy’s gaze shifted to follow his. “Maybe we should stay put and give her time to get here.”
“That’s probably a good idea.”
“Is there anyone else?” she asked, casting her gaze to the floorboard like she couldn’t stand to be disappointed.
“I don’t see anyone…hold on…maybe.” He did see a male figure who was also hunkered down. He was moving not ten feet behind Beau’s mother. The question was whether or not this was Ivy’s father coming toward them.
He craned his neck to get a closer look at his mom, to see if he could read her expression from this distance. The midday sun blinded him through windshields, causing him to squint. She would need to duck much lower for him to be able to read her expression.
Instinctively, he reached for the toolbox on the floorboard behind the passenger seat. He palmed a wrench and gave over a hammer to Ivy. Then, he turned to place his body between her and any danger coming their way.
“It’s okay,” his mother said when she got a good look at what he was holding.
He started toward her.
She waved her hands wildly. “No. Go back.”
“It’s my dad,” Ivy confirmed when the pair came into view across the parking lot.
A thunderous crack erupted, slicing the air in two. The single shot pierced the atmosphere with surgical precision.
Shock and then fear crossed over his mother’s features as blood squirted from her right wrist.
Beau ran toward her, knocking her onto the pavement before shielding her with his own body.
Ivy’s father instinctively hit the ground.
They weren’t more than twenty feet from the truck.
Ivy must’ve immediately hopped into action, jumping into the driver’s seat, because the next thing he knew, the vehicle was roaring up between the trio and the bullet’s origin.
She sank low in the seat, making herself a more difficult target. Good move.
He helped his mother inside first, keeping her head low and out of range. The next shot would have to go through the truck body to hit her.
Once they were all inside, Ivy floored the gas pedal.
Questions flooded Beau. They would have to wait until they got to safety.
“Where’s the nearest police substation?” Ivy asked. “I’m not familiar with this part of town.”
Beau reached for his cell, then quickly realized his mother was in a state of shock while losing too much blood. He handed the phone over to Ivy’s father.
“I’m Jack, by the way,” the man said, taking the offering. “I already know who you are.”
Beau ripped off his undershirt and used it to put pressure on his mother’s wrist injury.
“This is it,” she said. “It’s all over.”
Ivy cut a hard right, catching them off guard.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m just trying to lose the tail we picked up.”
“You’re not going to die from this injury, Mother,” Beau said. “It’s just blood, and I can fix it up until we can get you to the ER.”
Her face twisted. Pain and regret crossed her features. “I’m not talking about this.”
“Then what?”
“Jack and I did something bad, and it’s coming back on us,” she said.
“You’re going to have to start talking if you want my help.” Beau didn’t like the sound of this one bit.
“We used Beaumont’s name to blackmail someone into giving us money,” she said. She ought to be embarrassed, but there was no hint of it in her eyes.
“What?”
“This was before he died, and I figured he owed me something after all these years,” she said. “I might as well come clean about something else before I lose my nerve. Your ‘new’ family will find it out sooner or later as they dig into the books.”
Beau exhaled a slow breath and steadied himself for what fresh hell might come out of his mother’s mouth next.
“I blackmailed Beaumont at first.”
“Why blackmail? Why not ask for the money he owed us? You could’ve sued for child support.”
She was already shaking her head before he finished his sentence. “He had that fancy lawyer. Threatened to take you away from me if I ever set foot on his ranch or tried to nail him for child support.”
That sounded about right. Beaumont Sturgess, by all accounts, had been an asshole.
“We didn’t have much.” She flashed eyes at him.
“As you well know, we were light on cash.” That was an understatement.
“After he threatened me, I didn’t push the issue.
Then, I saw his face on Texas Monthly magazine.
It was like my nose was being rubbed in his success while we’d struggled all those years to make ends meet.
” She shot him another look. “You know what my financial situation looks like.” Her face puckered.
“I deserve money, Beau. That man shouldn’t have gotten away with how he did us. ”
“What does this have to do with my father?” Ivy asked, cutting another last-minute turn while keeping her eyes glued to the stretch of road in front of her.
“When we were dating, Jack got himself into a little trouble at the track,” Emma said.
“And that’s when I started thinking about what I had on Beaumont.
He and Talon McGregor fix races to inflate stud fees for Beaumont.
They did it for years, and I had the proof.
” She made a show of exhaling. Being dramatic had been one of her favorite manipulation tactics.
It didn’t work on him as a grown man, even though he still loved his mother.
“Talon McGregor is big-time rich,” Beau said.
Emma pursed her lips. “He also has a bad betting habit that gets him into trouble.”
“And you decided it would be a good idea to blackmail a man like that?” Beau couldn’t hide the disgust in his voice.
“I’m not proud of it,” Emma said as Jack rattled off directions to the nearest substation.
Going to the law meant his mother would have to deal with the consequences of her actions. Maybe it was time she faced the music and put this whole ordeal behind her.
“Shit,” Ivy said moments before an SUV with blacked-out windows came roaring up from behind.
It slammed into the back bumper.
Shit.
“I really wish I’d let you drive, Beau.” Ivy panicked. She swerved and nicked a parked car. As much as she wanted to stop and drop off her insurance information, she had to run. “Call 911, Dad.”
“Get the law involved, and your dad and I will both go to jail,” Emma said.
“I should do it anyway, Emma,” her father said. “We deserve whatever is coming to us.” He started tapping on the screen.
“No, Dad. Don’t do it. I can’t lose you again.” She hadn’t meant to say those words out loud. They silenced everyone in the truck.
Her father froze. “Whatever you say, sweetheart.”
“Where have you been?” Beau asked his mother.
“We took them on a wild goose chase for the evidence to buy some time to escape,” Emma explained. “But it all blew up when they figured me out. So, I told them about the campsite and said the evidence is buried there.”
“What evidence?” Ivy asked.
“A thumb drive containing digital evidence of money laundering, stolen identities, the whole nine yards,” she explained. “When Jack and I got a chance to escape, we took it. I’d already sent you the text to meet us there because we were going to need your help. Then, I lost my phone.”
“Excuse me, did you just say that you sent your son to a dangerous situation on purpose?” Ivy asked, not bothering to hide her shock and disgust.
“Well, it wasn’t exactly like that—”
“Then, how was it, Mother?” Beau cut in.
Ivy hadn’t been sure how he would take her comment, but he seemed to appreciate the support.
“I was just…well, I needed you, and I figured you’d come prepared…and I—”
“Do you even know how many times you said the word ‘I’ in that sentence, Mother?”
“Well, I’ve done my best raising you all alone,” she defended.
“You did your best, but I raised myself and took care of you half the time.”
Emma let the tears flow. Her shoulders hunched forward dramatically. “I’m sorry I let you down, Beau. You’re right. I should’ve done better.”
“You couldn’t always help it,” he said, his tone softening. “But there were times when you could, and you didn’t, like now. You’re a grown woman and shouldn’t rely on your adult son to get you out of trouble. What you did wasn’t just illegal, it was wrong on many fronts.”
“You’re right,” she said in a pitiful tone.
Ivy couldn’t get into it right now with the woman. She had an SUV clocking her every move. “Change of plans about the police substation. Where do we go next?”
Beau sat up straighter and took the phone from her dad. “I haven’t lived in this area since I was a kid and only come down these streets once in a blue moon. Let me see if I can navigate us out of here.”
“What do we do if we can’t bring in the law?” Ivy asked.
“To be honest, I have no idea.” Beau issued a sharp sigh. “We’ll have to bring them in at some point, considering we already talked to Travis.”
“Right.” In all the stress, she’d forgotten all about talking to the sheriff and the report that had been filed.
“I’m guessing Talon has been trying to bring us out in the open ever since you two disappeared,” Beau said, more of that frustration simmering in his tone like water about to boil over.
“Well, I didn’t know that would happen,” Emma said, twisting her fingers together in a knot. Downcast eyes, slumped shoulders—her body language said she was sorry.
Ivy wouldn’t trust the woman as far as she could throw her, but the emotion came across as genuine.
Emma seemed like one of those people others might call a trouble magnet.
She didn’t appear to think too much ahead of her actions or do a good job of evaluating consequences.
Still, she’d raised Beau, and he’d turned out amazing despite all the challenges he’d faced.
The SUV jammed into her, knocking her head so far forward that it hit the steering wheel.
A red light ahead meant trouble. There were too many cars to go around. The sidewalk was too small, or she’d have hopped onto it to make a quick right turn.
With four lanes of traffic, there was no way she could push through all the vehicles. This is where it might end.
However, there would be witnesses. People had camera phones. Someone would record what was about to happen.
The guys she recognized as Clay and Royce jumped out of the SUV and came running toward the truck.
“Follow my lead, okay?” she asked.
Heads nodded except for Beau’s. He was already exiting the passenger side of the vehicle, hands in the air.
What was he about to do?