Chapter 43
cade
By the time we get to Mav’s place, it’s nearly four in the morning.
His big stone farmhouse glows with light, the wraparound porch lined with lanterns. We needed somewhere to land after the mess back at Blue Rock, and my living room’s still cordoned off by Hugh’s deputies.
Kaz apparently called Mav, and we were going to stay there until my house was livable again.
I’m grateful for our friends, even that weirdo Kaz who shot Violet in the shoulder through the window.
The man is a good shot; I’ll give him that.
And if he’s an IT nerd, I’ll eat my hat.
I say he’s law enforcement…or a spy, like James Bond. He’s got the temperament for it.
Sarah sits in the truck with Evie still locked around her neck. Bandit’s wedged on the floorboard, his nose pressed to Evie’s knee.
Neither of them has said much since I told them we’d be staying at Kincaid Farms for a few days. Sarah just packed essentials for Evie and herself and got the hell out of the house through the back door so as not to walk through the living room.
When I open the passenger door, Sarah looks at me with red-rimmed eyes but shakes her head before I can say a word. “I love you.”
She raises a hand before I can respond. “Let me…. I thought I wouldn’t be able to tell you before she….” She’s gasping for air, and Evie pulls away and wipes Sarah’s tears.
“Don’t cry, Dr. K.”
“I love you, Evie.”
Evie smiles. “I love you, too, Dr. K.”
She looks at me over Evie’s head. “I forgive you,” she whispers.
I get up on the step of the truck and hug them both. “I love you, too. Forever, Dove. Forever, my Evie girl.”
Mav’s already waiting on the porch, arms folded, jaw carved out of granite.
Joy’s beside him, a throw blanket clutched in her hands like she’s been pacing with it.
They tell me Aria is inside—I catch the faint clatter of dishes.
A truck rolls in, and I see Dodge. His usual smirk is gone. I asked him to come over when Hugh said we’d meet here for a debrief.
“Come on in,” Mav says quietly. “We have food and…beds and….”
Joy wrinkles her nose when she looks at me. “Showers.”
I smile despite the occasion. I am filthy as fuck since I never got a chance to shower before bed. And now I’ve got Violet’s blood all over me, too.
We go into the kitchen. It’s large and has a farm table set for breakfast. Aria is at the stove while Joy starts to fill cups with coffee. It’s the kind of domestic noise that makes the world feel normal again, even if nothing about the past hours can be described as normal.
Sarah sinks into a chair, Evie still clinging to her like a barnacle.
Joy drapes a blanket over both of them and sits down beside Sarah, rubbing slow circles across Evie’s back.
Finally, I get Evie onto a chair by herself—well, with Bandit in her lap. You pick the battles you can win, and if Evie wants to slip Bandit bacon at the dining table after what she’s just been through, then she damn well can.
We eat breakfast: fresh bread with butter, scrambled eggs and sausage, and tons of coffee.
When Evie’s eyes start to droop, Sarah lays her on the couch in the living room where she can see her from the kitchen. I understand her need to keep watch. I feel it too. And I’m deeply warmed by how much she already sees Evie as hers.
Hugh joins us not long after, hat in his hand, face lined deep. He clears his throat, then looks straight at me. “I’m sorry, Cade.”
I look up at him in query.
“Violet shot Landon in the head. He’s dead.”
The world seems to stop turning for a beat.
My brother—the golden boy, the one everyone said would rise higher than the rest of us—is gone. And that, too, by his wife’s hand.
“Christ,” Dodge mutters, dragging a hand down his face.
“She’d already killed him before she came to Blue Rock,” Hugh explains. “We don’t know for sure what happened. But looks like they had a fight, and she…shot him.”
“Hugh, have a seat.” Aria holds his arm and sits him down. He looks exhausted. No surprise there. She brings him a cup of coffee and a plate of breakfast. He thanks her profusely. God knows when the man last ate.
“Where’s Kaz?” I ask.
Hugh takes a long sip of coffee. “He’s talking to the Feds. They have to inform all the victims about Landon’s death and….”
“Now, they’ll never get justice,” Sarah whispers.
I press a kiss to her forehead. “They have Violet; they will get some justice, Dove.”
“And what does Violet have to say about herself?” Joy asks, there’s a bite in her tone; she’s close to Evie and Sarah, so I understand her anger at my sister-in-law.
“She’s not talking.” Hugh takes a bite of scrambled eggs and speaks when he’s done chewing. “Asked for her lawyer. But it won’t matter. We’ve got her on murder one and attempted murder, plus all the other shit she pulled with the victims. She’s finished.”
Mav shakes his head. “I thought the Feds…someone had an eye on these two after the news broke.”
Hugh lathers bread with some butter. “That’s what I thought, but after the Feds interviewed them, they let them go home.
Landon’s campaign manager was there, but they sent him away, saying they wanted to be alone, and then we don’t know what happened.
But Landon got his brains splattered…”—he pauses and looks at me apologetically—“I’m sorry, Cade. That was insensitive of me.”
“So, Landon gets a bullet in his brain,” Sarah interjects, not worried about my sensitivity when it comes to Landon, ‘cause she knows I got none, “and she comes over to kill Cade and me?”
“That’s what it looks like. She’s going to try the insanity defense, but it won’t hold up. She bought a one-way ticket to Dubai after the story broke. She was planning this.” He takes a bite of bread, then washes it down with coffee.
“I don’t know how to process any of this,” Sarah admits, looking around the room at our friends. “This is all so…fucked up.”
Joy’s lips twitch. “You can say that again.”
“It’s gonna get worse,” Hugh warns. “You two need to brace yourselves. Reporters are gonna come flooding in now.”
I groan, as does Sarah.
“You can stay here. Hide out,” Mav offers. “Or stay at a cabin I have. No one goes there.”
“We’ve got lives…and jobs, Mav,” I protest.
“I know, but y’all need a break,” he counters.
He’s right. It’s been an eventful few months, and right now it feels like my ribs might crack under the weight of it. Years of lies, my brother’s sins, and Violet’s madness….
“Thank you, Hugh,” Sarah says with a smile. “You went all the way this time.”
Hugh raises his coffee mug. “Thank you, Dr. Kirk. Took guts, comin’ back, speakin’ up. Don’t think I’m blind to that. We all see it, see your courage.”
“So…what now?” Sarah asks me.
“Now, I need a shower ‘cause I stink, and then Dodge and I need to get to work.”
“You haven’t slept all night,” Sarah murmurs. “But I get it. I have to go to Wilder Ranch. They’re getting some head ready for auction, and they need a checkup.”
“Everyone’s gotta work sunup to sundown around here,” Mav agrees.
“Welcome to ranch country.” Aria raises her cup of coffee, as do we all, in a toast.
“Except me,” Joy announces smugly. “I’m going to go back to bed with Evie. We both need a good cuddle.”
I look around in awe and gratitude. These people—Sarah, Evie, Mav, Joy, Aria, Dodge—they’re mine. They’re here, and they love me and mine.
And I have my Dove.
This...is my family. Not the father who made me complicit in burying the truth of a crime against an innocent. Not my brother, the golden boy who turned out to be rotten to the core.
No—the ones around me now. The ones who stand by me when the storm hits, who call me out when I screw up, who push me to be better, they’re the ones who matter.
And I’m damn proud to be part of them.