22. Quiet Resignation
22
QUIET RESIGNATION
My eyes snap open at the first rustle. The second confirms what my racing heart already knows.
They’re here.
“Make a sound and we end you,” Adrian hisses through the railing.
Tyler jumps onto the porch, flashing a glint of metal in the moonlight.
“She left you to rot outside? That’s cold,” Tyler whispers with a chuckle.
Adrian unlocks one of the cuffs with what must be another set of keys, then reaches through the railing to reapply it to my wrist.
“Get up,” he commands.
Tyler motions with the gun, and I force my aching legs to stand. It’s probably been three or four hours since I finally convinced Julia to close the door and go to bed. She must have fallen asleep because I doubt she’d let her relatives kidnap me without a fight if she was awake.
This is exactly what I feared and why I did everything I could to make sure she wasn’t.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask like a good victim as Adrian grips my arm and shoves me forward.
“You talk a lot for a dead man. Anyone ever tell you that?” he quips.
Tyler snickers behind us, and I clench my jaw.
I know the answer anyway. I was only asking for their benefit.
We walk through the yard, down the long, sandy path pretending to be a driveway, and onto the main street. A car is parked on the shoulder several yards away.
Tyler nudges me forward with the gun, and I suppress an eye roll. He’s loving this starring role in his own mob drama. Adrian is a little less theatrical as he pulls open the door to the backseat.
“Get in.”
I follow the order, ignoring Tyler’s gloating at my struggle to maneuver into the small vehicle without the use of my hands.
Once I’m inside, they close the door and hop into the front. Tyler immediately twists the gun back to aim it at me again.
His smug expression means he has no idea the safety is still engaged and he’s holding it all wrong for an accurate shot. He clearly trained for this moment by watching TV.
They’re just lucky I have no intention of resisting.
Silence permeates the vehicle as Adrian takes us closer to the main thoroughfare running through Undertow. I’m grateful for the gun’s safety as we rumble over the rough surface. Without it, we’d all be dead by the time we turn onto the road toward Palmetto Acres.
Outside, I’m an unreadable statue. Inside, I’m a riot of mixed emotions. Relief that they’re ending this farce by sending me back to McArthur. Fear for the same reason.
“What did they promise you?” I ask, breaking the long silence.
Adrian’s head turns slightly as he drives. Tyler’s grip tightens on the gun.
“You really think we’d tell you that?”
No. But I want them thinking about it.
It’s hilarious that they think McArthur is going to deliver on whatever promises were made on his behalf. The man is probably just learning about it now. Merrick would have been the one to make this deal, and he would have seen through these idiots the second the call connected.
They’re cashing in their chips for nothing.
Julia was right in her critique of her brother. His hatred of me is clouding his judgment. Tyler never had a drop of judgment to begin with.
“Right. Well, whatever they’re paying you is pennies compared to what they’ll get from stealing La Quinta Muerte business from you.”
“They’re not paying us anything, asshole. We’re not that stupid,” Tyler tells me.
Somehow, I contain my snort.
“Oh, so they got you to bend over by asking super nicely? Did you at least make them buy you a drink first?”
Adrian fires a glare at me, nearly swerving off the road.
This is too easy.
“Fuck you, Shaw, or whatever your name is. We’re getting a huge stake in their operation.”
“Twenty percent!” Tyler boasts. His smug look is the perfect accessory to his impotent pistol.
“Twenty, wow,” I say dryly.
“Twenty is pretty damn good for doing nothing. They take all the risk and do all the work. All we have to do is let them use our access points,” Adrian says.
“Ah.”
I don’t bother pointing out the many holes in their analysis. This deal is bullshit anyway. I already know McArthur is planning on eliminating the Hartfords. Their stake will be zero percent when they’re in the ground.
I shake my head with a smirk as I settle back against the seat.
“You think this is funny?” Tyler snaps, leveling the useless gun at me again.
“ This? No. What’s going to happen to you when Mama H finds out you went behind her back? Absolutely.”
Tyler’s gaze narrows on me. “Well, joke’s on you, then, because she does know. Not only that, Adrian is in charge now.”
My gaze snags on Adrian’s gloating stare in the rearview mirror.
Fear coils in my gut. Tightens my fingers into fists behind my back.
There’s only one reason that would be true.
“In charge of what? This negotiation?” I maintain a bored air, despite the dread mounting in my chest.
“No. Everything .” Adrian’s tone is thick with each terrible truth in that one word. There’s an ominous glee in his eyes when he flickers another moon-soaked glance into the mirror. “Mama H gave me the reins because Julia betrayed us. This bullshit romance with you proves she can’t be trusted to put the family first. Her fate is on you. How does that feel, lover boy?”
Like I’ve been sliced open.
Any remaining snark leaves my lungs as reality crashes in. Julia didn’t know she’d been ousted when she went to bed. They could be punishing her for her betrayal as we speak.
I don’t even have a glare left in me as I close my eyes and turn my face toward the window.
I have no idea how to protect her this time. And now I’ll have even less control in McArthur’s custody.
I’m already a dead man. All I wanted was to take the path to my grave alone. It’s unfathomable to think I’ll be accompanied by the two people I care about. My final moments will be spent doing everything I can to prevent that from happening.
“A pleasure doing business with you,” Adrian sneers at Merrick in the private garage below the resort. “We’ll be doing a lot of business now that I’m in charge.”
Merrick lifts a brow as he scans the lesser man. “Is that so? Mama H is stepping down?”
Adrian shifts uncomfortably. “Well, no. I meant, I will be when the time comes. Julia is out. That’s the point.”
“Yeah! Can you believe she fell for this turd?” Tyler adds with a snort.
Merrick releases an impatient sigh and waves them toward their car. “Good to know. We’ll be in touch.”
He shoots me a warning look to stay silent while the Hartfords pile into the vehicle and back out of the space. Not that it’s necessary—the two automatic weapons aimed at me are doing a fine job of that. And these minions know about the existence of gun safeties.
“Take him downstairs,” Merrick directs his men.
They also know shoving a gun in my back to make me walk is purely gratuitous fun, but indulge anyway.
After securing me in the makeshift cell, they leave the room, probably to wait outside the door. It’s several minutes before my theory is proven correct.
“Thanks,” Merrick says to the guards. The other men nod and the door closes again.
Once we’re alone, Merrick scans me for several long seconds.
“The Hartfords did a number on you, I see,” he says.
“Not a very effective number, but yeah.”
“They said you gave up a lot of information.”
“And you believe them?”
“No.”
He pulls a chair from the table by the wall and positions it in front of me. His stoic expression is unreadable as he sits and studies me again.
“Does McArthur know what happened? That I’m here?”
“He said he’ll deal with you in the morning.”
I swallow hard and look away. Now, this is fear.
“Is he going to kill me?”
I force my gaze back to Merrick’s. That strange flash of emotion flickers in his eyes before he clears it.
“Probably, but not yet. He still needs you.”
“To close the loop with the RLC.”
Merrick nods.
“Which is why you agreed to this trade in the first place. Otherwise, you would have let me rot in Hartford custody.”
Merrick shrugs. “You know how this works, Shaw. You’re now a liability instead of an asset.”
I avert my gaze and try to calm my racing pulse. “And the wedding?”
“Is off, obviously. It was all pretense, anyway. You know that.”
“It’s always been about the RLC. Scarlett didn’t know that, though, did she?”
“Doubtful. McArthur needed something to distract her and keep her out of his way. Two birds, one stone, right?”
“Lucky me,” I mumble.
“Shaw… there’s something else.”
I force my gaze back to his.
He clears his throat. “The Dylans are flying in as we speak. McArthur told them plans changed. They’re coming to talk. They’re going to want to see you.”
My heart turns over in my chest. I search Merrick’s eyes. Does he know about my true connection with the RLC?
His expression gives nothing away, so I do everything I can to do the same.
“Not surprising. This is a big negotiation. How long have you known McArthur plans to eliminate the Hartfords and become the link between La Quinta Muerte and the RLC?”
He leans back and crosses his arms. I wish I could do the same, but it’s been a while since I’ve had free movement of my body. With the way things are going, that may never happen again.
“Since we brought you to Undertow,” he says.
Air leaves my lungs.
This entire thing was a setup.
It was always going to end this way no matter what happened.
“So I was a dead man from the moment I arrived on the island.”
“You were a dead man long before that, and you know it.”
Bile swirls in my stomach. It’s not even for what’s coming. This sickness is for pain already lived. Every breath a dead man draws is poison, and I’ve been inhaling toxic air for as long as I can remember.
I rest my gaze on him again. “Can you just do one thing for me?”
“Shaw…”
“Please, Merrick. Just do it on land. Not in the water. Don’t leave me out there to drown.”
His hard expression falters. A muscle moves in his cheek. I hold my breath as I wait.
“If they make me do it by water, I’ll shoot you first. I won’t throw you in alive,” he promises in an even tone.
Relief floods through me. “Thank you.”
He shakes his head and stares hard at something on the floor. More words float across his features, but he seems to suppress them.
Finally, he pushes up from the chair and crosses toward the door. “I’ll go check in with McArthur.”
He reaches for the panel by the door, then stops.
“I’m sorry,” he says, twisting back to me. “I’m sorry, Shaw. For all of this. You deserved better.”
Without another word, he punches in a code and lets himself out.
I stare at the closed door for a long time.
It’s hours before it opens again.