Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
CORA
With Elias on my shoulder, I opened the door. “Hey, Daisy.”
Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and for being so late in the day, her makeup was still perfect. I’d need to ask her what her secret was. I could rarely get my foundation to look that good by the end of the day.
A large blue bag that matched her knee-length skirt hung on her forearm. “Hey, thank you so much for letting me invade your home. I am so sorry about all the confusion.” She held up the garment bag with my dress in it.
She’d called roughly twenty minutes ago. Apparently, one of the other shop attendants mixed a few dresses up and thought mine had been cancelled. They’d taken all the pins out from the day I’d tried it on, and now, they needed to be redone.
I waved her off and stepped aside so she could enter. “It’s okay. Things happen. Come on in.”
She brushed down the front of her dress. “I don’t know what those men were looking for, but my goodness, they sure were thorough.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Jason is protective.”
I’d actually had to beg the men to let her in. Jason had left strict orders for no one to enter the house, but with the wedding so close, she had to take my measurements. Since I couldn’t leave… the only other choice was to let her in.
Her lips curved up. “No need to apologize. I’m just so grateful you’re letting me do this so late.” She wiggled her fingers at Elias. “Hey, there, darlin’. Aren’t you the cutest thing? That red hair is something.”
I smoothed a hand over his head and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
She looked around. “So, where do you want to do this?”
“Anywhere is fine.” I walked to Elias’s swing and fastened him into it. “But you said you’d need something for me to stand on, so I figured in here might be good. We can use the coffee table. I can use that powder room to the put the dress on.”
Her lips stretched into an even wider smile. “Perfect.” She held out the garment bag. “Don’t worry about the buttons. I’ll do those once you get out.”
“Okay,” I said and took the garment bag. “I’ll be as quick as I can.” I crossed the room and slipped inside the powder room, hanging the bag on the door. As I unzipped it, the ivory silk caught the light. “It’s still just as beautiful as I remembered.”
“It’s a gorgeous dress,” Daisy called from the living room. “It looked perfect on you. We’re just making sure it’s perfect for your big day.”
The dress slipped over my head like a dream, the fabric cool against my skin. “How long have you been doing alterations?” I asked as I smoothed the skirt.
“About five years now. Started right out of high school.” When I stepped out, Daisy’s face lit up. “Still perfect.”
She moved toward me with practiced efficiency. “Let’s get you buttoned up.” Her fingers worked quickly up my back while we chatted about the wedding, the weather, anything that filled the comfortable silence. Once the last button was secure, she guided me to the center of the living room.
“Arms up,” she instructed, pulling her measuring tape from the blue bag. After she finished with my torso, she gestured to the coffee table. “Up you go.”
I stepped onto the makeshift platform, steadying myself as she knelt to check the hem.
“Has it been hard adjusting to being a mom?” she asked as she began pinning it.
“In some ways yes. In others, no. Mostly, I’m just sad my sister won’t get to see him grow up.”
She looked up at me. “Oh, that’s right. Maya was your sister. She worked at the bakery not far from the shop.”
“Yeah, I found that out when I went in there to taste flavors.” A pang in my chest made me press my hand to my heart. Maya was getting her life back together. It felt so unfair. That’s all I’d ever wanted for her. Happiness and health. “I was glad to know that Maya was happy.”
“I’m sure that helped some. Losing someone is always hard.” A chime came from her purse.
“It’s okay if you need to take that.”
She looked up at me, shaking her head. “I’ll deal with it when I’m done. I’ve already taken up enough of your time.”
We continued chatting as she slowly made her way around the dress. “Okay,” she said and stuck the last pin in. “That does it.” She used the table to help herself stand and held out a hand to me.
“Let me get it unbuttoned and then I can get it back in the garment bag.”
I let her help me down and a few minutes later, I was back in the powder room, getting dressed when Elias began fussing. “Hold on, little man, I’ll be right there.”
Finished, I stepped out of the room and froze.
The woman cradled Elias in her arms as she sat on the edge of the couch next to her bag. A shock of ice slowly spread through me. Danger. All that friendliness, the small talk about makeup and alterations. It had all been an act.
She cooed at him and tickled his neck before looking at me. “I need you to put the dress in the bag, Cora.”
“I thought…”
She slowly pulled a gun from a pocket on the bottom of her bag. “Quickly, please.”
“Daisy, what are you doing?”
She just smiled and brought the gun closer to Elias.
I sucked in a sharp breath. “You don’t want to do this…”
“You’re right I don’t, but we all do what we have to for family, right?” Her gaze found mine. I thought those sinister smiles and dead eyes were movie magic or just talk. A raging fear gripped me.
“Family?”
“I’m his half sister. Elias rightfully belongs in our family. As soon as you sign over custody,” she said and tickled Elias’s neck, “he’ll be headed to Florida where his new momma is desperately waiting for him.”
My blood turned to ice. Half sister meant Colter’s family. This wasn’t random—this was planned. I took a step back. “I’m not signing over custody. To anyone.”
“Oh, I think you will.” She motioned to the bag. “Put the dress in the bag. We have an appointment to keep.”
I hesitated.
“I won’t hesitate to kill you, and if you don’t care about yourself, then think of Elias. It would be a shame if he got hurt.”
I looked at Elias, so small and helpless in this stranger’s arms. “You wouldn’t.”
She shot me the most menacing look. “You really want to test me?”
My hands trembled as I reached for the dress. My lungs seized. I needed to give myself time to figure a way out of this.
Once I had the dress back in the bag, I stood stone-still in the living room.
“Where’s your phone?”
I slipped it out of my pocket.
“Toss it to the floor.” She motioned with the gun. “Quickly.”
“Jason’s men aren’t just going to let me walk out of here,” I said as I complied and threw my phone to the floor. I glanced at the door. “They’re going to ask where I’m going.”
Daisy slipped her purse onto her arm and stood. “Don’t you worry about them.”
Don’t worry about them? “But—”
“Get his diaper bag,” she ordered, keeping the gun trained on me while she held Elias. I walked to the corner where we kept it, my hands shaking as I picked it up. “I don’t have a car, and Jason’s men—”
Gunfire erupted and I started to rush to Elias. Daisy pointed the gun square at my chest. “Our ride’s here.”
Just as quickly as the gunfire started, it ended.
She smiled. “We can go now.” She motioned with the gun. “You first.”
My whole body was shaking. When I opened the door, the men who had been guarding it were now dead. My legs nearly gave out. My stomach lurched, but Daisy’s gun pressed into my back.
“Hurry up,” Daisy whispered behind me.
A car stopped at the bottom of the steps.
Daisy poked me with the gun. “Go on. We’re wasting time.”
Once Elias was buckled into an already waiting car seat, we got into the car. We reached the end of the driveway and there were three more bodies.
“Where are you taking us?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.” She shifted in her seat.
I flicked my gaze to the gun in her hand.
Maybe if I could grab i—
Pain exploded across my temple. The world went black.