Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Ink nodded to Reese. “Let’s get this done. Reese did say to me, while you were out, that the more he thought about it, the more he felt Leonard Stoddard did sound under duress when he spoke with him on the phone.”
Master nodded. That made sense to him. Reese had been out of prison for over two years. Long enough to get his wife pregnant, start drinking again and then get sober with the help of the program Ink ran. In that time frame, his parole officer had never once asked him to commit a crime. So why now? What had Reese done to call attention to himself? He’d lived quietly, worked hard and suddenly someone was trying to put him back in prison, and they were being aggressive about it.
“Start talking, Reese,” Ink said. He used his gentle voice, but he meant business and it came across that way. “We’re all tired, and Ambrielle needs to go home and sleep. We still have to come up with a plan, so get to it.”
Reese brought Tyra’s hand to his lap as if she were going to save him. “My mother is married to a very wealthy, influential man. He’s not my father.”
“Don’t do that,” Master snapped. “Give me a fucking name.”
Ambrie laid her hand on top of his arm, the pads of her fingers brushing back and forth along his forearm in a little soothing caress.
Reese glanced at him and then nodded. “Taylor. Colonel Corey Taylor. My mother is Sherry Taylor.”
Ambrielle sat up straight and leaned close to Master, her fingernails digging into his arm. He looked down and she mouthed, I know them. His nod was barely perceptible. She went back to running her fingers along his forearm.
“My mother has been married to Colonel Taylor since she was eighteen years old. I have a half brother, Robert, older than me by ten years. Colonel Taylor is a very abusive and controlling man, and eventually, my mother ran away. She met someone, had an affair, got pregnant and, after she had me, was found by Colonel Taylor. He insisted she give me up. He didn’t want a reminder of her, and I quote, ‘lack of morals.’ Her younger sister, Veronica, raised me.”
There was a short silence while they all took in Reese’s short explanation of his past. Reese brought Tyra’s hand to his chest and rubbed her fingers over his heart. “Veronica was very good to me. I had a good childhood, and my mother would visit often. It wasn’t like she abandoned me altogether. She brought Robert in the beginning, when I was little. Later, in my teens, he didn’t come around, and when I’d ask Veronica, she would tell me the colonel was getting ugly about Mom coming and he had forbidden Robert to ever come again.”
Reese wrapped his large hand around his coffee mug and brought it to his mouth, most likely to give himself a bit of a reprieve. He looked down at Tyra. “I didn’t want to tell you about Sherry because I felt like I was betraying her. She’s had enough betrayals in her life. And she’s sacrificed a lot for me.”
Master wasn’t certain what she’d sacrificed, but he remained silent. The woman lived in a mansion, drove brand-new cars, wore fancy clothes and traveled all over the world. She didn’t seem like she lived in a prison. The colonel didn’t always travel with her. When they were together, she appeared to be happy with him. He knew that kind of thing could be faked, but for nearly forty years? Why didn’t Reese’s mother get a high-powered attorney if she wanted out? These days women had places they could run to. She had enough money to get away, when so many other women didn’t.
As if she knew what he was thinking, Ambrielle slid her hand under his and threaded her fingers through his. Maybe she was thinking the same thing. She was shrewd and intelligent, and she’d met these people. Hopefully, she would be able to give him some clear insight into them. Already, he’d texted Code with names to start an investigation.
“I started martial arts training when I was five,” Reese continued. “I really loved it. By the time I was eighteen, I was kickboxing and had won national championships numerous times. It wasn’t a big jump to get into mixed martial arts. I had a love of the sport and I enjoyed training. I saw less and less of my birth mother. Mostly, I would get short letters from her. At first everything was good. I was winning, had a good coach, good friends. Then Veronica got sick. Real sick. I wrote to Sherry, told her Veronica needed her, but she said the colonel wouldn’t let her come.”
Master tightened his fingers around Ambrie’s. That was the biggest crock of shit he’d ever heard. What woman wouldn’t go to her sister—the one who had taken her baby and raised him as her own—when she was seriously ill?