Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 50373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 252(@200wpm)___ 201(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 252(@200wpm)___ 201(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
“Yeah, honey. He’s gone. He can’t hurt either of you ever again.”
Caleb looked up at me. He was stunned but shaking it off quickly. “I was gonna kill him.”
“You didn’t have to.” Violet tightened her grip on her son. “I did what I had to do to protect you both. He would have killed Quinn and taken us back.”
There was a knock at the door. “Riot. It’s Knuckles and Gunnar.”
I stood and squeezed Violet’s shoulder as I passed her on the way to the door to let the men in. Knight was there too.
“Everything OK?” I asked, searching Knuckles’ face for a sign something was wrong.
“We’ve got everything under control.”
I snagged a couple chairs from the kitchen table and pulled them closer to Violet and Caleb so everyone could sit.
“Lana Thompson called me a little bit ago.” Knuckles said without preamble. “She said everything was filed properly with your divorce and marriage, as well as Riot’s adoption of Caleb. Apparently, Harrington’s lawyer is livid but can’t find anything to overturn any of it. She said Harrington might come after you.”
“Well, I guess she was right.” Violet seemed to be coming to life the longer she sat there. She was still trembling, but some of her color was back at least.
“No one will ever find him, Violet,” Gunnar said softly. “Even if the law investigates you or Caleb or us there will be nothing tying any of us to Harrington since the last court appearance. That’s why Lana avoided talking to you. She wanted to be able to say she’d had minimal contact with you in case things went south. She’s our biggest alibi.”
Violet nodded slowly, understanding dawning on her face. “She knew he’d come after us. She was protecting herself legally while still helping us.”
“She’s a smart woman,” Knight confirmed. “She’s been around this club, and others, long enough to know how we operate.”
Caleb’s jaw tightened. “So that’s it? He just… disappears, and we get to go on with our lives?”
“That’s exactly it,” Knuckles said, his voice gentle but firm. “Some people might ask questions for a while, but without a body, without evidence, it’ll eventually be forgotten. Just another rich asshole who went missing. And to be honest, with the Feds after him, who’s to say he didn’t leave the country?”
I watched Caleb’s face carefully, trying to gauge how he was processing everything. The kid had been ready to pull the trigger on his own father. That kind of moment changes a person forever, even if they don’t follow through. “You okay, kid?” I asked softly.
“Yeah.” He nodded slowly. “I think I am.” And yeah. I’d seen that same look on my face. He might not have killed his father in truth, but in his heart, he’d been the one to blow his head off. “I just hate it had to be Mom who killed him.”
“Don’t be sorry about that, Caleb,” Violet said, gripping her son’s hand. She smiled at him. “It wasn’t something I’d have done under any other circumstance, but I would do anything to protect my family. And that’s you and Quinn.”
“I’m going to need therapy for years after this,” Caleb muttered. “Or maybe I can con Knight into getting me a set up like he has and I can do a first-person-shooter gaming marathon or something.”
There was a beat of silence before Violet let out a small chuckle. Then we all started laughing. Inappropriate? Absolutely. The way I saw it, sometimes it’s either laugh or cry. I’d rather laugh any day of the week.
Chapter Fifteen
Violet
Both Caleb and I had nightmares for weeks after Doug’s death. Gradually we both healed mentally and physically. Caleb had been sleeping much better. In fact, it had been at least two weeks since I’d heard him up in the middle of the night, and he was looking much better rested. He was also acting more and more like his old self -- the person he was before he’d found me in the middle of the floor with his father hitting me. We still didn’t know how Doug had gotten into the compound, but I knew Riot would find out. Once he did, God help whoever was responsible.
The door opened and Riot stepped inside, shutting the door carefully behind him. He watched me warily, like he knew he’d sprung a trap and was waiting for the jaws to close around him.
“I just want to say I had nothing to do with it. I didn’t even know what had happened until it was done.” Riot looked as guilty as any teenager I’d ever seen. If I didn’t know the man was actually three years older than me, I’d swear he and Caleb were the same age sometimes. He played like a kid and seemed to have this driving need to win my approval. I supposed I understood. He’d been robbed of his childhood and his family. I tried my best to give him any emotional support he needed and then some. Honest to God, the man was a once in a lifetime find.