Her words were a sucker punch to the gut. I knew that Frankie was a dangerous man. And I knew he had a wife and other kids, but I had no idea how much trouble we’d be in if she ever discovered us. But it all made sense when I pieced it together. Why we lived in some shit hole in the middle of nowhere for as long as I could remember. Why our mother had changed her name and given us her father’s last name. All the secrets that had piled up over the years, never fitting together, suddenly made perfect sense.
Had Norma really lived that way to protect us from Frankie’s family? It wasn’t something I could reconcile in my head. She didn’t have a maternal bone in her body, and yet Brayden’s words came back to haunt me.
She had a rough go of it, Brighton. Things weren’t easy for her either…
I wanted to ask her. But it wasn’t the right time.
“When’s he getting here?” I glanced at the clock on the wall.
“He’ll be there at 7:15,” Norma rattled off. “You have to take care of each other, Brighton. You have to hide. You don’t understand what these people are capable of…”
The panic in her voice scared me. Norma-Jean had never panicked over anything except for money. But right then, it was clear as day how much she loved us. And I couldn’t believe I was only just hearing it now.
“I’ll protect him,” I assured her. “I’ll figure something out.”
“Okay,” she sniffled. “Please make sure you do.”
“What about you, mom?” I croaked.
For the first time in forever, she didn’t reprimand me for using the word.
“I’ll be okay,” she assured me. “I have a cousin in Springfield who’s going to let me stay with her a while.”
A cousin in Springfield? Again, something I hadn’t been privy to.
“Okay.” I glanced up at the clock again. “I have to go get ready. Please be careful, Norma.”
“You too, Brighton. I love you.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
I had just slipped off the bracelet Ryland gave me when Nicole showed up.
“I thought you were sick?” she glanced at my purse and keys.
“I’m feeling okay now,” I muttered. “But, Nicole I need you to do me a favor.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s a really big one.”
She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Why do I get the impression I’m not going to like it?”
“I need you to cover for me with Ryland,” I explained. “If he calls, tell him I’m asleep, and that you’re here watching TV.”
“Why?” she asked curiously.
“It’s a family thing.” I wasn’t about to go into all the gory details with her already fragile state of mind. “I have to go do something for Norma, and if he knows he will freak out.”
She hesitated for a moment before shrugging in agreement. And even with all our past history, I knew I could trust her with this.
“Thank you so much.” I hugged her. “I’ll bring you back one of those cupcakes you like from down the street.”
“Okay.” She smiled. “Just be careful. And don’t stay out too long.”
“I won’t.”
***
If I had expected a warm reception from Brayden at the airport, I wasn’t getting one. He grabbed my arm as soon as he saw me and dragged me towards the ground transportation.
“Don’t say a word,” he hissed. “Not until we’re in the car.”
“What car?” I asked.
Again, he didn’t answer. He strode up to the rental desk and gave them a credit card with someone else’s name on it. The ID had a photo of someone who looked like him but definitely wasn’t.
The minute we were in the safety of the silver Kia, I shot him a glare.
“Whose card did you use back there?” I demanded. “I have money, you know.”
“You mean you have Ryland’s money,” he scoffed. “And how long do you think it will take him to track that down?”
“What are you talking about?” I snapped.
Brayden looked at me as if I were an idiot before his expression softened to pity.
“Who do you think tipped them off, Brighton?” he asked.
His accusation stung, but I let it bounce right off of me.
“No way.” I shook my head. “He wouldn’t do that.”
Brayden slammed his hand against the steering wheel. “When are you going to wake up? Yes, he fucking would.”
“I don’t believe that,” I argued.
“He said he has some kind of a business function tonight, didn’t he?”
I tried to hide my shaking hands by crossing my arms and staring out the window. “Yeah, so what?”
“Did he invite you?”
I didn’t want to answer him because I knew where he was going with this. And suddenly, my rock solid foundation was beginning to crumble.
“Did he invite you?” he repeated.
“That doesn’t mean anything, Brayden.”
“I don’t know how to get through to you.” He shook his head as he gunned it onto the interstate. “I don’t know how to make you see.”
“Where are you going?” I demanded.
“To anywhere that isn’t fucking California,” he replied, his knuckles whitening from the intensity of his grip on the wheel.
“I’m not leaving California,” I argued. “I can get you a hotel room somewhere, Brayden. Somewhere that you’ll be safe. And then we can figure this out…”
“Goddammit, Brighton!” he growled. “That isn’t going to stop them. This is going to be the first place they look for us.”
“How do you even know all of this is happening?” I asked, questioning his sanity for the third time in the last six months.
“A friend of Frankie’s called me,” he spat. “The same guy that called to tell me he was dead. He knew about us, and Frankie trusted him. It’s why he tipped me off.”
“Well, we can’t just run away,” I tried to reason with him. “You don’t even have a plan.”
He didn’t reply, and as the lights of the city grew more distant, panic started to eat at me.
“You’re going too fast,” I barked. “Slow down.”
Brayden didn’t hear me. He kept looking in the rearview mirror, and his body tensed as he weaved in and out of traffic.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
I turned around, seeing nothing but the flash of other headlights behind us as we left them behind.
Brayden continued to drive in silence, and I didn’t know what else to do. The roads were getting windier, and the moon rose higher in the sky as we drove along the coast. I still had no idea where he was going.
“Do you have your phone on you?” he asked.
I nodded and pulled it out of my pocket, assuming he was going to call Norma. But he grabbed it from me and tore the battery out before tossing it out the window.
“What the hell, Brayden?” I yelled. “What is wrong with you?”
“He could use it to track you.” He shot another paranoid glance in the mirror.
“Ryland isn’t tracking me,” I repeated calmly. “He’s at a business dinner. And he’s expecting me to be home, so we need to stop now…”
My words trailed off as Brayden floored it again, his eyes growing wide. He was staring at something behind us.
When I swiveled around in my seat, I could only see one pair of headlights now, and they were moving way too fast to be a coincidence.
“They’ve been following us since Fremont,” Brayden said. “Goddammit, they knew I was coming. I’m so sorry, Brighton.”
His words sounded so final, so hollow, I didn’t want to accept them. But as he eyed the ocean beneath us, I knew what he was thinking. This is where we would die.
He pushed on the gas, gunning it as fast as the little Kia could go. But it was no match for the SUV behind us.
The first time they crashed into the bumper, I screamed in abject horror as the car started to fishtail. Brayden slammed on the brakes in an effort to get it under control, which gave the SUV the perfect opportunity to nudge us over the embankment.
I vaguely heard the sound of glass shattering and the crunch of metal. I was jerked around on the most violent of rollercoasters before everything went black around me.
***
My senses came back to me slowly, and not all at once.
The first thing I felt was searing pain in my leg, followed by the gentle lapping of water around my ankles. Smoke filled my nostrils and stung my eyes, but I couldn’t quite make sense of it.
I blinked several times, and my head felt like it was underwater. My ears rang painfully before my hearing came back.
I heard Brayden’s voice. But he was no longer beside me. He sounded further away. Too far away.
“What’s the matter?” he taunted. “Can’t do it? You’ve finally got your chance, so take it you fucking coward.”
I didn’t understand the venom in his tone. I didn’t understand what he was saying. But it all became clear when Ryland spoke.
“Shut the fuck up!”
Brayden grunted, and a strange sort of laughter bubbled up from his chest.
“It’s not as satisfying as you thought, is it?” Brayden sneered. “At least I had the guts to look you in the eye, but you had to hire someone to do your dirty work for you. Now you’ve got me right where you want me, and you can’t even pull the trigger. So fucking typical.”