Before sleep steals me away, I lay in the darkness, and the conversation with Bull comes back to me.
“So you trust her?”
“I do.”
“Then you’ll find a way to make it work.”
I hope he’s right.
Because I know she’s keeping something from me.
And I know it’s something big.
LILY
My heart pounded wildly as I watched the minutes tick by with excruciating slowness. I pictured Doc making his way through the dark and the cold, and I prayed he reached the phone booth without being caught.
How long would it take to walk ten miles in this weather?
How long before his Kings of Mayhem brothers would find him and bring help?
One hour ticked by…
And then another…
Then another…
Hope bloomed in my heart.
Any minute now…
But just before midnight, Max made a surprise return to the hotel.
I watched the headlights of his pickup cut through the darkness, and alarm snaked its way down my spine. He had never come back in the middle of the night before.
“Where is the doc?” he asked as he entered the room where I was watching over Odin.
I turned away and pretended to tend to Odin’s wounds. “He’s getting some shut-eye.”
But Max knew something was wrong. His instincts were sharp. That’s what made him so good at evading the authorities and his enemies.
He nodded for Otto to check the other rooms. I dared not look at him because I knew he would see the panic on my face. I could feel his eyes on me, watching me, his suspicion a thick curtain hanging between us
“How is the patient?” he asked, studying me.
“He’s fighting hard, but he’s not going to make it.”
“What does the doc say?”
“He says the same thing. He’s going to die.”
“Then why isn’t he in here helping him?” My father’s stare burned into the back of my head. “Look at me, Tiger Lily.”
Reluctantly, I turned, my mouth suddenly dry when I saw the look on my father’s face, and it suddenly occurred to me that he already knew where Doc was because they had come across him on their way back to the hotel.
Terror crashed through me at that moment.
Oh God, had they found Doc and killed him?
Blood roared in my ears.
I swallowed deeply, my throat tight with anxiety. “Like I said, he’s getting some shut-eye.”
But my father knew I was lying.
“A father’s instinct is something, isn’t it? Like when you were a child, I always knew when you were lying. Just how I know you’re lying now. It’s a feeling you get. A knowing. You’re not telling me something.”
Otto appeared in the doorway and shook his head.
Max turned back to me, his jaw tight, his anger simmering. “Where is he?”
“He’s gone.”
I tried to turn away, but he pushed me hard in the shoulder and gripped my arm, yanking me back, so I had no choice but to look at him. “How the fuck did he get away?”
I looked into the eyes of the man who was supposed to love and protect me, but that man was no more than a memory, and in his place was a monster—a man who was evil through and through. I couldn’t love this man if I tried, but I could stand up to him. Fight him. To hell with the consequences.
I raised my chin. “I let him go. You don’t need him. We don’t need him.”
Without warning, Max knocked me to the floor. I cried out and reached for my stinging jaw, but he yanked me to my feet. Veins as big as ropes popped in his neck, and his face was red with rage. “You traitorous little cunt.”
Again, he struck me hard, but this time he didn’t let me fall. He held me by the shoulders and put his face close to mine. “You think being my daughter will protect you from how I respond to betrayal, well… think again. I don’t tolerate it from anyone, especially not from my blood. If you expect me to go easy on you, then you had better brace yourself.”
Blood dripped from my lip.
I hated him.
I hated him so much.
“I expect nothing from you.”
Growling, he shoved me away and began to pace as he thought. “Why did you do it?”
“You were going to kill, Doc, and you didn’t need to. We’ve tried to keep Odin alive. We’ve done everything you asked us to do, and it still wasn’t enough.”
He stared at me with wild eyes. “This man… this man here? He is why you betrayed me?”
Without a word, he reached for the firearm on his hip and shot Odin in the head.
Air rushed from my lungs. “No!”
As if shooting Odin was nothing, my father walked toward me and pressed his gun under my chin. “Give me one reason not to do the same thing to you.”
This close, I could see the madness gleaming in his eyes.
This man really was a psychopath.