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The call ends, and my eyes immediately go to Mary in the back seat. We were so very careful with how we handled all of this. If they were tracking us through records or any sort of paper trail, they never would’ve known what we were doing. There wasn’t one to be found. It leaves her, someone from the nursing home who was quick to accept the offer to help get Mrs. Taylor back to New Mexico.
Mary is looking out the window, her face a mask of nerves. When she looks back in my direction, it’s clear that she knows I know. I don’t say a word to her. There’s no sense in upsetting Mila and her mom. Four hours is more than enough time to make a plan to stop them before they can cause any harm to us or Cerberus.
“We can’t go to the clubhouse,” Mila says. “We can’t bring that kind of trouble to the kids.”
I reach out and once again take her hand, only this time, the tremble in it worries me.
“I brought this on everyone,” she says, her voice close to cracking under the stress this is causing her.
“What’s going on?” Mrs. Taylor demands. “Mila, are you in some kind of trouble?”
“Everything is fine,” Mary assures her.
“Everything will be fine,” I say, glaring at the woman in the back seat through the rearview mirror. “I guarantee it.”
Mary’s chin quivers as she looks away. I know there’s a very good chance they have threatened her in some way, but my priority is Mila, our kids, and her mom. Everything else is secondary.
“The clubhouse is the safest place you can be,” I assure her, my foot getting a little heavier on the gas.
“Shouldn’t we make a plan? Make some calls? Kincaid needs to know what I’ve done.”
I shake my head. “You’ve done nothing wrong. This isn’t on you. Deacon and Wren will make contact with Cerberus. I promise it’s all being taken care of.”
She nods in understanding, but that doesn’t stop her from spending the next hour watching the side mirror as if she thinks Keres will have activated some form of warp speed and caught up with us.
“Is this the best idea?” Mila asks when I pull into the parking lot at the Farmington nursing facility.
“They won’t even make it into town,” I assure her. “Look.”
Mila’s eyes follow the point of my finger so she can see Shadow and Hound standing outside waiting for us.
“Oh, dear,” Mrs. Taylor says. “Why are the police here?”
I don’t answer her question. I wait for Mrs. Taylor to be introduced to the administrative and nursing teams who will take over her care.
Mila hugs her mother and promises to see her soon, but there’s a blankness in Mrs. Taylor’s eyes when Mila takes a step back.
“Such a sweet girl,” she says, patting Mila’s cheek. “Your mother must be so proud.”
Grief washes over my girl’s face and it has the power to break my heart.
“Listen, Mr. Chilton,” Mary says once Mrs. Taylor is safely inside.
“Mary Scott, please come with us,” Colton Matthews says.
“Am I under arrest?” she snaps at the detective.
Colton is a homicide detective, but I know his connection to the club as Kincaid’s niece’s husband is why he’s here today.
“We haven’t decided that yet, but we’re going to need to question you,” he responds.
I wonder just how crazy things are going to get when she jerks her arm out of Colton’s grasp and spins back to face me.
“Don’t you dare hurt him,” she snaps, her voice a little broken. “Rosco only does what his older brother, Adrian, makes him do. He’s not like the rest of them!”
Mila looks even more crestfallen as Mary is pulled away and put in the back seat of a patrol car.
“She told them where we were and what we were doing?”
