Page 59 of Resurrect Me

She uses the knife to clean her fingernails like some sort of villain out of an action film. “You and your psychotic boyfriend took out two of my top men that night.”

“Your top men? What are you talking about? This is insane, Mother. Put down the knife!” I’m yelling in a hushed tone.

“Stop acting like you’re so innocent, Tacy. You’re a killer. And now, you’re on the wrong side of the court. You’re playing for the wrong team.” She hisses and walks closer, the knife at her side. “Our family is powerful. Your great grandfather started a clubback in the early nineteen-hundreds. The club grew and grew, and our family profited. But it wasn’t without sacrifice.”

I gulp. “We can talk, Mom. Please just put down the knife. I’m your daughter, remember?”

Her eyes are wild but glued to me, like a predator homing in on its dinner. “I remember the look on my partner’s face when we found them, splattered all over the rocks below Hartman’s Cliff.” Her white eyebrows drop, and her look softens. She lays down the knife.

“Thank you.”

“It would be so much easier if you just listened to your mother for once,” she says, her voice quivering.

“Okay, what are you asking me to do?” I shift slightly, preparing to grab the syringe. My heart speeds up. My palms are slick with sweat. I hope the damn thing doesn’t slip out of my hand.

“Get out of the nursing field and join the company,” she says. “We could really use you.”

“I was just fired. So, perfect timing,” I reply and fake another smile. Is she buying this? Doesn’t really matter, because she and I both know even with that knife in her possession, I’m faster and stronger.

“Great,” she says, then picks up her purse and slides the knife inside. “Your medical knowledge coupled with your killer instinct will come in handy, my dear.”

My senses are heightened, and I’m prepared to lunge. But…I don’t have to, because she walks out the front door and closes it behind her. I lock the door and collapse on the floor.

As if by some kind of telepathic connection, my phone rings and I grab it.

“Tacy! Oh, thank God, are you okay, Babydoll?”

I’m panting and trying to gather my senses. “Yes. I’m fine. Now that her conniving ass is gone.”

Aris lets out a boisterous laugh. “Let me guess…”

“The crazy old bitch. She tried to recruit me.”

“I expected as much,” he says. “Declan’s back in The Org’s fold. And he knows I’m alive.”

“We’ve got to get out of here. I’ll start packing. We can’t let these people take our children. I just can’t believe my mother’s in on all of this.”

“She’s not just in on it, she’s the ringleader, according to Reggie. And they’re not going to take our children away. I won’t let them.”

“Still, Aris! If Declan knows you’re alive, and my mother is on the inside of this insane mafia bullshit, they’re going to kill us. Every last one of us! My mother wants me to follow in her footsteps. In my grandfather’s footsteps. And she knows more about my past than I even knew.”

A pause, then, “What do you mean, she knows more about your past than you?”

“She knows about them. The men I pushed from the cliff,” I say and gulp. “I could’ve kept running that night. I could’ve refused to do anything that night. Instead…I murdered two men. And apparently, they were my mother’s men.”

“Your mother’s men?”

“Yeah, she said I killed two of her men that night.”

“Well, that doesn’t make sense since Starkey helped you. Why would someone who’s a part of The Org kill two other members?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “Maybe it was a test. To see if I had it in me. To take a life. Maybe he wasn’t part of The Org back then?”

I can hear him breathing. He mumbles something to Reggie. Wait. Reggie?

“Is that Reggie’s voice?” I ask. “Did you say Reggie told you about my mother?”

“Yes, long story. We’ll get into that later,” Aris says. “Listen to me, Tace. You did what you had to do. I’ll never judge you for that. You have a good heart. You’re a good person, whether you believe it or not. And those two men who fell off the cliff that night? If they were truly part of The Org, they were bad men, and you saved innocent lives by erasing them. Forgive yourself.”

---