Page 74 of To Keep A Wolf
Straightening, I look back at Jadick.
“Isn’t that how you meant it?” he taunts, smiling broadly. “When you left, I assumed—we all did—that you no longer cared what happens to your own people. So, I acted accordingly.”
“Fuck you.”
“In good time.”
Levi snarls, and now it’s me holding him back.
“Vicki, you’ve been busy.”
Jadick’s comment draws my eye, and I see my mother has climbed out of the truck. The blood on her pants is evident, but the limp is better. Already healing, thankfully.
“I have.” She holds up the gun, inspecting it casually in her hand. “Four shots fired. Four bodies down.” She looks up at Jadick, eyes narrowing. “Guess I’ve still got it.”
Jadick simply lifts a brow. “Four of mine compared to dozens of yours.”
My mother cocks her head at him. “Is that what you think? Are all of these lives not equal? To yours? To your mother’s?”
Jadick stiffens, and I smile smugly, watching as he tries to decipher what my mother means. Clearly, he doesn’t know what his mother has done. And that means he doesn’t know the witch is dead yet. Watching him realize he’s not as good as he thinks is a lovely bonus.
He presses the button on a handheld communicator and says, “Find my mother. Bring her to me.”
The reply that comes back is almost instant. “Sir. She left two hours ago. She said you ordered her—”
“Fuck!”
He throws the communicator against the house, and it breaks into pieces.
I smile wider.
“Is that your way of saying your mother’s life is worth more to you than one Jade?” my mother calls.
“I’m going to kill you,” he seethes. “If you hurt her. If you put a hand on her—”
“She hates you,” I say, “Did you know that?”
“She will come to understand what I’ve done for her,” he says. “As will you.”
“She would rather die than live here with you.”
“You don’t know anything about family,” Jadick says, an edge of cruelty working its way back into his voice. “You have only your mother, who clearly cares more about her own gain than your life.”
“At least, my mother didn’t say I’d be better off dead.”
My words find their mark. Even if he recovers quickly, I see that it bothers him. That he clearly brought her back here out of some sense of twisted affection or familial bond. It’s sick. And kind of sad. But then I remember how Marilyn would kill me if given half a chance, and I remember what kind of people the Clemons’ really are. What exactly they’re all capable of.
“You can have her back, though,” I say. “If you let them go.”
“Don’t attempt to manipulate me,” he snaps.
I glance up at the rooftop. The Jades are still there. The guards haven’t moved. My chest tightens. I don’t know what else Jadick has planned, but I know we’re running out of time to get control of this.
“I’m simply making an offer,” I say. “Like the one you made me.”
“Everyone’s come to make an offer,” he taunts. “Levi here thinks I’ll lower myself to actually fight him. And poor Mac thinks she can bargain her way into a new deal. Unfortunately for both of you, this union is pre-ordained, and nothing will change that now.”
A vehicle approaches from the street, engine gunning as it careens down the drive and pulls to a sudden stop beside us. The driver gets out, but instead of moving toward us, he hurries up to Jadick and whispers in his ear.
