Page 98 of Single Mom's Undoing
“Yeah, it’s a good thing he kidnapped you and Matty,” Jace quips.
That has the four of us laughing. Matty is quiet and calm, genuinely exhausted and ready for the longest nap of his life. “Are you okay, baby?” I ask him quietly, and he replies with a slow nod. “We’re going to go to the hospital so they can make sure we’re both okay, and then we’re going back home, alright?”
“Back home?” he asks with a curious gleam in his eyes. Carter’s eyes.
“The cabin in Blackthorn Falls,” I say. “That’s home for us, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“What are you folks yipping about here?” Margot cuts in, her arm resting in a sling while the paramedic packs his bag and gets ready to transport us to the hospital.
Carter gives his sister a gentle hug. “Just about how impressed we are by the beating you and Clara gave Elizabeth.”
“Margot has a mean left hook. All I had was a mug of hot tea,” I say.
“I also had a vase handy,” she replies, then smiles at me. “We did okay, though. Both of us.”
“We sure did. Thank you, Margot, for not giving up on me and Matty.”
“Never. Stephan would never have forgiven me if I let that situation go any further. And Lord knows, I loved him more than anything and anyone in this world,” she says, her voice breaking. “To think that this whole time, our father?—”
“He’ll pay for it,” Carter assures her. “He’ll pay for everything he’s done, Margot. I promise. He will rot in prison, and the world will be better for it. We will all be better for it.”
“What are we looking at, exactly?” I ask, glancing around.
The living room is almost empty now, federal agents swarming and searching throughout the summer house. The rest of the guards are outside in custody, while Bill is simmering in the back of Agent Whitfield’s SUV.
“A slew of federal charges, for starters,” Jace says. “Bribery, racketeering, blackmail, corruption, kidnapping. Then there’s the murder of Stephan. The judge will probably grant an exhumation order if you give us your signed permission. There will be a second autopsy done by an independent forensic pathologist, and once they prove that he was struck in the head, we’ll toss your testimony in with everything else and add a murder charge on top.”
“As far as the kidnapping and assault aspect,” Damon says, “that carries serious years, too. Plus, the attempted murder, given how we found Bill pointing a gun at your head and endangering a minor.”
“If I let you think about it for a little while longer, you’ll probably find a dozen more charges,” I chuckle.
Damon holds me close and presses his lips against my temple. “Baby, I will throw the entire legal system at that old bastard if I have to.”
“What matters right now is that you and Matty are safe,” Carter says and exhales deeply. “We’ll let the law handle everything else.”
Here’s hoping they do handle it. That they won’t let a single crime go unpunished. That the whole world will learnprecisely how dirty and evil Bill Lockwood really is. Of course, I know that most of the folks in Blackthorn Falls either idolize him or fear him. Many depend on him. And many will hate me for being at the core of his demise.
I can only hope that they’ll see the light when the time comes.
Right now, all I want is peace and love.
Nothing else.
30
CLARA
Once the doctors are done with the tests and ultrasound, I find myself breathing a sigh of relief as I sit up on the edge of my hospital bed. Matty is sound asleep in the chair by the window, wrapped up in a soft blanket.
I light up when Carter and the guys come in.
“Hey.”
“Clean bill of health, I hope, for you and the little ones?” Damon asks.
“Yes, sir. We got lucky.”
