Page 139 of Highball Rush
“Oh my god,” my mother said, her dead eyes locked on me. “Callie? Is it true? Is it really my daughter?”
Blinking a few times, I stared at her, momentarily dumbstruck. Nothing about this should have surprised me. Of course they were going to play the part of the heartbroken parents. Maybe they didn’t know how close they were to having their lives upended. Or maybe they were arrogant enough to think they’d walk away from this.
“Imogen, it’s her,” my father said. His voice had considerably less emotion than my mother’s. “She’s come back to us.”
As a unit, they took slow steps toward me. Down off the sidewalk and into the street. Their performance was good, I had to give them that. Bystanders who’d seemed ready to grab them and haul them to the police station—or serve up some Bootleg Justice—watched with wide eyes and open mouths.
I pushed Gibson’s arm off me, disentangling myself from his grasp. I gazed at the two people walking slowly closer. Two people who’d done terrible things to me. So terrible, I’d left my whole life behind and started a new one with a new identity to protect myself from them. And I realized something.
They didn’t have power over me anymore.
“My daughter,” Imogen said, opening her arms. I couldn’t think of her as my mother anymore. She’d given up that privilege a long time ago. “The nightmare is finally over.”
“No,” I said, my voice ringing clear and true. “No, for you, the nightmare is only about to begin.”
They stopped in their tracks and a flash of anger crossed Imogen’s face. A slight tic in her jaw and a twitch of her eye that would have once had me cowering in fear.
Not anymore.
I stepped off the sidewalk. “You did unspeakable things to me. You tortured your own child, trying to break my spirit so I wouldn’t betray your awful secrets. I’m here to tell you something. You failed. You never broke me.”
Her dead eyes narrowed, and her mouth pinched in a thin line.
I turned my gaze to the judge. He wasn’t my father any more than she was my mother. “And you. I know what you’re going to say. When people ask, you’ll claim you never touched me. You never laid a finger on your daughter. And it’s true. You never get your hands dirty. But your hands, and your soul, are mired in filth. You let her do it. You stood by while she hurt me, and you covered it up. Cleaned up her messes.
“I hope that was horrible for you. I hope it took time from your precious career and you’ve secretly harbored searing regret for marrying that monster. I hope it cost you a good chunk of your fortune to hide what she’s done. Not just to me, but to Connie Bodine, too. What did it cost you to cover that up?”
For the first time in my life, I saw fear in Judge Kendall’s eyes.
“You’re finished,” I said. “You tried to find me because you were afraid I’d come back and cause problems for you. You were right. I’m never going to stop until you get everything you deserve. So drop the act. You don’t have to pretend you’re happy to see me, or shocked that I’m not dead. You tried to ruin my life and you failed. But I’m sure as hell about to ruin yours.”
The color drained from the judge’s face. I was vaguely aware of applause on the street, my friends and neighbors cheering for me. But it seemed muffled and far away. I was laser-focused on the people in front of me. I watched with a grim sense of satisfaction as the judge’s fear turned into something much more permanent.
Defeat.
He knew he was done. I’d seen that look in someone’s eyes once before—the only artist I’d ever worked with who had been too damaged for me to help. The judge’s jaw went slack and his shoulders sagged. He was an intelligent man. He knew the kingdom he’d built was already crumbling and there was nothing he could do to save it.
Imogen, however, continued to stare at me with those cold, dead eyes. No emotion crossed her features. But I didn’t think she was capable of feeling anything.
Cassidy stepped past me, and the rest of the street came back into focus. Fanny Sue Tomaschek, deputy sheriff, and Sheriff Tucker were closing in on the Kendalls, one on either side. Whether to keep the rumbling crowd away from them or to take them into custody, I wasn’t sure.
“I’m gonna need y’all to clear out,” Sheriff Tucker said. He approached them warily, one hand twitching like he was ready to pull his sidearm on them if necessary. Cassidy’s body language matched her father’s. “Go on home and stay there. Don’t think about leaving town. We’ll be needing the both of you shortly.”
Gibson stepped in between me and the Kendalls. “Did you say everything you needed to?”
I looked up at his face. At those beautiful blue eyes beneath his furrowed brow. And I smiled. “Yes. I did.”
“Good.” He grabbed my arm and hustled me up the street. “Let’s get out of here.”
I barely noticed Gibson helping me into his truck. The roar of his engine while he drove us out of town. I was in a daze when he hit the brakes in front of his house and ushered me inside.
Cash greeted us, all barks and licks and excited tail-wagging. I giggled, crouching down to love on the silly one-eyed dog. And then I grabbed Gibson’s hand and dragged him to his bedroom. Slid into his bed and pulled him in with me.
He wrapped me in his strong embrace. I felt safe. Whole. And loved. So loved I felt like I could do anything. I’d faced my demons and won. If Gibson asked me to, I was pretty sure I could fly.
42
GIBSON
