A Whole New Crowd

  parking lot. Once we were out of earshot, I stopped, bent over, and let out a scream. It had been sitting on the bottom of my throat, waiting for me to let it loose, and I didn’t hold back. My hands grasped my hair and pulled on it.

  Once I was done, I glanced at Tray. He lifted an eyebrow. “You want to scream again or do you want to hear my suggestion?”

  “No.” I had one more lead. “I know someone else who might know something about Jace.”

  “Who?”

  “Kevin. The guy he forced to adopt me.”

  *

  I knew no one was home, but I parked my car around the block and walked anyway. I was dressed from head to toe in black with a red bandana around my neck. There were better items to wear, a black bandana would’ve been better, but I wanted red. It stood for Brian’s death. I was being dramatic, but I didn’t care. I didn’t know what would happen or what lengths I would go to that night. I wanted information. Kevin was going to tell me everything and if I needed to look like a homicidal maniac to get it, so be it.

  Letting myself into the house, I pocketed my key and kept the lights off. Mandy was with Shelly. The two left town for Austin’s tournament and Tray texted me that Kevin had driven past him further down the road. He was on his way home. So I sat and waited.

  A few minutes later, the car’s headlights flashed through the house as it turned into the driveway. The garage door opened and he parked inside. The engine turned off. He was coming. Closing my eyes, I took out my knife. That, also, was intended to strike fear in my adoptive father. When he opened the door, the light switched on and I heard his gasp. Then he belted out an abrupt laugh. “Taryn, you scared the hell out of me.”

  I was still in the shadows. The kitchen light didn’t extend all the way to the end of the table where I was sitting. When he closed the door and stepped closer, he saw what I was wearing. The laughter faded and his eyes dropped to the knife. “What’s that for?”

  I picked it up and put the end on the table. Then I let it spin. As I held it in place with the palm of my hand, I watched him. He watched it spin. He wasn’t laughing anymore, and he moved back a step.

  “Taryn?”

  I continued to stare at him until I saw his hand slide inside of his pocket. He was reaching for his phone. I asked, “Who are you going to call?”

  His hand fell out of his jacket pocket. “I suppose I can’t call the cops.” He looked down. His tie was twisted, but he let it be. “I had a business meeting. What are you doing in my house?”

  I glanced to the hallway. There was a pile of boxes lined up by the front door. “Are you moving?”

  “Taryn.” He grimaced. “Just tell me what you want to know and I’ll tell you. I won’t hold anything back. I’m tired of all the lies. I want it over.” He closed his eyes. Resting his elbow on the counter, his fingers rubbed at his temple. “What do you want to know, Taryn?”

  I laid the knife down. “Everything. Start with what you did for Jace.”

  He nodded. “Okay.” His shoulders lifted and fell. “I did anything Jace wanted. Mostly, I wrote prescriptions for whatever name they gave me. He sent people to me to treat. I was their physician on hand, their medical bitch.”

  “What did you get out of it?”

  “Money. I got a lot of money. Both Mandy and Austin have their futures set. They can go to any college they want, and I put enough in their trust funds so they should never hurt in life. Shelly wanted to adopt a child a long time ago and we started another trust fund for that person.” Regret and pain flared in his eyes for a moment. “We had someone picked out. She even stayed with us, but there was a problem with the paperwork and she went back to her real family.” He turned away. His hand dropped from his temple and his shoulders drooped. “She died three months later. Her father beat her to death.”

  “You had another foster kid that you wanted to adopt?”

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Why didn’t Mandy or Austin say anything?”

  “We never told them. They didn’t know who the girl was. We told them she was a daughter of a friend.” There was anguish in his voice. He dropped to a whisper. “Shelly cried every night for months, but the kids never knew. We didn’t want to get their hopes up.”

  I frowned. “Let’s get back to your work with Galverson and Jace. How did everything start?”

  A soft chuckle left him. He nodded. “Yeah, okay.” His hand went back to pinching the top of his nose. “Uh, Jace recruited me. He said he wanted a physician on hand to treat their people and to give them pills when they needed. It went on for years. Then things changed a few years ago—”

  “How long ago?”

  “Maybe five years? I think. I was stupid, Taryn. Jace recruited me when he was young. I took him as a real patient. He built a relationship with me. He came in with broken ribs, bruises all over him. It was obvious that he was getting beaten at home. I’m supposed to report that, but he asked me not to. He told me it wasn’t what I thought and that he was getting out. I think I was worried that if I reported anything, something would happen like—”

  I nodded. The pieces were beginning to connect and I said for him, “Like the girl who went back home and was killed. You thought Jace would get hurt like that.”

  “Jace was just a kid to me.”

  “Yeah.” I picked up my knife and stood it upright. The tip rested on the table, grinding into it. “He manipulated you.”

  “Yeah.” His head bobbed slowly. “I can see that now. I think they picked me because of what happened with the foster girl.” He looked at me again. A shine of tears in his eyes. They were sitting there, but they never spilled. “He talked to me about Brian, his brother, and about you. He talked about their dad. How their mom left them. I was emotionally involved before I realized it. I cared for Jace like he was my own son. I started talking to him about Mandy and Austin. I told him about the other girl. Her name was Cara. God,” he laughed bitterly, “I can’t believe I even told him her name, but he knew. Thinking back, he never reacted. He knew all of it. He probably knew everything about my children.”

  I gritted my teeth.

  He kept going, “A lawsuit was brought against me. I messed up in a surgery, and the case against me didn’t look good. I was going to lose my practice. Jace picked up that something was wrong, and I told him about it.” He paused for a moment. Then another moment. I sat and waited. When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse. “He took care of it. Just like that. The case against me was gone. I didn’t know what he did. I didn’t want to know, but it was gone and I still had my future.”

  “That’s when you started working for him?”

  He nodded. “It started with one prescription, for his brother. Then his cousin. Then his friend. Then there was a list of five every day. I panicked. I didn’t want to keep working for him.”

  He stopped, and I waited.

  “Then the money started coming in. He paid me in the beginning, but it was nothing compared to what he paid me after I tried to stop. They dumped money in my bank account. If I had gone to the police, I would’ve looked guilty. I already looked guilty with the lawsuit. I still don’t know what Jace did to get the case dropped against me. I don’t know if I could handle that on my conscious.”

  “This kept going?”

  He nodded. “Years. I got in so deep. I was too far in and there was no way out and then I got a call one day. Someone died and the overdose came from a prescription I wrote. I didn’t know the person, but I had to pretend I did.”

  I frowned. “Who called you?”

  “It was a family member. They didn’t know who I was. They were trying to figure out how their sister got a bottle of pills when their family doctor had referred her to a treatment facility.” He stopped again. His breathing was becoming labored and his hand went to the counter. It was balled in a fist, but he forced his fingers to flatten. “I panicked. I hung up the phone and called Jace. He—”

  He cut himself off.

 
“Let me guess.” My tone was wry. “He took care of it again.”

  He nodded. “The protocol was that I was supposed to be eliminated. One of the patients they sent to me dropped a notebook, and there were rules written inside. He came back the next hour in a panic looking for it, but I lied. I told him he hadn't left anything or if he did, the garbage had been taken out so he shouldn’t worry. He still did. I could see the fear in his eyes. The next time I saw him was in the morgue. He had my card in his pocket so I was asked to identify his body.”

  My stomach clenched, but it was faint. As he kept going, a layer of dirt was laid on top of another, then another, then another. There were so many layers, I was growing numb.

  “Keep going.”

  “Yeah.” He let out a sigh. His shoulders were slumped so far down that his forehead was almost resting on the counter now. He looked like half the man he had been when he first sat down. “Jace took care of it. I don’t know what he did, what he could’ve done, but he did something. There were no emails in the morning. No more patients sent to me. It was like I had been let go. I didn’t work for them anymore.” He shook his head. “I didn’t ask Jace because I didn’t want to know. I’m ashamed of myself. I can barely look at my own children when I’m home. I can barely handle being in the same room as my wife.”

  “Then Jace came to you about me?”

  He nodded. “I was golfing with a few of my friends when he showed up. I almost pissed my pants when I saw him driving towards me in a golf cart. He didn’t give me a choice. He handed me your file, said I needed to adopt you, and we were supposed to move. There was even a back story of what I could tell Shelly if she needed convincing.”

  “That Brian was violent.” I remembered Austin’s words.

  “Once I said that, Shelly was all-in. You were her mission. She wanted to save your life, whether you wanted to come along or not.”

  I glanced at the boxes now. “You were supposed to move?”

  “That was the other deal. As soon as we got the adoption papers signed, we were supposed to move. Jace was furious when we didn’t go, but I couldn’t convince Shelly to go. We didn’t want to argue where Mandy and Austin could overhear, so we left. We’d go to a hotel and check in and just fight about it.”

  “Those were some of your trips?”

  “Some of them. I’d get another reminder from Jace that we had to move, so I would call her to meet me. She didn’t want to move. That was the one thing she put her foot down about. She didn’t want to upset Mandy or Austin’s social lives. She said their well-being was too shaky and she wouldn’t do any more emotional harm to our children.” A hollow laugh came out of him, sounding like it was being dragged from the bottom of his throat. “I told her the truth. Once the adoption set-up came out, I told her most of it.”

  “What sealed the deal for her to agree to move?”

  “Jace threatened to kill Mandy.”

  I felt as if a knife had been plunged into my gut. It was invisible, but it was there. I could imagine Jace being in the room, smiling as he twisted the knife to the side. Hearing the same threat he gave me from Kevin had me breaking out in a cold sweat. I had to ask the next question. “When?”

  “They’re already gone.”

  My eyes leapt to his. “What?”

  His eyes grew guarded. “Shelly took Mandy to Austin’s tournament, but they aren’t coming back. Movers are coming tomorrow, and I’m bringing everything with us. I wanted to take you with us. Shelly was supposed to convince you to come, but I can’t make you go. I’m sorry, Taryn.”

  They were gone. It was already done. The knife was yanked out and shoved back into me, but a part of me no longer felt the pain.

  “I haven’t heard from Jace for a while, not since his brother was killed.” He paused. “I’m assuming that’s who that was? Your ex-boyfriend? Unless that was a lie as well.”

  “No,” I whispered. “Brian died.”

  “I’m sorry about that too. I am, but we can’t stay. I believe Jace. I know what he’s capable of. After I leave, none of us are ever coming back.”

  I’d never see them again. Then I asked one last question, “Was the adoption real? Am I really your adopted daughter?”

  “No.” He didn’t look away. There was no hesitation. There was no doubt. “It was faked for Shelly’s sake. None of the documents are real. There was no real background check. Shelly just thinks it went fast, but it was all a lie.”

  I nodded.

  I was the lie.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Knock, knock

  Tray and I turned to each other. We shared a look.

  Knock, knock

  “Tray! You in there?”

  He ignored him and asked me, “Are you ready?”

  I nodded. We had gone to a hotel after I left Kevin. There’d been only one move we could do and Tray pulled out his phone. I watched as he pressed the numbers, and then heard him say, “Chance?”

  He had called the DEA. It wasn’t a long conversation with his brother. Chance told us to go to a hotel as a precaution and Tray looked at me. I already knew where I wanted to stay. “We’ll go to the hotel on Sixth Street in Pedlam.”

  Tray frowned, but relayed the information. He added, “I’ll text the room number.” Then he was silent for a moment before he murmured, “Got it. Okay.”

  As he hung up, I asked, “What was that last part?”

  “He told me a code to use in case someone intercepts the text.”

  “Does he think that’s a real possibility?”

  “I don’t know.” He put the phone down and turned the car towards Pedlam. “He said not to go back home, just to be safe. I think they’re operating under the ‘better safe than sorry’ theory.”

  Knock, knock

  I was pulled back from my thoughts as Tray’s brother tapped on the door again. Tray went to let his brother into the room, and I stayed by the window.

  Chance Evans was an older version of Tray. They had the same hazel eyes, dirty blonde hair, and chiseled cheekbones, but Chance looked more weathered. He was slightly bigger in build as well. His shoulders were a tiny bit broader, but Tray was more defined. After they embraced, Chance gazed at me for a moment. It was direct, as if seeing right through me, with a hint of caution and suspicion at the same time. I felt like I was being interrogated without any questions asked, and I straightened to my fullest height because of it. My eyes narrowed and my chin lowered in a challenge. This was my life. Gray was my friend and I wasn’t going to let a stranger cast blame on me.

  After a full minute of studying me, his hand clapped Tray’s shoulder and he gently shook him. “Are you two nuts?”

  Tray frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “This is a Panther hotel.” Chance swung his suspicious eyes my way again. The caution was gone. He did blame me. “I know my little brother had no idea, but you did. He said you picked it.”

  I turned and leaned my back against the wall. My arms crossed over my chest and one of my eyebrows arched. “Yeah?”

  “Taryn?”

  I ignored the soft undertone of betrayal from Tray’s voice. “Jace Lanser is missing. He’s the one I want.”

  Chance narrowed his eyes, turning back to his brother. “You said a friend was kidnapped. You never said it was connected to Jace Lanser.”

  “Is there a difference?”

  “Jace Lanser is a big fucking deal. He’s in a different league. Do you know what you’ve gotten yourself into?” He swung around to me. “What was your agenda coming here?”

  “It’s a cheap hotel. No one will look here for us.” But that wasn’t the full truth. I didn’t want to look at Tray. When he asked, it had been a split second decision, but I knew I needed to follow it through. I could feel the hurt from him.

  “Bullshit.”

  I shrugged and turned back to the window. “It’s the closest hotel to Pedlam’s school.” Liar! My conscience knew I was still holding back.

  He sh
ook his head. “You two are going to explain everything, and I mean everything. I want to know when you wipe your ass to the real reason this hotel was picked.” He sent the last statement to me.

  A good person would’ve flushed with guilt. I did nothing. There was a good goddamn reason I picked it. Tray gestured to me. “Do you want to start?”

  I did. I told him everything. He got all the details, even the events with my fake family and even the conversation from Dee and Kevin. I didn’t hold back any of the exchanges I had with Brian or with Jace. By the time I was finished, Chance Evans had a different look to his stare. There was still suspicion, but he looked wary now. He said, “How do I know this whole thing wasn’t a set-up and you’re not working with Lanser to flush me out?”

  “What do you mean?”

  He pointed to Tray. “Is this whole thing an elaborate plot to flush us out? If it is, Tray doesn’t know anything. I do. If you’re