Fearless (Broken Love, #5)(71)

“What are you doing here?” she asked the woman coldly.

“Don’t worry. I’m not here for you.” She then turned her attention to me. “I’m here for her.”

“Me?” I didn’t even know this woman. I didn’t have time to form a response because she pulled out a gun and pulled Willow close.

“I don’t have time for proper introductions. Come with me, or I pump her full of bullets.” To make a point, she pressed the muzzle into Willow’s stomach. “Do you want to be responsible for what happens to this little bundle of joy?”

“I’ll go. Just let her go.”

“Very well.” She lowered the gun, but as soon as she did, she shoved Willow’s head into the stone pillar she had obviously hidden behind to wait for us. Willow fell to the ground unconscious.

“Willow!” Instinct made me fall to my knees to help her, but the feel of the muzzle pressing against my temple kept me from helping her.

“Get up and don’t be so dramatic,” she ordered. “I had to make sure she wouldn’t call for help anytime soon.”

“And you couldn’t just take her phone?”

“I could have. Now let’s go.” She shoved the gun in my side and kept me close with a hand on my arm as we left Willow behind. I prayed she and the baby were okay. The woman had a car parked around the corner on a deserted street. “I don’t have time to tie you up, but if you so much as twitch an eyebrow, I will shoot you in that pretty face.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Esmerelda. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.”

I looked closer and saw what I missed before.

Di was a spitting image of her mother.

“Only that you’re a psychotic bitch.” She chuckled but then her hand whipped out to hit me across the face with a gun. I was left dazed as she acted as if nothing happened and drove away.

“Don’t talk back to me, little girl.”

I bit back another smart retort and fixed my gaze on the road. After we had left the city behind, I threw caution to the wind and broke the silence.

“Where are you taking me?”

“It’s more like where you’re going to take me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“My daughter, girlie. You’re going to take me to her.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I’ll kill you if you don’t,” she answered matter-of-factly. I didn’t react. Maybe I was too used to having my life threatened to be scared.

“Your daughter is twenty-five years old. Why now?”

“The last memory I have of my daughter was Mario taking her from me after she was born, saying it was too dangerous to keep her.”

“But wouldn’t Arthur have questioned why you were no longer pregnant and there was no baby?”

“My husband was away on business when I had her. When he returned, I told him I miscarried and had her cremated.” She shrugged and lit a cigarette then turned to blow the fresh smoke in my face.

“Seems farfetched.”

“Men are stupid and gullible, sweetie. Haven’t you ever had to lie to your man?” I didn’t answer her. I turned to look out the window, reflecting on all the lies presently standing between Keiran and me. “No, of course you haven’t,” she laughed. “You have meek written all over you. It’s why he picked you.”

“You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

“I don’t have to. You look just like her, you know.”

“Who?”

“The pitiful, blonde girl he threw everything away for. I remember her well. Keiran was top stock before she ruined him. He was the best we had, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were her all grown up.” Using my peripheral vision, I watched her take another pull on her cigarette and then glance at me with an evil smile curling her red painted lips. “Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

“Wonder about what?”

“If he’s really in love with you or a dead girl.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter now, does it? You’re going to kill me as soon as you have what you want anyway.”

“I guess we’ll just have to see, won’t we?” I ignored her question because there was no way I was letting her get anywhere near Di. All I needed was one opportunity.

That opportunity came when we were halfway to California when my hip pinged, and I realized I still had my phone. I cast a nervous glance at Esmerelda whose gaze remained fixed on the road. Maybe she hadn’t heard.

“What does it say?” she smirked.

I slowly pulled my phone from my pocket. It was a text from Keiran—Waiting for you.

I frowned at his cryptic message. Why would he be waiting for me? I hadn’t heard from him since I left that night. I had expected him to hunt me down and drag me back and demand my submission, but he did none of that. He simply left me alone like I thought I wanted. When one day stretched into one month, I became hurt and angry. He was the one to fuck up this time, and I was still the one left with regrets.

“So what does it say?” she repeated.

I quickly deleted the message. “It was just an email from my school,” I lied.