Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(72)

An hour later, when he thought she was sound asleep, she said quietly, “I know she hasn’t been behaving her best, and she’s been annoying, but . . . I want my mom.”

“Then you’ll have her,” Arrow said, kissing the top of her head.

She relaxed into him more, as if she’d been afraid of telling him what she wanted, probably since she knew he didn’t care much for Ellie.

Arrow kicked himself. Every little girl needed her mother when she was feeling down. Morgan was no different. He’d get up and call her in a bit. He hoped she’d be able to take some time off and come visit. Surely for her daughter, she’d be able to arrange it.



Ellie Jernigan stared up at the third-floor apartment with hate in her heart.

Years and years ago, she’d been happy to have a little girl she could shape and mold. But because the courts insisted Carl have equal time with his daughter, she’d picked up too many of his habits and beliefs. Now, every time she looked at Morgan, she was reminded of her biggest mistake—marrying Carl Byrd.

Just thinking his name made her want to puke. Ellie had tried to teach her ex a lesson . . . by making Morgan disappear. And it had worked.

Carl had been a wreck. He’d been broken by his daughter’s disappearance, just like Ellie wanted. But she’d known where Morgan was the entire time. Every time she saw an article or a TV show about the missing woman from Atlanta, she’d felt giddy inside. It was fun to know something no one else did. She’d made sure Morgan had been kept alive. Ellie was in control. She pulled the strings and made Carl dance to her tune.

But then Arrow had to ruin everything. She knew his finding Morgan had been an accident, a damn lucky accident, but it still pissed her off that the men she’d been paying down in the Dominican Republic were so incompetent they hadn’t been able to prevent her daughter from leaving the country.

Now Morgan was back—and Carl was eating that shit up! He was more insufferable than ever. Every time she saw him on television, she wanted to strangle him. He was soaking up the limelight, and loved having all the attention on himself. She knew he was making money on Morgan’s disappearance. He had to be. Her entire plan had backfired!

Yes, Carl had been devastated when she’d been gone, but the fact that he was actually profiting from and enjoying the aftermath was too much.

It was time to show Carl what it really meant to lose everything. He’d been upset when Morgan had disappeared, but that would be nothing compared to how he’d feel when she was dead.

Except Arrow kept getting in her way. She’d planned on poisoning Morgan. It had been perfect, actually. The ethylene glycol was undetectable in the orange juice that her daughter loved so much. She was going to get sicker and sicker, and no doctor would’ve been able to figure it out until it was too late and Morgan had already succumbed to whatever mysterious tropical illness she’d contracted while in captivity.

Everyone would have been devastated by her death—but Carl would’ve been destroyed. He’d found his daughter, the one he’d practically ignored while she was growing up, only to have her slip through his fingers.

But then Arrow had to go and convince her to come live with him in Colorado Springs, and Ellie had lost the upper hand. She’d been poisoning Morgan extremely slowly so as not to arouse suspicion, thinking she had all the time in the world. But it had been too slowly. After leaving, she’d obviously gotten better.

So now Arrow had to die as well.

Messing with him had been fun, but she was ready for the main show. For days, she’d hung around the stupid bar Arrow and his friends frequented, but when he didn’t show, she got more and more pissed off. When the asshole bartender showed up, she took the chance to get her revenge on him too. It felt good to beat on him a bit, empowering . . . especially after he’d tried to make her feel bad about her own daughter and then kicked Ellie out of the bar. She’d hit him a few times, loving the rush of having someone so much bigger at her mercy. She made sure to keep her face away from the cameras—men thought they were so smart—then ran.

Fingering the ethylene glycol she’d obtained from a friend of a friend of a friend, Ellie tried to figure out what her next step should be. She knew Arrow and his friends would probably be even more vigilant now.

She needed to be able to get to Morgan. Carl had to pay for being a shitty husband, a shitty father, and a shitty person in general.

Her cell phone rang with an unknown number, and Ellie looked around to make sure no one could see her sitting in her car at the back of the parking lot of the complex, then cautiously answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hi. Ms. Jernigan? It’s Archer Kane. Arrow. I’m sorry to be calling so late.”

“What do you want?” Ellie asked in a harsh tone. She’d just been fantasizing about killing the man, and now she was supposed to be nice to him?

“Morgan needs you.”

Ellie sat up straighter in her seat. “What?”

“She’s had a tough few days, and she needs her mom. I was calling to see if you’d be able to take a few days off work and drive up here and stay for a bit.”

Ellie almost cackled in delight. She’d never thought Morgan would be so weak as to ask for her mom, but was thrilled that she was playing right into her hands. “Oh no! My poor baby,” she said in a sad tone she hoped she’d pulled off. “Is she okay? What happened?” she asked, playing dumb.