Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(73)

“Just a tough few days. Can you come?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” she told him. It wouldn’t do to act too excited, especially not when Morgan had been blowing her off. The bitch. She had way too much of her father in her.

“I know she’ll be glad to hear it. Oh, and she mentioned something about s’mores cookies that are to die for. Any chance I can convince you to make a batch to bring with you?”

Ellie smiled. A wide, evil smile that would’ve made the hair on the head of the most hardened criminal stand on end if he could see it. “Of course. My Morgan always loved her sugar.”

“Thank you,” Arrow said, the relief easy to hear in his tone. “I know things have been tough between you two. She loves you very much, and I know this will be just what she needs to feel more like herself.”

“I kept trying to tell her that she needed to be home with her mother,” Ellie said, not able to help herself. “I was surprised, after all she’s been through, that she’d be thinking with her hormones instead of her head.”

“Careful, Ellie,” Arrow said in a deadly tone. “That was way out of line. I might have invited you up here, but I can just as easily uninvite you.”

“I’m sorry,” Ellie said immediately, trying to sound contrite. “You’re right. I’m just so worried about her. I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that should work. I think I’m going to see if her therapist can see her around one. I think she needs to talk to her as soon as possible. Her appointments are usually only about an hour.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t tell her I’m coming,” Ellie said. “If you can get someone else to bring her home, I can come over around one thirty, and we can wait for her to arrive. It’ll be a surprise.”

“I could have Allye or Chloe pick her up,” Arrow mused. “They’ve done it before.”

“Perfect!” Ellie crowed. “She’s going to be so surprised to see me.”

“Thank you,” Arrow said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Let me know if your plans change.”

“I will,” she assured him, then clicked off the phone.

The second the connection ended, she threw back her head and laughed. She giggled until her stomach hurt and she had to put down the bottle of poison before she dropped it. She’d met again with the people who supplied her with it before Morgan had left New Mexico, ruining her plans.

If her daughter had done what she’d asked, if she’d refused to have anything to do with her father, none of this would’ve happened. But she hadn’t. And now Morgan was off the rails. Probably talking to Carl every damn day while cutting her mother out of her life.

Ellie wouldn’t have it.

Both her daughter and Arrow would die. No more slow and steady. She could head down to Santo Domingo after it was done and hang out with the new friends she’d made over the last year.

But first, she had cookies to make . . . and taint. She had to play her cards exactly right in order to disable her daughter’s guard dog—Arrow. Once she’d poisoned and incapacitated Arrow, she could make sure Morgan understood exactly what was going to happen, and why. The spoiled bitch would know just what she’d done to deserve everything that had happened to her.

Still smiling, Ellie Jernigan started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. She needed to find a hotel with a full kitchen, then she’d go grocery shopping. Mommy dearest needed to make a special batch of cookies for her loving daughter and her boyfriend.





Chapter Eighteen

“Thanks for driving me over here,” Morgan told Arrow. “I’m sure you have other things you need to be doing. Didn’t you have an appointment with that guy who’s trying to sell his house, to figure out why the sockets on one side of his home aren’t working?”

“Yeah, but I’ve already rescheduled it. You’re more important.”

Morgan smiled at him. Arrow always made her feel wanted. He did a good job of putting her first in his life when he could, and when he couldn’t, he somehow still managed to take care of her.

“Chloe is going to come and pick you up after your session. I have a quick meeting with the guys, and then I’ll meet you at home. I have a surprise for you when you get home from seeing your therapist.”

“You do? What is it?” Morgan asked.

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise. But you’re going to like it,” Arrow told her confidently.

“If you arranged it, I know I will,” she said with a smile. Then she bit her lip and said, “I’m sorry I lost it yesterday. I just can’t believe my dad would have anything to do with my kidnapping. I mean, he’d have to be completely sadistic to do something like that.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Arrow told her. “You’re allowed to feel the way you feel, and it truly hasn’t been that long since you were rescued. You’ve been doing extremely well; you have to cut yourself some slack. You aren’t Superwoman.”

“I know . . . and I guess that’s what my therapist is going to say today. I’m just . . . disappointed in myself.”

“You have nothing to be disappointed about,” Arrow said sternly. “I’m going to make cheesy chicken tonight for dinner. Is that all right?”