Page 20 of Danger Close

“It’s true,ma chérie,” Teri said, with a flippant laugh. “Your children need you less and less. It’s all heartbreak and disappointment from there.”

“Mama…” Trinity whined.

“I can’t imagine our Trinity disappointing anyone,” Charlotte McClanahan spoke up from the kitchen. Her sun-streaked brown hair was in a low pony tail, her tawny skin glistened with sweat from the heat of the many pots in front of her, plastering her hair to her brow. “I’ve been proud of you since the day you showed up on the team.”

I narrowed my eyes, prickling at the uncharacteristic hostility in Charlotte’s voice.What the hell?Charlotte was a Paradigm spy, like me. We knew each other well, and other than when she was taking someone out, she rarely had a cross word for anyone.

“You must not have your own children,” Teri said, completely unaware of the landmine she’d stepped on until a deafening silence detonated in the middle of the room.

Shit.

“Mama!” Trinity said, her eyes narrowed. “Mamma Mack, she didn’t mean it.”

Without missing a beat, Charlotte turned back to her cooking and said, “I wasn’t blessed with children, no.”

The hurt in her voice was palpable. Again, I wanted to step in front of Teri and absorb the blast. I was about to step forward and apologize on her behalf—onourbehalf. But Charlotte beat me to it.

“Some parents have no idea what a poor job they’re doing. Then their children replace them with people who actually deserve their company.”

I have never in my life been hit as hard as Charlotte just hit Teri. I watched my Princess take the hit on the chin, her smile melting away.

Teri looked around at the house, at all the eyes on her, at the closeness that everyone had in this room. Everyonebelongedhere. Even me, since I’d spent plenty of evenings with my heels kicked up in this old house.

The only outsider was her. Her face didn’t change, but her eyes did. There was a dulling of the sparkle, and I knew she was fortifying herself behind her walls.

“I see,” was all she said, taking the smallest step backwards as her eyes casually roamed the room, a queen standing in a hostile court. “Please excuse me.”

With her head held high, she walked back to the entrance, opening the door and stepping outside. When the front door clicked closed, Trinity quietly whispered, “Mamma Mack…”

“I’m alright, sweetheart,” Charlotte’s voice was watery, wavering as she lifted a hand for everyone to give her space. “I just need to get dinner on the table. Then everything will be fine.”

Mack went to his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her infertility and miscarriages had haunted their early marriage, ripping them apart for years. She’d fought hard to come back home. They’d fought hard for each other.

They’d resolved everything now, but old wounds don’t ever truly heal, do they? They just scar.

“Should someone go after your Mom, Taz?” Goose asked.

“I’ll have a chat with your Mom after she’s had time to cool off.” Teri had done herself no favors in this room. I wanted to apologize to Charlotte on her behalf, but wasn’t sure if it was my place to do so. “She’s not going anywhere.”

I had the car keys, and it was a frigid Upstate New York fall day. Those shoes of hers wouldn’t carry her far. Plus, she hated the cold. Even with my jacket wrapped around her, she’d be freezing.

I had time.

At least I thought so until the roar of an engine, and the moving flash of headlights caught my attention.

Chapter 9

Glad for the Company

Teri

The air felt good upon my flushed skin, but not on my joints. My knees shivered against the autumn cold, and every old injury flared. That was another thing I could thank Ray for. The aches and pains in my body that were further exacerbated by stress.

Pain was in the mind, and some days, my mind was weak. Like today.

I felt stripped bare, naked before the world’s prying eyes, and I had been found wanting. Insecurity, self-loathing, pain… those were all there, swirling in my gut. My usual cocktail of emotions.

I pulled up the collar of Cobra’s jacket, taking it to my nose, trying to draw strength from the scent of amber and coffeebeans. I’d have to walk out of here, somehow. I didn’t know where I was. I had no phone, no wallet… But I could find my way.