Page 94 of The Last One You Loved

“Sorry,” she said between chuckles, trying to get ahold of herself. She turned her head to watch me, and I had to keep glancing between the road and her, determined not to get us into a wreck as I found our way back onto the freeway. “That was just…like something out of a book. Or a movie.”

She snickered some more.

“God, the entire thing… Mama and Chainsaw. Mama having stolen money from Chainsaw. Chainsaw tangled up with the cartel. How is this anyone’s real life? Like, really? Does this shit actually happen?”

While she was still grinning and chortling, her words settled over me with an unease that had the hair on the back of my neck sticking up. It was pretty fucked up. But it also explained Slider’s dead body. He’d helped Sybil escape The Nest. It was clear Chainsaw hadn’t been hiding Sybil. He’d been keeping her there until she gave up the location of the money she’d taken.

I hit the call button on the steering wheel, and Bruce answered. “I need you to call the warden at the women’s jail. Sybil needs to be in lockdown. I’m pretty sure?”

“Sybil’s in the jail’s hospital,” Bruce cut me off. “She was stabbed this morning.”

I glanced at McKenna, who was no longer laughing. She sat back up, eyes going wide. I jerked my gaze back to the road.

“Is she…” I trailed off.

“They think she’ll make it, just a stomach wound, but someone was making a point.”

“Chainsaw or the Lovato cartel. I’ll fill you in when I get back, but I’d say one of them was responsible for Slider. When Sybil found out he was dead, she got herself arrested, thinking she’d be safe in jail, at least until the cartel took care of Chainsaw for her.”

“Damn. I was hoping Salazar was wrong,” Bruce said.

“I know, but Trap said pretty much the same damn thing.”

“Shit. Okay, I’ll call the warden back and tell him to get his eyes on any cartel members locked up there, and then I’ll put out an APB on Chainsaw. See if we can wrangle him in for questioning.”

We hung up, and I looked over to find McK staring out the window. I reached across the cab and squeezed her hand as I had back at the diner. “McK,” I said quietly.

“How bad of a person do you have to be to not even care when your mama gets stabbed?” she asked softly. “To even wish….”

She shook her head, but her eyes were still trained out the window, refusing to look at me.

“She wasn’t your mama, McK. She was your captor. Your tormentor. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t want to see her pay for that.”

“I’m a doctor. I’m supposed to cherish every life. What I told Trap about Chainsaw? It’s true. I don’t want to see him dead. I want to see him put away. But…Mama…”

I found a place to pull over, and McKenna finally turned to look at me. “What are you doing?”

I unlatched her seat belt and all but dragged her into my lap over the center console. She didn’t resist. In fact, when she landed on me completely, she rested her head on my shoulder, face buried in my neck.

“She wasn’t your mother, McK. She doesn’t get to claim that title. You don’t call Trap Dad. You need to stop calling her your mama. She’s Sybil, and whatever the hell went wrong in her childhood?her life?doesn’t justify what she did to you.”

She nodded, nose nestled against me, breath coasting over my skin.

I raised her palm to my mouth and kissed it gently.

“You’re a good person,” I told her. “If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have guilt over your feelings.”

“You don’t even really know me, Mads. I’ve been gone ten years.”

I twisted, tugging at her so she was forced away from my shoulder and I could hold her gaze.

“I know you, McKenna. I know you because as lame as you think my song is, you’re my soul sister.”

“God, I hope I’m not your sister,” she said, lips twitching.

I chuckled. “You’re right. It’s the only part of the song that’s wrong. Every other part is right. I know you. You know me. I love you. You love me.”

“Psh. As if,” she said, but she smiled, her full, real smile that took over her face and lit up her eyes, casting golden glows over everything around her.