Page 127 of The Moments You Were Mine

“If he’s behind this, how will we get him to admit it?” I asked.

“I doubt he’ll say anything that can directly incriminate him, but he’ll hint at it,” Parker said. “Like most bullies, he’ll want you to know he’s responsible for the pain he’s caused. What’s the point if he can’t gloat about it?”

“I should act as if I’m terrified, don’t you think?”

Parker considered it for a moment. “As much as it goes against my grain, or yours, to show him any of our emotions, you might be right. If he thinks you’re there to beg him to stop or to bargain with him, he might tell us more than if we threaten more years on what’s already a life sentence.”

I nodded and turned to look at the high desert speeding by outside the windows. The rugged, harsh land made me miss the forest and meadows of the ranch with an ache that was almost painful. I wanted to be home. I wanted to be back with Parker and Theo and to have all of this behind us with only a beautiful future in front of us.

I would do anything I needed to get Ike to admit he was behind everything that had happened.

Except, we still had no clue why he would wait this long. Why wait ten years?

Parker’s phone rang, and he hit the button on the steering wheel to accept the call.

“Hey, Park, you’re almost at the prison?” Jim’s voice rang through the speakers.

“About fifteen minutes out. You’re on speaker. How did things go with Adam?” he asked.

“It didn’t.”

Parker and I shared a startled look.

“What do you mean it didn’t?” Parker demanded.

“Adam is dead.”

Chapter Thirty-four

Parker

HERO OF THE DAY

Performed by Metallica

TEN YEARS AGO

HER: One good thing came out of this whole thing with Uncle Adam.

HIM: If you can see any good in being held at gunpoint and pistol-whipped, you’re a better person than me.

HER: The idea that Sadie could have died pushed Dad into going all in with her. You should see how happy he looks. Happier than I’ve ever seen him before.

HIM: Then you’ve never looked in a mirror when he’s watching you. You bring him joy, Fallon. He loves you.

PRESENT DAY

I hadn’t lied to Fallon thenight before when I’d told her it felt like I was finally living my real life rather than a dream I’d made up as a kid. Being with her, looking forward to a future I didn’t have all lined up with every I dotted and every T crossed, was exciting. Challenging. Interesting.

What I wasn’t happy about was having this new vision I was creating stabbed at by some asshole we still hadn’t named. Going to see Ike today was a step in the right direction, but I hated that Fallon would be in the same room with him, hated that we might have to let him see a fear neither she nor I would ever willingly give to an enemy.

I could feel her concern rippling like an undercurrent through the air on the drive.

When Dad called, it was almost a relief to have the silence broken. But that relief quickly changed to shock when he told us Adam was dead.

“What happened?” I asked.

“He was poisoned. Someone was putting a beta blocker in his food, and it caused his heart to give out,” Dad said. “It’s under investigation, and the prison’s hospital and kitchen staff are being scrutinized and interviewed.”