‘What?’
‘I have the video of Marcus and Reuben raping that girl.’
‘How?’ Jo didn’t wait for an explanation. ‘You can’t use it. They’ll go to jail. LaDonna—’
‘I’m not afraid of LaDonna.’
‘You damn well should be.’
Angie swerved into a parking lot. She pulled into a space beside a black Ford Fusion. ‘Here’s the key.’ Angie dropped the sun visor and let the key fall into Jo’s lap. ‘Go to the motel. Wait for me.’
‘We can’t do this,’ Jo said. ‘The video. They’ll kill me. They’ll kill you.’
‘Don’t you think I know that?’ Angie’s fists were clenched. She was overwhelmed with the desire to punch some sense into her child. ‘It’s over, sweetheart. This is the end of the line. There’s no going back to Reuben. There’s no going back to anything.’
‘I can’t—’
‘Get out.’ Angie leaned over and pushed open the door. She fought with the seat-belt buckle. ‘Get out of my car.’
‘No!’ Jo clawed at Angie’s hands. ‘He’ll find me! You don’t understand!’ She scanned Angie’s face, looking for compassion. When she didn’t find it, her face contorted in agony. She covered her eyes with her hands. Sobs came out of her mouth. ‘Please don’t make me.’
Angie watched her daughter cry. The girl’s thin shoulders were shaking. Her hands trembled. The act might be heartbreaking to someone who actually had a heart.
Angie said, ‘Cut the shit. I’m not buying it.’
Jo looked up at her. There were no tears in her eyes, just hatred. ‘You can’t make me do anything.’
‘Was he sweet to you?’ Angie asked, because that was the only thing that made sense. ‘You got out of jail, and instead of beating you, he said everything was going to be okay? That it was going to be different from now on?’
Jo’s nostrils flared. Angie had hit the mark.
‘Is that how he roped you back in? “Oh baby, I love you. I’ll take care of you. I’ll never let you go. I’ll never abandon you like your mama did.” ’
‘Don’t you throw my mama back in my face.’
Angie grabbed Jo’s chin and jerked her head around. ‘Listen up, you dumb bitch. Reuben saw me. He knows that I’m helping you. You think your mama didn’t give a shit about you? That’s not even half of what I’m feeling right now.’
Jo’s tears were real now.
Angie tightened her grip on the girl’s face. ‘You’re gonna get in that car and you’re going to drive to the motel and I’m going to pick up your son and we are both going to get the hell out of here. Do you understand me?’
Jo nodded.
Angie pushed the girl’s face away. ‘Give me your phone.’
‘I dropped it when—’
Angie patted her down. She found the iPhone tucked into Jo’s bra. ‘Did you tell your mother that I’m going to pick up Anthony?’
Jo nodded again.
‘If you’re lying to me—’ Angie stopped, because there was nothing to do if Jo was lying. ‘Get out of the car.’
Jo was too afraid to move. ‘He’ll find me. He’ll find us.’
Angie grabbed the front of her dress and slammed her against the seat. ‘You do this right now or I will cut your son into little pieces and mail him back to you.’
‘Reuben will give you whatever you want.’ Her voice was a shriek. ‘He’ll pay whatever—’
‘Anthony will pay.’
Tears streamed down Jo’s face. She had realized that she was out of options. Slowly she nodded, just like Angie knew she would. Women like Jo only ever responded to threats.
Angie said, ‘Don’t stop to use a pay phone. Don’t go back to Rippy’s. Get in the car. Drive to the motel. Wait for me.’
Jo got out of the car. She opened the door to the rental. Angie waited for her to drive off, to make sure she went down Piedmont instead of back toward Tuxedo Drive.
Angie rolled down the window. She tossed Jo’s iPhone onto the pavement. She resisted the urge to get out of the car and stomp it into the ground.
‘I knew it,’ she mumbled to herself.
She had known that her daughter was weak. She had known that Jo would try to back down.
Angie ran over the phone with her car three times before she took a left out of the parking lot. She headed toward Peachtree. Jo’s mother lived in a fancy condo near Jesus Junction, paid for by Reuben Figaroa. Angie had to be calm when the old woman opened the door. And she had to hurry, because she had no idea whether or not Reuben had regained consciousness.
The first place he would look for Jo was at her mother’s.
Angie checked her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was a mess. Her eyeliner was smudged. She used her finger to straighten the line. She couldn’t look dangerous when Jo’s mother opened the door.
Was she dangerous?
Hell, yes, she was dangerous.
Angie’s cell phone rang. The noise filled the car. She reached around to the back seat. She blindly fished her phone from her purse. Too late. The ringing had stopped. She looked at the screen.
MISSED CALL FROM HARDING, DALE.
‘Shit.’ She’d wasted too much time in the car with Jo. Ten minutes? Fifteen? Reuben was awake. Kip had been notified. Laslo was on the hunt. Dale thought he could talk her in, that she was still a ten-year-old girl he could trick with candy while he rammed his cock up her ass.
Angie’s phone made a whistling sound. Dale had sent a text.
She swiped her thumb. A photograph loaded.
Anthony.
Eyes wide. Back pressed up against a blank wall. The long, sharp blade of a hunting knife pressed to his neck.
The word underneath read: GRANDSON.
Angie gasped. She had to pull over. Her heart had stopped beating. Her blood ran cold. Jo’s child. Her grandchild. What had she done? Why was this happening?
Another whistle. Another text. Another photo.
Angie’s hands were shaking so hard she could barely hold the phone.
Jo.
A hand around her neck. Her back to the window of a car door. Her mouth open, screaming.
Dale’s text read: DAUGHTER.
Acid filled Angie’s throat, shot up into the back of her nose. She pushed open the door. Her mouth opened. A stream of bile splattered against the pavement. Her stomach turned inside out. She tasted blood and venom.
What had she done? What could she do to stop this?
She sat back up. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
Think, she told herself. Think.
Dale had taken Jo. He had taken Anthony, or had someone else do it for him. He had sent Angie two photos, proof of life. The backgrounds were different. Jo was in a car. Anthony was against a painted wall. This was coordinated, planned, because Dale was always two steps ahead of Angie. He had looked into Jo. He had looked into Angie. He had obviously taken a great deal of time to build the web she now found herself trapped in.
She clicked on her phone.
She could already guess the answer, but she still texted the question.
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
Dale responded immediately: IPAD.
Dale had never trusted Angie. Not even with the little things. He must have taken the pieces of the smashed iPad to Sam Vera for examination. Sam had discovered it was not the clone. Dale had asked himself why Angie would go to the trouble of swapping them out. And then he had realized that a video Marcus Rippy wanted to get rid of was worth a hell of a lot more than a quarter of a million dollars in an escrow account.
Nothing had changed since Angie was a child. She thought she was in control, but all the while, Dale was pulling her strings.
Her phone whistled again.
Dale had written: NIGHTCLUB. NOW.
MONDAY, 1:08 AM
Dale’s Kia was already parked in front of the club. Delilah leaned against the hood smoking a cigarette.
Angie was out of her car before it came to a full stop. The asphalt was hot against her bare feet. She raised her arm. The gun was in her hand. She pointed it at Delilah and pulled the trigger.
There was a bullet in the chamber this time.
‘Fuck!’ Delilah doubled over, clutching her leg. Blood squeezed out between her fingers. ‘You fucking bitch!’
Angie struggled against the need to pull the trigger again. ‘Where is Jo?’