A Year of You (37 page)

“K, leave them alone and—” Mattie took a deep breath. “I won’t fight you. You let them go and you’ll get five million dollars. And me. Without a fight, K.”

“I don’t know. I kinda like it when you fight.”

He held the phone out to her. When she held it to her ear, she heard the low buzz of the ring-back. A second later Justine answered the phone.

“Justine?”


“Who is this?”


“Mattie.”


“Mattie, have you seen Emeline? We’re frantic.”


“Yeah. Yeah, I have, Justine.” K shoved a piece of paper into her hand. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her shattered nerves. A thick knot of emotion clogged her throat. “Justine, I have her. If you—” She bit back a sob, holding the phone away from her mouth. K hissed at her to hurry up.

“If McKendrick doesn’t pay—If he doesn’t pay me five million dollars, then I’m going to—then something very bad will happen.”

There was nothing but silence on the other end of the phone. After a moment, Justine laughed, a high, sharp sound. “This is a joke, isn’t it?”

“No.” Mattie took a deep shuddering breath. “I’m so sorry, Justine. I’m going to give you an account number. If the money isn’t in there by nine AM tomorrow then...” Mattie read the last part of the note and shook her head at K. There was no way she was saying that.

K pointed at West and drew his finger across his throat. West’s heavy-lidded glare bore into her. “Justine, a very bad thing will happen if the money is not in the account by nine.”


“I’m calling the police, Mattie!”


“Please do, Justine. Please, please, please.”

“Do what?” K demanded.

Mattie put her hand over the bottom part of the phone. “Put the money in the account, K. What do you think?”

Justine’s high-pitched frantic voice dug into Mattie’s brain, swearing she was calling the police. “Just do it, Justine!” Mattie snapped the phone closed.

“Well, are they going to do it?” K snatched the phone away from her.

“I don’t know! I don’t exactly have experience in kidnapping and ransom.” Mattie sank to her knees and held herself. West wouldn’t look at her. Emeline was still out cold.

“Guess I’m going to have to do things myself. This doesn’t bode well for you, Mattie. You’re helpless, I swear. Get back over there next to lover-boy. Might as well get comfortable. It’s going to be a long night.”

As he put new zip-ties around her wrists and secured to an eyebolt in the wall, Mattie took solace in the fact that K hadn’t noticed she hadn’t read the account numbers off to Justine. Maybe it would stall the whole thing long enough for her to figure out exactly what she was going to do.

Chapter Twenty-Five

All the world is waiting for the sun
.


Mattie woke up in total darkness. For a second she panicked, thinking she had gone blind.
Then she heard snoring and realized it was just dark outside. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the night. Scant moonlight came in through the two small windows set high in the corrugated metal walls. She made out the couch. Once again, K was sprawled out on it, his long legs hanging over the side. Emeline was in the same place on the floor, her eyes closed. The two thugs sat on the floor by the door. Mattie couldn’t tell if they were awake or asleep.


West was still on the wall, by himself. He was awake, his eyes glittering in the moonlight. “Mattie?” West whispered.
She glanced at him and nodded. She didn’t trust herself to talk, especially to him.
Nearly silently, he scooted down the wall a few inches toward her. She froze, not sure what to do.
The rope between him and the wall gave him just enough slack to get to her side.

“Are you okay?” he asked when he reached her.
Her heart nearly broke. So he did care! Elation rocketed through her, making all the pains and aches ease ever so slightly. “I’ll live, I think.”


“So that’s K.”

She nodded. Her breath hitched in her throat and turned into a sob. “He made my life hell. West, all I wanted was to get away from him forever.” She misinterpreted his next movement. He moved and she thought he was pulling her close.

“You brought him here,” he whispered.

Mattie understood. West’s silence, his refusal to even look at her all made sense.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Sorry doesn’t fix this,” he replied.

“No, but I will. West, I--“
Love you
. No, now wasn’t the right time. This was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. He’d seen too much, been through too much, in too short an amount of time. “I’ll fix this. I told you I would.”

He snorted. “Yeah. You against three men with guns. You’re tied to a wall.”

She felt sick to her stomach. “He won’t leave me here for long. Sooner or later, he’s going to--“ She bit back a crushing wave of terror. It rolled over her, suffocating her. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. She leaned against the wall and pushed back the panic until she could see clearly. “He’s going to--“ She still couldn’t say it. Her mouth refused to form the words. Saying it aloud would give it life.

It was going to happen. It always did.

“He’s going to untie me and then I’ll have a chance.”

West’s eyes were bright clear, despite the dark bruises and dried blood. The blood vessels in his right eye had burst, staining the white red. “Mattie, no.” He’d figured it out. What she meant. “No.”

“Afterwards, he always lets his guard down. He always makes a mistake.”

The look on West’s face broke her heart. “Mattie--“

K groaned and sat up. He scrubbed his palms against his cheeks and stretched. He squinted in the darkness. “Having a nice little chat over there? Shut the hell up, Mattie. Damn.”

“Sorry, K,” she called.

Dawn’s light filtered through the high windows, making everything in the room lighter. Emeline stirred, moaning. She sat up and promptly vomited into her lap. She wasn’t tied up. K didn’t see her a threat. Mattie wracked her brain, trying to figure out a way to use that to her own advantage.

Emeline wasn’t strong enough to attempt to fight her way out. She wasn’t fast enough to try and run.

She wasn’t brave enough.

“Oh God, oh God,” Emeline whimpered. “Where am I? Are you going to steal my kidneys?”

Mattie sighed. Girl was dumb as a bag of rocks. Definitely couldn’t be relied on to help in a rescue attempt.

K crouched next Emeline. “Look over there, sweetums.” He pointed at Mattie and West. Emeline’s eyes bulged and her mouth dropped open.

“What do you want?” she whispered.

“Money. Lots of it.” K grimaced. He pointed at her lap. “You threw up on yourself.”

“I’m sorry,” Emeline whined.

“We’re going to have to take that dress off,” K said. At his post at the door, Logan chuckled.

Emeline crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. Tears ran down her flushed face. “No, please.”

Silver flashed in the wan lighting. K’s knife. He made quick work of the thin straps of Emeline’s club dress.

“He won’t hurt her,” Mattie whispered, soft as a breath, to West. “Trust me. I know how he works.” It was a way to break Emeline down, as if she could put up a fight to begin with. He’d humiliate her until she was a blubbering pile of skin and bones.

West stiffened and turned away.

K taunted Emeline until she rose on unsteady legs and let her dress drop to her feet. When she stood naked except for a pair of flimsy panties and her lacy bra, he laughed. “You’re too skinny for me. All bones.” He latched a hand around her wrist and dragged her to the couch. He pushed her down. She curled up in the farthest corner, trying hard not to cry.

K loomed over Mattie. “Time to get started, Mats.” He grabbed the shoulder of her shorts and hauled her to her feet. After a long night of sitting, pins and needles rendered her legs almost useless. She wobbled and staggered forward. K hung on to her arm and kept her from toppling over.

Watching her, he pulled her cell phone from his pocket and dialed. When it started ringing, he held it to Mattie’s ear.

McKendrick himself answered on the second ring.

“Where’s the money, Mr. McKendrick?” she asked. The cold tone of her own voice disturbed her.


“It takes a little while to gather that much money, Mattie. Let me speak to Emeline.”


“He wants to talk to Emeline,” she said to K.

Emeline looked up, eyes wide. “Dad? Daddy! Daddy!” Her voice rose to a fevered pitch. She stood and reached for the phone. K shoved her back to the couch. She tripped over her own feet and landed on her hands and knees. Mattie watched her see West for the first time. While Em scuttled across the concrete floor towards him, Mattie returned her attention to the phone and McKendrick’s frantic pleas to leave Em alone.

“I can’t transfer that much money in such a short amount of time. It takes days to get bank approval. Please don’t hurt her. Please, I’ll get you the money.”

Mattie relayed the message to K.

Through the windows high in the wall near the roof, she watched the wind sway the branches of an old live oak. She hung up on McKendrick. “K, listen. I know where I can get some money.”

K perked up. “Where’s that? Don’t tell me, buried in the backyard.”


“No, in an orange grove. Under an big oak tree.”


“You’re lying. Why the hell would rich people bury money under a tree in some loser’s backyard?” Mattie sighed.

“I told you, it’s not the backyard. The orange grove. And they...they buried it out there alongside...” She lowered her voice. “They buried it with the body of the real Elaine.”

Against the metal wall, West cleared his throat. Mattie glanced at him quickly. He had an expression on his face that screamed,
What the hell are you doing?

She met his eyes and hoped he got the psychic message somehow.
Trust me.
She and K might walk into that grove together, but only one of them was coming out.
And it ain’t going to be you, Kirkland
.

He smacked her suddenly upside the head, knocking her off-balance. “You’re a fuckin’ liar, Mattie.”

“No! K, ask him. He knows.” She pointed her finger at West.


“I don’t know shit,” West said, his voice thick with blood and emotion.
K laughed, a harsh, cold sound, and struck out at Mattie with his foot. “Bitch. He doesn’t even like you anymore. You’re all mine, you know that? I’m the only one that’s ever going to be able to put up with you.”

Mattie turned her face away from his rough, playful shove. “Stop it, K.” He swiped at her again, yanking her hair. Again she tried to avoid his hand, but the couch was in her way. Frustrated, she hunched her shoulders and buried her face against the ratty, musty old cushions. K wouldn’t stop until he had her in tears, begging him to quit.

“It’s out there,” West said simply. “By the tree.”


K stopped tormenting her and glared across the dim shed. “What?”


“There’s fifty thousand dollars buried with Elaine under the tree.” West sounded like he was talking with a throat full of sand.
K pulled out his gun and leveled it at West’s head. West’s eyes looked so empty, so dead.

Mattie bit back a sob. “K, what are you doing? Leave him alone. K!”


“Shut your hole, Mattie. Your squealing’s getting on my nerves.”


“If you hurt him anymore, I won’t tell you where it is!” Mattie kicked K’s leg. Fast enough to make her head spin, he pistol-whipped her once across the side of her head. The blow knocked her to the floor. The pain pinned her there, just inches from West’s foot.

Her head ached so bad she thought she was going to puke.

“She doesn’t know where it is,” West said, staring K dead in the eye. “I saw it all, when I was a kid.”

“Why the hell should I believe you?”

West shrugged. “I really don’t care, actually. Kill me, kill her, whatever. Either way, it won’t get you the money.”

K laughed and holstered his gun. He sat down on the couch, perched on the edge with his elbows on his knees. His hands dangled between his legs. “I warned you about her, West, my man. She’s a man-eater. She’ll rip your heart out.”

West only gazed at Mattie with a heart-breaking mix of pity, pain, and betrayal. “West,” she whispered against the cement floor. After holding her gaze for a long moment, he looked away.

Mattie closed her eyes, hoping she wouldn’t cry. She wasn’t sure what was worse—his pity or the fact that there wasn’t a single flicker of emotion in his eyes.

You did this. You brought him here.

K hauled her up and plopped her down on the couch next to him. He patted her leg possessively. “Now, tell me where the money is.”

“The tre--the money’s in the orange grove on West’s land.” Treasure she almost said. Like it was some sort of pirate adventure. Blood trickled down her cheek from the wound across her temple. She knew better than to investigate the injury. K would send her off to clean up when he got tired of seeing blood running down her face.

“You’re a born liar, Mattie. How do I know you’re not pulling one over on me?”

Mattie shrugged. “Why would I make you go all the way out there if there wasn’t money, K? Don’t you think I know better than to do something so stupid?”

Grudgingly, he admitted. “Yeah. You do know better. You know what wild-goose-chases cost you. And by the way, don’t talk to me like that. You better show respect where it’s due.”

“Sorry.”

“I don’t think you are, but we’ll take care of that later. Right now I want to know exactly where the money is.” Lightning fast, K shoved her off the couch, to her knees, one arm twisted behind her back. That didn’t hurt. What hurt was her fingers, which he had wrenched backwards.

Mattie hollered and tried to pull away, but that made it even worse.
“Now, bitch, tell me where the money is!”


“I don’t know! They never told me!”
He pushed further, putting more pressure on her left pointer finger. The pain was blinding, breathtaking.

“Tell me where it is, Matilyn. I’ll break every single finger, then start in on your face if you don’t fuckin’ tell me.”

Sobbing, Mattie could only shrug. The pain had wiped her mind of everything except getting away from K. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know!”