“You’re a good girl,” she replies. “And Heath loves to play with his food. You would be an innocent flower he got to crush just for the fun of it.”
Bile burns the back of my throat. “Seriously?”
“My son is a terrible man, Emma. And I refuse to pull any punches. You want information from me? You have to be strong enough to stomach it.”
“I am.”
“Are you?” she asks, eyeing the floral dress I’m wearing.
I know that I probably look exactly like the innocent flower she’s describing. But inside, I’m far stronger.
“Yes.” I tighten my hands into fists in my lap. “So he accepted me as a partial payment.”
“Yes. But only because he had no intention of letting Gio live past the wedding. Heath had every intention of ensuring the entire Karver line—except for you—died the moment you said ‘I do.’”
“Why?”
“Because then you would be the sole heir to everything they had. With your background, no one would suspect you had anything to do with his dealings. And since they never got anything actually concrete enough to freeze his assets entirely, they would all be yours. And by proxy?—”
“They’d belong to Heath.”
“Yes. And not just the money or real estate holdings. The drug manufacturers Gio used would be fair game too. By eliminating the Karvers, Heath is putting himself at the top of the food chain.”
“What was he planning to do with me?”
“He would’ve broken you down. Made you wish for death. And then he would’ve granted you that mercy.”
“Death is not a mercy.”
“Oh, honey, sometimes death is just that.” She shifts her attention to where Dylan is standing. “Ask your soldier; I’m sure he’d agree with me.”
I swallow hard, recalling Dylan’s words from the other day. “I wanted to die.” Could Heath have truly pushed me to that point? Somehow, I have no doubt that he could. That before he was done with me, I’d be begging for God to take me from this life.
Dark thoughts breed darker ones, though, so I shove those to the side. “Why did Felicity tell them to keep me hidden until November 1st? That I would be safe after that?”
Harlow takes a deep breath. “She called me the night they brought you into that dining room. She was panicked and told me that this couldn’t happen. That we had to save you. So we took all of the evidence we have on both Gio and Heath, compiled it into one envelope, and set it on a time delay with a messenger service to send to the authorities.”
“Why a time delay? Why not just send it immediately?”
“To give us time to get out of the way when their empires came crashing down around them. By then, Felicity had already contacted your soldier and started those dominoes.”
“Can you remove the time delay? Send it now?”
She continues staring off into the distance, tears in the corners of her eyes. “The night Felicity was murdered, Heath managed to get the information out of her. He broke her, and she gave him the name of the messenger service. He made me watch as he burned the documents. I literally watched my freedom go up in flames, and I had to pretend like I didn’t know anything about it and that I didn’t care.” She turns to me. “There is no hope, Emma.”
“There is always hope.”
“No. Not this time. Heath is coming for you, and he will destroy everything in his path. There is no stopping him.”
I swallow hard, trying to absorb everything she’s telling me. There is no countdown. At least, not in the way we thought. Instead, Heath is coming for me—and Dylan was right. We have to stop him.
“He has to have a weakness. Something else we can use to stop him.”
“All of the evidence is gone,” she says. “It was too risky to keep digital copies, so we relied on those papers.”
“There are no copies?”
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Emma, but there’s nothing. I truly hate that this is your fate, but it’s time to accept it.” She nods toward Dylan. “He’s going to die because he won’t let this go. But the rest of these people?” She gestures toward the ranch. “They stand a chance at surviving if you just accept what’s coming.”
